The Advantages of a Live Chat on Your Website

You’ve probably used a live chat on websites of major retail stores, banks, and small-to-mid-sized businesses. You may not know how important these features are. Here are five ways your businesses can benefit from using a live chat on your website.

Live Chat Allows you to be Proactive

Research shows that businesses who reach out to the consumer before the consumer reaches out to them are more successful. To be specific, a recent study published in Forbes Magazine found that a proactive approach increases customer retention by 3-5%, reduces inbound customer service call volumes by 20-30%, and lowers call operating costs by as much as 25%.

Live chat allows you to establish proactive customer service. Rather than wait for consumers to ask a question, you can initiate the conversation to put them at ease and let them know that help is available whenever they need it.

You Get to Resolve Issues Quicker

One of the reasons for high abandonment and exit rates on business websites is unresolved issues. For example, perhaps a consumer shopping hits a snag and needs help. If there’s no one around to offer immediate assistance, that buyer will exit or try to contact you via email dragging out the resolution process.

With live chat its possible to address issues on the spot. If one of your visitors has an issue, they can ask questions and get answers right away.

Obtain Useful Insight

A live chat is a potent source of data and insight that can be used to propel growth. Monitor your traffic versus chat requests to determine if you need to improve your website content to educate visitors. You can also monitor common questions and find proactive ways to address them like FAQs.

Track your rate of conversion when you initiate a chat versus when the consumer initiates the chat, and compare the results with success rates when there is no chat completely. This data can help you make better marketing decisions.

It Helps Build Trust

According to Forrester Research, customer trust reached an all-time low in 2018, with the majority of consumers openly admitting that they don’t trust more than half of the companies they buy from.

Live chat is one of the best ways to initiate or resurrect your relationships with customers to build lasting trust for long-term growth. That’s because trust is about creating a relationship with the customer and live chat gives you the platform to achieve that. Therefore you and the customer can learn about each other, share your concerns, and find common ground on any issues.

It Increases Business Efficiency

You won’t need a large customer support team because most issues will be addressed via live chat. A smaller customer support department means two things; easier management and saving money. Since a majority of digital consumers prefer live chat (44% say they prefer chat according to Forrester), you can expect to handle most issues in one place rather than on multiple communication channels. Stay with the consumer throughout the purchase journey. Provide them with useful information and assistance at every stage, for a satisfying shopping experience.

Put together, these benefits guarantee increased revenue, a boost in profits, and reduced expenses – exactly what any business wants!

Want to discuss chat options for your website?  Give us a call or contact us via email today!