One of the best aspects of being in the customer service business is the number of ways that we can communicate with customers today. Yes, phone and e-mail are still in the mix of communication but in recent years, Live Chat has quickly grown in popularity from being a “nice-to-have” to being a “must-have.” In this blog, we’d like to take a closer look at Live Chat; the advantages it offers and how it can positively impact online sales and customer satisfaction.
ADVANTAGES OF LIVE CHAT
Before we dive into how Live Chat can improve online sales, let’s take a look at some of the advantages Live Chat offers. An article published in Comm100 last year, lists the following benefits of Live Chat:
- Reduce Expenses
- Increase Sales
- Improve customer service and loyalty
- Discover customer pain points
- Resolve problems faster
- Convenience for the customer
- Competitive Advantages
- Expand Market Reach
- Proactive Outreach
- Reports and Analytics
At Centris, as we have integrated Live Chat into our contact centers, we have found this to be true. Live Chat is a relatively inexpensive tool to implement and is easy to integrate into already existing systems. Because it is an immediate, real-time form of communication, Centris agents find that customer problems do get resolved more quickly and once the Live Chat conversation has been concluded, both the customer and the agent have a written record of the conversation that is identical; therefore, should we ever have to revisit an issue, both the agent and the customer can refer to the same written record. This record also serves as part of the analytical data that we use to improve our service and to inform our clients about common customer problems that need to be addressed. Not only does Live Chat offer all of these advantages, but it also allows agents to be more efficient because it allows multiple conversations to happen simultaneously. Agents are able to handle several customer inquiries at once using Live Chat, while this is not the case with phone or e-mail. Overall, we have found Live Chat to be indispensable in our contact centers.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THREE ADVANTAGES
Three Live Chat advantages that deserve a closer look are Proactive Outreach, Increase of Sales, and Improving Customer Service and Loyalty. Here at Centris, we believe the proactive nature of Live Chat is one of the primary factors that sets it apart from other forms of communication within the contact center. When a customer visits a website, the Live Chat icon is visible and typically accompanies a message such as, “can we help?” or “click here to chat with an agent.” This tells the customer that we are readily available to answer their questions and gives the customer a sense of being in control of the situation rather than being put on hold indefinitely. This lays the foundation for a positive customer experience which builds loyalty over time.
In a recent article, 21 Reasons Live Chat Can Help you Grow Your Business, author Steven MacDonald shares these statistics about how Live Chat improves customer satisfaction.
According to this graph, the majority of customers, 73% to be exact, are happy with their Live Chat experience.
Part of what makes Live Chat so great is the fact that customer response times are so much quicker than other platforms.
The immediacy of Live Chat is one of the primary reasons it is preferred by customers. No one wants to wait hours to get the answer to their question and no one wants to be stuck on hold indefinitely waiting for an agent to respond. Live Chat allows for fast response times which is so critical to customer satisfaction.
So, we’ve established that Live Chat definitely improves customer satisfaction, but can it really improve online sales? According to the same article, the answer to that question is a resounding YES!
A report by ICMI found that website visitors that engage with your company via live chat are worth 4.5 times more than visitors that don’t.
Furthermore, Forrester noted that there was a 10% increase in the average order value when reviewing the sales from customers who engaged in a chat before making a purchase, than those that did not use chat.
That’s not all.
The same study uncovered that live chat leads to a 48% increase in revenue per chat hour and a 40% increase in conversion rate. It’s clear that live chat is providing companies with staggering results.
Based on these statistics, why would any business NOT use Live Chat? This is a tool that can help you grow your business and, more importantly, improve the experience your customers have when visiting your site. Here at Centris, we are firm believers in the advantages of Live Chat and we offer Live Chat solutions in both English and Spanish in our two Mexico contact centers.
If you would like to increase sales, improve your customer experience, and offer the competitive edge of bilingual Live Chat, contact us. You can rely on Centris to provide a high-quality Live Chat experience for your customers.
