Gone are the days when customers had to use a phone to communicate with a business. Today, we have numerous communication channels to help customers reach businesses without spending time in the call queue. Among these channels, live chat support is the most satisfying communication channel for over 73% of customers.
In this age of online shopping, many customers look for answers to their questions in real-time with precision. To resolve this, many businesses have added live chat support that helps them provide answers to customer questions in real-time. Apart from that, they also have quite a few benefits:
Live Chat Support – Benefits
1. Convenient for Customers
Many online consumers want help from a live person while shopping online. A study called “Making Proactive Chat Work,” conducted by Forrester Research, found that 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer.
Live chat gives online customers immediate access to help. Wait times are often significantly less than phone support, and customers can easily multi-task while waiting.
According to an ATG Global Consumer Trend study, 90% of customers consider live chat helpful. According to an eMarketer.com survey, 62% of customers are more likely to purchase again from a site with live chat, while 38% of respondents said that they made the purchase because of the chat session.
2. Cost-Effective
While live chat software can be a considerable investment initially, it will drastically lessen employee task time and phone expenses. Live chat reduces contact center costs by lowering average interaction costs. It increases efficiency by allowing live chat agents to handle multiple chats simultaneously (4-5 chats), thus reducing the need to hire more.
With agents spending less time on the phone, they can multi-task during chat conversations and cut the waiting queue to a bare minimum, thus increasing the chance of overall sales.
3. Increases Sales
To quote a study by Forbes magazine – “In 2008, Wells Fargo made a second attempt to leverage online chat to drive sales, and happily, this time, the results have been crystal clear. High customer satisfaction scores and a double-digit increase in converted shoppers have shown the value once and for all of this technology.”
The main aim of live chat support is that customers should have someone who can help them during a purchase by answering their important questions and resolving their confusion regarding a product or service. It helps eliminate bounces away from e-commerce websites and ensures that the products or services carts make it through checkout.
4. Gives You an Edge of Your Competition
If you want to gain an edge over the competition, live chat is a necessary feature to add to your website. Live chat provides a simple way to connect with customers who spend a good deal of their money online. According to E-Marketer, “Almost two in 10 live chat respondents did more than 75% of their holiday shopping online, compared with 14% of those who did not chat. A further 25% of chatters made 51% to 75% of their purchases on the Web, versus just 10% of those who did not participate in the chat service.”
So, besides cost benefits, customer support, and increased sales, live chat support can help you book the top spot ahead of your competition.
5. Access to Customer Pain Points
Chat support is an excellent opportunity for a company to know the frustrations and needs that are yet to be filled. When customers use live chat, they’ll try to ensure that a product will perform as advertised or that a promotion will provide the discount they want. In addition, as live chat agents talk to customers, they can find out how a customer wants to improve a company’s products and services.
These are some benefits a business can reap by incorporating live chat support on its website.
