Most companies thrive off the positive communication they establish with their customers. It is especially important if they sell their products and services. The range of their clients involves both those loyal buyers who like and purchase the product, window shoppers who are just on the crossway of making a positive decision, and those who have just heard about the company for the first time and haven’t formed any idea yet.
The objective of any business, in this case, is to build provider-customer relationships on a mutually beneficial base. To do this, they have to show that buyers’ needs are understood, that they are ready to help in making a choice, and that they always react with empathy if something is unclear or goes wrong.
Businesses can achieve all these goals through live chat which should be used towards all these ends. The most advantageous feature of live chats is that they offer an immediate address to customers. Here are some tips and methods of using live chat tools for such an important improvement.
Benefits of Live Chats
The most important task to fulfill through live chats is making customers feel that you are there to help them, to serve them, and to solve all their specific problems immediately. If they feel that, they are likely to become not just loyal clients, but your most eager advocates.
The Internet provides businesses with this positive engagement, and you should do your best to use this powerful option for your company’s promotion and prosperity.
Among the most obvious benefits of live chat, the following ones can be highlighted:
- reduction of expenses compared to traditional channels
- increase in sales
- improvement of customer service and loyalty
- discovery of client pain points
- fast and consistent problem resolution
- convenience for customers
- advantages in competition
- market reach and expanded opportunities
- proactive planning and outreach
- thorough analysis and reporting
However, keep in mind that this feat only sounds that easy. It may turn out much harder than you initially believe. Using the latest customer service tools and updated tactics will help much in succeeding.
Why do Customers Prefer Live Chat?
The American marketing expert and founder of the same-name marketing firm J.D. Power, argues that live chat has turned into the leading online contact method for shoppers because 42% of them prefer live chatting to email (23%) and social media (16%).
The reason lies in the human mind. You are more likely to address someone immediately when you are buying something online. That is why people opt for buying from websites with a live chat feature on them. This quick support during the stage of making decisions increases positive choices and conversion rates.
As for the company, it is also very convenient when you can instantly communicate with your visitors resolving their hesitation, possible negative perceptions, and disappointment.
Tactical Tips for Using Live Chat in Establishing Positive Customer Connections
For increasing the part of live-chatting in making business, remember and apply the main principles of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) combined with technological advances.
1. Personalize your services with the combination of live chat and CRM
This tool can help you in developing your company’s long-term strategies. By live chatting, you will learn much about your potential and real customers, their needs and problems, and the way they prefer to be treated.
Maintaining cloud-based data about customers and their preferences in the past, you will be able to analyze their live chat experiences and make them more convenient. In its turn, that may help you to predict their future needs, problems, and behavior.
For instance, if they are contacting you about some specifications of the product they want to buy, you may develop the best algorithm for answering such requests.
2. Complete a thorough knowledge base for live chat to provide the information your customers need
Your operator needs to acquire a perfect knowledge of services and products to be able to give more information for settling their doubts, to ensure that all the issues with shipping or replacement and refurbishment will be solved in a while.
Making such a database will require good communication among the departments in your company. It is also a good idea to have some operators for live chatting who specialize in resolving different issues. Your customers will quit your site completely satisfied and wish to be back again.
3. Train your chat agents to create a friendly, though professional, interaction
On the one side, chat agents should make customers feel welcome. Being respected is a positive experience that any customer will transfer to their surroundings. On the other side, looking too friendly can make a customer think that this communication is not with a professional.
Which is better? To choose something in between. Too much formality works the same way keeping the unnecessary distance between the customer and the company.
Live chat does not mean speaking like a robot. The purpose is to show buyers that they are speaking with real people who take their time to care about any issue that can emerge. So, the best option is friendliness and empathy, yet with some respectful and understanding approach.
4. Promise and deliver timely results
No doubt that the chat agent should be able to work under pressure. If the information a client is asking about needs some additional contacts with other departments, a consultant has to set adequate deadlines to get back to a client with a ready solution.
If the client’s request is not replied to as soon as possible, a buyer may feel offended, and the company’s reputation can be hurt. Giving information about refunds, tracking of products, or shipping must be a priority.
Another point to consider is asking for feedback from clients. A quick survey will help determine whether everything works well.
5. Dealing with common answers, use keyboard shortcuts
No matter how many people are employed for the position of chat agent, they will never be enough, especially if your company is quite big. That is why think about some automation Ask your operators to use canned messages which may appear to be a helpful way to save time.
Certain keyboard shortcuts will help to show your clients your readiness to help immediately despite their busy schedules. For instance, always automate the greeting and other formal replies.
6. Make the live chat option available on other devices
Consider that most customers nowadays make their online purchases from their mobiles. So, think about making your site online-friendly. That is why you need to make your live chat available on any mobile platform.
Another positive outcome of such an improvement is that by using this platform you are likely to help your followers become your customers in the future. Using a service that lets you flexibly integrate live video stream chat capabilities across your website and the mobile app keeps things consistent, which is what would-be customers and loyal users really want
7. Make explanations in simple terms
Customers mostly do not understand the terminology. It means that a chat agent needs to be patient in trying to explain technical terms or online receipts in simpler words as well as how to use the website.
To make this situation still easier for both the agent and the client, develop a small guide on how to explain technical terms or deal with technically ignorant clients.
Top Live Chat Software Solutions
To boost the outcomes of successful live chats, properly choose the software. This can significantly increase your conversion rates. An effective tool needs to be quite intuitive both for operators and visitors or customers to use. Moreover, with the progress of technology, customers nowadays demand still quicker responses and more mobile-friendly options.
You can pick out some live chat solutions according to your needs out of the following ones:
There are still more apps and platforms for live chat as you can see here. No matter which of these options, you would prefer, do the free trial first to ensure that your choice corresponds to the needs of your company.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that many people do not put much faith in online shopping. So, it is very important to make them perceive your company as a real one and live chat can play an essential part in that. When potential customers see that they can talk to real people and discuss any problem emerging, they are more bound to trust your brand and your site for just giving the first try to your products.
Live chatting is a great way of communication between companies and their clients. That is why it is very important to ensure that communication is maintained in a well-prepared, professional, and respectful way so that both parties could benefit from it.
