Making the most out of a live chat service is just a matter of using all the live chat elements in the correct proportions. If used correctly, live chat can help generate leads, reduce cart abandonment, boost sales and gain loyal customers. On the other hand, if the chat support is not up to the mark, it can drive the customers away. Here’s a list of the most common live chat fails along with the ways to mend them:

Inappropriate positioning of live chat button:

The biggest and the very first mistake that a business can make is not positioning or branding the live chat feature. If the positioning of this feature is not appropriate, your website visitors wouldn’t even know that it exists. So, it needs to be designed in such a way that it compliments the website design. Moreover, it should include logo and agent pictures so as to build trust to enable a conversation to commence.

Late responses:

There’s no point providing chat support on a website if the customers have to wait for long time intervals to get their queries resolved. So, it’s advisable that businesses use their live chat platform’s reporting and analytics tools so as to make sure that they have the bandwidth needed to effectively manage peak times for live chat activity.

Inappropriate implementation of chat invites:

Proactive chat is a great way to know your customers’ pain points way before they reach out to you. It’s a way of extending support just when they require it.  However, if implemented incorrectly, these chat invites can actually drive the website visitors away. So, the best solution is to set rules to send dynamic invites to visitors when they need help. These rules may be based on certain keywords entered on a search engine or time spent on a specific page etc.

Security issues:

Data security is a major concern when businesses such as financial, health and legal sector choose a chat provider. In such cases, they should consider opting for a secure chat window that displays ‘HTTPS’ for the customers’ satisfaction.