Nowadays, consumer expectations of customer service have reached new heights—providing support via phone and email has become the default standard for most companies. To differentiate your business and improve the customer experience, it’s important to also give your customers access to on-demand support. How do you make sure your customers are getting their needs addressed as quickly as possibly? Enter: live chat support. While chat may seem like yet another complicated channel to install and manage, in reality, implementing live chat software has never been easier and more effective. Here are a handful of ways your customers and you can benefit from live chat support. 1. Allow customers to multitask No one wants to spend their lunch break on hold with your company (or any other). With live chat support, customers can carry on with their day-to-day lives while waiting for that “ping” sound to assure them the agent has replied 2. Provide chat logs for transparency and proof of contact When customers engage with your company’s customer support via phone, they don’t typically receive a recording of the verbal conversation. The majority of live chat software gives customers the option of receiving a transcription of the conversation afterwards for their records. This gives them a point of reference in case any issues arise in the future. The transcriptions can also be used by chat agents to help repeat customers. Instead of the customer wasting time rehashing their support query, the chat agent can simply look at the previous chat and continue the conversation. 3. Make customer service available 24/7 Your customers want to be able to reach you whenever they encounter a problem, and frequently, that happens outside of normal work hours. Live chat gives your business the opportunity to provide 24/7 support, reducing response times and backlogged requests while boosting customer satisfaction. 4. Prevent unnecessary costs Calling support hotlines costs money, especially when customers are put on hold for extensive periods of time. Live chat comes at no cost to the customer—that way, negative feelings aren’t exacerbated and your agents have a better chance of being treated in a calm, respectful manner. Your business saves, too. There is no complex wiring or infrastructure required to install live chat software—a simple piece of code and a subscription to the right package is usually all you need. Your business probably already employs a receptionist, call center staff, or sales team to man the phones. Why not assign each of them a time slot to monitor the live chat platform? It’s a low investment method that increases your customer reach exponentially. 5. Gather important data There is no such thing as too much data. Live chat software provides an additional layer of data to your current tracking and attribution tools. The data you receive varies according to platform, but in general live chat delivers:
6. Increase sales Salespeople love live chat because it lets them nudge customers towards certain products or services without having to resort to the “hard sell.” A customer that visits your website is probably already interested in your product or service—instead of wishfully hoping they make a purchase, you can engage them by using proactive triggers. By initiating contact during the crucial decision-making stage, you increase the chances of your customers making a successful purchase. Still not convinced? Check out this infographic for even more reasons why your customers want to chat
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