During the 1990s, the digital revolution enabled companies to grow their brands worldwide. The worldwide web provides easy access to the international market for companies. While they were increasing their presence in the market, companies realised that their customers were starting to ask more and more questions. The customers were not just asking questions; they also demanded faster answers from the companies they were engaging. The workload on the customer care team started increasing, and companies had to start focusing more and more on getting this aspect right. Phone support was good enough, in the beginning, to answer the customer queries and provide support, but soon, the number of customers seeking help increased, and companies started seeing their wait times increase. Times were changing, and no one wanted to wait more than a few minutes to get the support or information they were looking for. Instead, they would move to the next option rather than keep waiting on hold.

The stage was set for the next level of customer care—the evolution of live chat. Live chat support became essential for customer care as the customers could access the chat from the company website. The communication is happening in real-time, and an agent could handle multiple customers at a time, bringing down the wait time. The faster response time and the ease of accessing live chat proved to be a turning point for effective communication.

Over three years ago, 62% of customers expected companies to react to emails in half a day. This figure is now at 79 per cent. Similarly, 59% of customers believed that calling a company would address their problems instantly three years ago; that figure is now at 66%.

Customer expectations are constantly changing. There is no single channel that can meet all customers’ needs. In their daily lives, your customers, like you and your team, use a multitude of media. Social media may be used to share experiences, instant messaging can send fast updates, and phone calls can be used to have in-depth conversations. They’re bringing those expectations into their customer service encounters as well.

What are the benefits of Live Chat?

1. Cost: The ability to handle multiple customers simultaneously and provide 24/7 coverage helps bring down the cost of customer support.
2. Proactive support: The agents can proactively reach out to the customers and guide them to minimise their issues.
3. Less frustrated customers: Less waiting time, instant connection with the brand, and fast resolution contribute to the customers being happy and building loyalty.
4. Improved data collection: Live chat lets you collect customer feedback in real-time through a feedback form at the end of the Chat. 
5. Improved revenue collection: Being able to monitor real-time customer behaviour using live chat tools, your team can initiate chats with visitors who have been on a page a specified time and increase their chances of having a sale. Also, integrating your Chat with a CRM tool helps identify upsell opportunities and improve your sales strategies.

What are the benefits of Phone Support?

1. Instant resolution: Phone support, like live Chat, provides fast answers to your customer’s issues. For a win-win situation, escalations from live Chat can be handled by phone support.
2. Direct contact with brands: The customer can directly interact with the brand and learn more about the issues faced, delays in solutions etc. They are also able to communicate better over the phone.
3. Get a better knowledge of customer reactions: Customer service representatives can assess customer behaviour during contact and, as a result, devise a strategy for creating a personalised experience for them.

A few things to consider

• 8 out of 10 customers leave companies due to poor service
• Agent assisted support is preferred 67% of the time.
• Self-service is preferred by only 33% of customers.

This is where Live Chat comes into its own: offering that personal service and engagement with an agent that customers desire and expect without the lengthy waiting time of phone support. Your company provides an avenue for help that customers can take up without any trouble. They are already using your company’s website, and accessing the Chat will not be a big ask. These days, customers are constantly perusing the web, and preferences are more for websites than physical stores; therefore, businesses should meet them where they already are: on your website. This is where Live Chat will help, as it bridges the digital gap between the customer and the agent.

If your company serves clients, customers, or prospects, you must deliver the highest possible level of service to them. Despite the introduction of new support channels and the evolution of contact centres, speaking with a live person over the phone remains a popular option, at times the only option for those without technical savvy. Though it is possible that you might get put on hold for a long time, a phone conversation provides a level of individuality that many people crave. Phone help is limited when compared to live chat. An agent can only talk to one customer at a time. Used wisely, phone help can be practical for customer care. Voice is evolving as an escalation, not a primary mode of communication.

Live Chat’s ability to assist your company in delivering real-time customer care gives service a whole new meaning. Aside from that, several other advantages distinguish live Chat from phone assistance. There are multiple scenarios where a live chat service is a good fit for businesses.

• Online companies with higher-order values and sales will benefit from live chat services.
• A subscription-based online brand can have customers ask many questions requiring instant answers from live chat services.
• A business that runs solely on mobile applications needs live chat services to answer customer queries fast.
• Companies can bring down their support cost by enabling live chat support on their website.
• A business can use live Chat to generate leads that convert the potential website visitors to actual customers.

Phone assistance, like live chat help, can be beneficial in various ways for a company. So, let’s have a look at some of them.

• Voice support may be valuable for businesses that want to develop an emotional connection with their clients.
• Firms must incorporate phone support in their customer communication channels to deliver individualised care to VIP clients.
• Businesses with a physical location and an online presence will benefit from phone help to tackle complex consumer issues.
• Voice is evolving as an escalation tool, not a primary mode of communication.

Because their client volumes are higher, e-commerce, retail, telecom, and service-based firms can rely on primary live chat support with phone support for escalations.

Conclusion

The fact that today’s customer care tools are not one-size-fits-all goes without saying. Various communication modes, such as live chat customer service, phone customer service, and customer service chatbots, provide varied benefits to the organisation and the client. The most obvious possibilities for delivering highly personalised, on-demand customer assistance are live Chat and the phone. Both provide for a close agent-to-customer relationship and the ability for customers to explain an issue or ask a question and receive a prompt response. Customers can obtain rapid solutions to their queries with live Chat and phone support, but a few significant differences can influence when and how you employ them.

Live chat support is ahead when we look at cost, reach, speed, ease of use, adaptability, data collection and many other parameters, while phone support is effective in closing out issues. So live Chat would be the ideal support system based on the available data. Live Chat can also be paired with other modes like phone support to get the best service possible when there is an escalation.

Visit https://www.livechatagent.com.au/ or CALL TRACEY at 1800 332 428 to learn how to put Australia’s best performing fully-managed live chat service to work for your website.

Also Read: Why Your Sales Team Should Be Using Live Chat

• 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