What is Live Chat?

Live chat is a tool that lets a business communicate online with its clients in real-time. A visitor to the website can pose a query on the live chat app and expect a prompt reply. Live chat is an alternative to phone calls and email. It is very effective; almost 80% of customers have shown that they prefer managed live chat to any other form of communication.

Live chat services do not require that the customer install anything or even sign up for any assistance. Live chat will be shown as a widget somewhere on the screen for your customers to interact with.

Why Choose Managed Live Chat?

Most companies feel that outsourcing live chat is unnecessary. They believe that their in-house staff can better handle customer queries than someone else. Wouldn’t an employee with lots of relevant experience be better equipped to serve the customer than a third party? Surely, they could help the customer faster by accessing the systems and making updates in real-time? An in-house employee attending the live chat should be a win-win situation for both the customer and the company – Right? Wrong!

Benefits of Implementing a Managed Live Chat Solution

A managed live chat service is staffed by highly trained staff who are infallibly courteous and even-handed with site visitors. They deal with everyone, be it an unhappy customer, an online troll, or a spam chat. Live chat agents are trained to be the first point of contact for the customers visiting the site for any reason. Since they are not emotionally invested in the product, they do not frustrate easily or get angry at Customers with complaints, giving your customer service the friendly face it requires.

In-house, live chat tends to be managed by employees who also have other responsibilities. This makes focusing on the chat a problem. In addition to this, an in-house employee may respond inappropriately if they feel the queries are repeated or irrelevant. Many of the questions posed on the chat are basic queries like when, what, where, etc. Only when these are addressed do the technical queries come. This means that your experienced staff will probably be handling basic tasks on the chat. Your team would be more gainfully employed in handling work relevant to their areas of expertise.

On top of that, studies have shown that you only really have about 10 to 15sec to engage with a Chat customer before they disappear, so that means you would need to employ staff specifically to sit online and wait for these chats to happen, and what about after hours?

Live chat services are managed by professionals. Because they have experience in the field, they can anticipate and respond to the initial stages of the communication very effectively. Like any professional service provider, live chat agents study you and your customers to provide the best possible service to you. They examine your website, create databases, and dynamically learn on the job. Every customer they chat with is an opportunity for the live chat agents to learn more. Like any new employee, the live chat services will learn and improve over time and the knowledge database too will improve and grow.

Live chat agents can smoothly pass on technical queries that they are not qualified to answer to in-house professionals, collating as much data as they can. This also gives your in-house team a leg up on the issue, challenge or query before talking to the Customer. Your employees will spend their valuable time on relevant questions and are more productive.

Why Choose Managed Live Chat?

• Customers can report their issues without relying on external communication channels like email.
• They are not required to wait for hours for a response.
• Their shopping experience is more enjoyable and fulfilling.
• They are not required to provide their information repeatedly. Live chat services save their information and send it directly to the business for follow up.

Managed live chat provides your customer with faster answers to their queries, is always more cost-efficient than managing in-house, and delivers a better return on investment by providing a better customer experience and generating website leads that would have otherwise been missed.

Live chat is an excellent way to connect with prospective and new customers and instil confidence in them to buy your product or purchase on your website. According to forrester.com, consumers who use live chat are almost three times more likely to convert than those who do not.

Consider this: if a customer was in a hurry deciding between products, would they pick up the phone and call support to get their questions answered, or would they be more tempted by the company that provided the information on their website?

Customers are becoming increasingly at ease with live chat technology. Not only do they prefer it, but they also expect it. Aside from improving the customer experience, the ability to increase agent productivity — when combined with the data you’ll collect — will lead to greater success with live chat as part of your customer support strategy.

To get your business supported 24/7 with Australia’s No 1 live chat services click here or call Tracey 1800 332 428.

Also Read: Measuring the Success of your Customer Live Chat Service Team

• Author Details

Author Details

Tracey Horey

CEO of Live Chat Agent

Tracey Horey is a 20 year veteran of the Automotive industry and has been writing Automotive content and helping Dealerships optimise their digital space for over 15 years. Her experience working with various sized dealerships and her passion for exploring and understanding new tools for the auto industry has given her an in depth understanding of the challenges all dealerships face in a changing landscape.

accounts@livechatagent.com.au

1800 332 428