6 Ways Live Chat Supports Quality Customer Service

Site Report Card November 16, 2017

Did you know that 51% of consumers now believe that business should be available to answer questions 24/7?

Additionally, 42% of people say they prefer live chat to interacting on the phone.

Live chat is one of the latest evolutions of quality customer service. It allows your company to respond to questions and concerns in real time through an online chat tool.

Customers can access it right through your website. If you’re looking for how to have a seamless customer experience, this is it.

Let’s take a look at 6 ways live chat supports quality customer service.

1. Keep People Focused and On Point

From television to cell phones to seeing sky dancers while driving, distractions have become a way of life in today’s society.

As such, when a potential consumer has to wait even a moderate amount of time to get their question answered, they go elsewhere.

Hand-Hold and Walk Them Through

Some customers may want to be walked through the buying process the first time they purchase.

This crucial component may be what keeps a person coming back to your company for more.

You also have those customers who seem to want hand-holding through every purchase.

“Preferred Contact Time”

A person can even submit a request containing their question or concern on live chat. They can select a preferred time to contact them back.

This function gives both the consumer and the customer service representative a more structured option. It offers the ability for the rep to prepare a response.

2. Gain Insight into Your Customer’s Behavior

Whether you run a rehab website or a health and fitness website, you’ll want to know what your consumer is responding to.

In other words, what is it they like about your website, product or service? What don’t they like?

When you interact directly with your customers through live chat, you can deliver quality customer service. That’s just one more fantastic opportunity for engagement.

It offers you fairly direct access to your consumer’s thoughts, worries, and behaviors.

Improving Your Products or Services

As the old saying goes, “knowledge is power.” You can gain this power by considering feedback from your customers.

Live chat provides you with the perfect opportunity to ask questions and find out what your customers are looking for.

This valuable information can help you better understand the person you’re selling to.

When you better understand your customer, you can improve your products or services to appeal to a wider demographic. You’ll also be able to enhance your marketing strategies based on the direct feedback.

3. Build Stronger Relationships with Consumers

Quality customer service begins and ends with the relationship between the customer and your company.

Customers want to feel like they matter to you and they’re not just another dollar sign.

Video Chat

Live chat can also utilize video with its customers for an even more personal interaction.

Live chat that uses video can offer you the benefit of being able to have actual eye contact with your customers. You can connect with them on more than just a business level.

You’ll be able to foster stronger relationships as they begin to see you and your company as a human being first and business second.

4. Increase Efficiency and Decrease Costs

Live chat can help you save money and increase your efficiency for quality customer service. It offers your customers shorter wait times.

Increase in Efficiency

Think about how many people are reached by Twitter chats. Most of the questions that come through, the reps have answered 1000 times.

Because of this, one person can usually handle several chats at a time. This advantage is simply not possible when you’re answering phone calls.

Rapid Response Time

With live chat, most of the time the customer service responder is ready and available.

They will be able to quickly and easily provide answers to the customer’s questions. Typically, the consumer will receive a satisfactory response in under a minute.

Decrease in Cost

Because one person can respond to multiple chats, you’ll be able to hire fewer people without sacrificing quality customer service.

You can do more with less. You can focus on quality over quantity.

Quick Questions and Shorter Wait Times

Another added benefit to live chat is that it allows the consumer to receive answers quickly to short, simple questions.

In this fast-paced world of instant gratification, shorter wait times are always a bonus when it comes to working with customers.

5. More Quickly Eliminate Barriers

As human beings, we tend to harbor a lot of unrealistic fears and doubts that often have little to do with reality.

Natural Worriers

Some people just seem to be natural worriers. These worries can keep potential consumers from becoming actual consumers.

Through its quick response time, live chat can answer customer questions faster. This helps to ease their minds of concerns and doubt that could potentially keep them from buying your product or services.

What’s more important to your business strategy than this? Reducing or eliminating barriers to purchase.

The result is an increase in sales and perhaps even word-of-mouth advertising because they so loved your customer service.

6. Keep Your Competitive Edge

Adding live chat to your customer service now will keep you in the competitive running as this approach grows in popularity.

Some businesses already utilize this strategy with incredible feedback.

Customer Service Training

Make sure you invest in some solid training for your customer service representatives. Be sure to cover the following topics:

Frequently asked questions and have prepared responses
The ins and outs of the products and website navigation
Interaction that is human, not with a script or sounding like a robot
Troubleshooting steps to the most common issues
Education on high traffic periods and ensure your company has representatives standing by