Do you cringe when your phone rings, wishing the caller texted you instead? 

What about online? Do you like to interact through a chat platform? I definitely do, and the research shows users appreciate sites that include a live chat platform for support. In fact, J.D. Power found that live chat has become the leading digital contact method for online customers, with a whopping 42% of customers preferring the method over email, social media, or forums. To top it off, live chat is predicted to grow by as much as 87% in the next 12-18 months. 

Let's dig deeper on the benefits of adding live chat to your organization's website. The numerous benefits will have you wishing you adopted it earlier. 

The Benefits of Live Chat Platforms

Companies that use chat to communicate with customers see benefits including increased service, sales, and marketing insight. Here are some examples. 

Improved Customer Service:  This channel is an opportunity to showcase your customer service skills. A quick, custom response via a chat window can easily increase brand sentiment if communicated properly. Econsultancy discovered that 73% of customers were satisfied with their live chat experience, higher than both email and phone. 

Increased Sales: If a potential customer has a question about a product and is able to get an immediate answer via live chat, there is a higher chance for them to convert on that item. Similarly, a knowledgeable representative may be able to offer an alternative product or service if the user has concerns over a specific feature. 

Improved Marketing & User Insight: Website visitors that engage with a company via live chat are typically farther down the conversion funnel than browsers. Use the questions and comments they submit to improve your product descriptions and sales features. You can get valuable insight into what browsers and looking for and what really matters to them before they buy. 

The benefits of live chat are plentiful, however, less than 10% of companies implement this feature on their website. Luckily, most CMSs support live chat and a web developer can set it up with just a few lines of code. As far as dedicating someone to be the chat representative, you want to select someone who has exceptional written communication and customer service skills. Something to keep in mind is that users will get impatient if they have to wait too long for a response. Treat it as you would a phone call and never let a chat go unanswered. If you are not available, provide an alternative option for customers (a standard feature in most chat applications). To keep your customers happy, create alerts so that a chat is automatically assigned to a free agent if unanswered within 30 seconds. You can also set expectations by including a message upfront (“We normally respond to chats within one minute”) before the chat begins so customers are not kept waiting. When you deliver on their expectations, they remain happy customers.

Chat Services We Like

A couple of chat services we like include Olark and Ace Chat. Olark offers a free version and Ace has the capacity to provide more robust options.

Mobile browsing and shopping are so popular, users are becoming conditioned to expect some sort of live chat platform. So let live chat be one of your differentiators and surpass your user's expectations. Contact us about the ability to implement a live chat function to your website. We'll chat with you soon!