We’re in the business age where brands are defined by their customer support experiences. Consumers are eager to connect and engage with their favourite brands, but what makes a successful customer support experience?
Think back to your own customer support experiences for a moment and how they affected your decision as a consumer. Most of us have experienced a poor level of service at some stage, whether it is an agent who seems burdened by your very presence or various departments directing you in every direction so you’re somebody else’s problem. In other scenarios, sometimes it’s something as simple as not even being able to reach anyone at all.
Then we have the other end of the spectrum, where customer service teams go the extra mile and we are left amazed. There is nothing that instils more confidence in us as consumers than a positive customer experience that left us feeling valued.
These interactions matter. Not only do they shape consumers perception of your business, but they directly result in the acquisition and loss of sales and subscription retention.
Modern technology has made it easier than ever for small businesses to emerge, setting up an online presence at minimal expense and being present with a worldwide audience. This has also resulted in a large volume of failed ventures too however, we’re now at a time where a website doesn’t offer a free credible image and trust has to be earned with consumers.
Live chat is about more than solving problems, asking questions and even discussing your products. It’s an opportunity for consumers to verify there’s a presence behind the image, one they deem trustworthy and professional.
Of all the available channels open to customers, live chat is the fastest, simplest and least obtrusive. It should be no surprise at least one third of customers now expect live chat to be available when contacting a business.
Customers prefer live chat for all the same reasons we adopted the text message in our personal lives. Its private, discrete and most important it’s convenient. Customers can carry on checking email, eating or even working while having a conversation.
Offering live chat has benefits to your business too. You’ve probably heard your marketing department talking about conversion optimisation; it’s an important part of any marketing funnel. We see brands investing in call to actions and split testing every day, but live chat has so much more to offer and has proven to be effective.
A massive 77% of online shoppers want to speak to a real person before making a purchase. Live chat allows a customer to get questions answered without leaving the website and without waiting for an email response. Engaging the customer while they are ready to buy is the single biggest conversion tool you can have.
Traditional telephone or email business support only allows your staff to be working on one customers issue at a time while live chat agents can be working on as many as six simultaneous customers at any given time.
Live chat allows your agents to chat with each other and access material relevant to the conversation whilst chatting to a customer. There is no need to place a customer on hold while your operative confers with their team members or managers.
Statistics show that users originating from search engines will open multiple results simultaneously. Do you want to be the brand losing out to your competitors converting via live chat, or the forward thinker acquiring those conversions?
Live chat delivers valuable data about your customers including location, devices, behaviour on your website and more to help target your marketing efforts.
For more information about live chat installation, integration and affordable live chat operators with New Cove. Reach out to our helpful team on 033 0043 0073 or email sales@newcove.co.uk.
