A live chat assistance is a very first thing a website visitor searches for when he/she gets stuck at a point. It is undoubtedly one of the most wanted communication channels to interact with websites to get instant help in case of any queries.
The most successful businesses around the globe today, use this amazing support tool to boost sales, gain competitive advantages and enhance customer satisfaction.
For the businesses, who are still trying to reach the highest point of success, here are some tips to make the most out of the live chat assistance.
Offer a copy of the transcript to the customers:
Customers contact the live chat agents so as to get their queries resolved instantly. The whole chat process provides them with valuable information. But, most people don’t record every conversation so this information can get lost or can be rendered futile. So, provide your customers with transcripts at the end of live chat sessions.
Include chat button in email campaigns:
This feature allows your customers to provide direct feedback on questions they may have regarding the email they’ve received from you. Emails could be anything from periodic newsletters or follow-ups to individual questions or grievances. Embedding a chat button along with it further provides an ease of instant query resolution.
Provide chat agents with previous chat transcripts:
Providing your chat agents with a chat history for returning visitors allows the agents to come up to speed on issues that the customer discussed previously, and to proactively follow up with any questions. This will hasten up the live chat process and customers will appreciate the fact that they don’t have to repeat their previous problems to newly assigned chat agents.
Initiate an automatic response:
The only way to guarantee a quick response is to accept all incoming chats immediately. Once a customer initiates a chat session, the system should accept the chat automatically and convince the customer that a chat agent will respond shortly. Pre-canned messages can be used to welcome the customer and let him know that action is taking place immediately.
Inculcate pre-chat survey forms:
Pre-chat survey forms allow customers to set the direction of the conversation. They include questions that allow your chat agents the necessary background so they can provide a quick and courteous answer. The pre-chat survey forms also allow you to quickly route the chat session to the agents who are most qualified to handle the respective conversations.
Transfer chat sessions when required:
Individual agents may have different areas of expertise, so, provide them with a list of other agents and their levels of expertise. This helps in cases where a chat agent is involved in a conversation that has got to do nothing with his current level of expertise. He can quickly transfer the chat to another agent ensuring that the customer is aware of the transfer.
Make use of typing indicators:
Your live chat software should include typing indicators. It should enable the agents to see a customer’s words as they type. It should further issue an alert when the customer has hit the “send” button. This feature gives the agents insight into what the customers are thinking as they type. It further allows the respective chat agent to respond quickly without making the customer wait for long time periods. The alert should be audible, visible, or both such that it lets the agent know that a customer is awaiting a response.
Program targetted pages to raise chat offer:
As a matter of fact, just raising the offer to chat is enough to convey a sense of goodwill. Allow customers to browse your site for a time before raising the offer to chat. Identify a list of target pages where you want to increase the conversion rate. Thereafter, program them to automatically raise the chat offer after a period of 30 – 60 seconds.
Create a set of professionally designed canned messages:
It is important to greet the customers professionally when they arrive within a live chat conversation. The live chat agents can do this with professionally designed canned messages. Carefully worded standardized canned messages can further help automate parts of the conversation. They can further help augment your professional profile in order to greet the customers with courtesy.
Employ CRM tool along with live chat software:
All your chat agents should have access to customer sales records. Integrating online chat with CRM tool allows them to update the CRM records at the end of a chat session.
Employ these strategies and see your businesses succeeding like never before.