Live chat support is the most satisfying way to boost customer engagement and one of the major factors that make a business successful. According to Statista, over 56 million chat conversations from companies worldwide, which, altogether, represent 14 industries, use the said messaging channel to address their customers or sell their product. These statistics show how live chat support affects the revenue of businesses on a global scale.
Before you start developing and perfecting a live chat feature on your customer support, there are specific do’s and don’ts of live chat that you should be aware of so you know what to do and what to avoid.
Check out these live chat customer service tips for you to deliver exceptional B2C interactions.
DO’s
Be quick
Occasionally, you may not be able to respond to your customer in a timely manner. That doesn’t mean that delayed responses are alright. Remember, customers are always looking for prompt response time in all service providers. It’s important to be quick when it comes to providing an answer to your customers, otherwise it will defeat the purpose of enabling live chat messaging. Your target audience will surely be delighted if you are capable of delivering quick responses at a consistent rate. Timeliness in end-user assistance is one of the secrets behind getting leads to try more of the services you offer. Conversational ai solutions enables you to quickly respond to your customers, eliminating the bottleneck of waiting for support from your data analytics or performance teams.
Get Personal
Treat customers as you would like to be treated by others in the industry. To help your patrons and leads on a personal level means making them feel extra appreciated. It will most likely turn site visitors into paying clients. Instead of making them feel like they are talking to a robot, add a personal touch through personalized messages or replies. A simple way to carry this out is through addressing visitors, customers or buyers through their first name. Refrain from using highly technical terms and instead, provide solutions using words that your users would easily understand. Some businesses, particularly eCommerce sites, use customer-provided data, such as their purchasing and browsing history. In this manner, live chat becomes a tool for suggesting items, upcoming sales, and exclusive discounts they may be interested in. At the end of every message, don’t forget to wrap things up with a simple thank you as a sign of appreciation for them reaching out to you.
Localized Support
Live chat support is used by business owners globally especially in the eCommerce industry. Panic ensues when you have only an English translator as your go-to for assessing concerns from different parts of the world or when you’ve got multilingual messages flooding in.
Among expert-recommended live chat tips involves enabling localized support. It is vital if your services are designed for the worldwide market. Understanding the local culture of the customers and offering services in their native language increases the satisfaction rate and trust of the company.
Don’t let the language barrier get in your way!
Combine Chatbots and Human Agents
Chatbots make things easier for chat agents and businesses. There are several benefits that chatbots can do. One, they keep you connected with customers even during off-hours. Two, they save time even with limited in-house agents available per shift. Three, they enable real-time interaction and can also be programmed to handle multilingual conversations.
Meanwhile, that shouldn’t mean you can rely 100% on bots alone. Truly, AI plays a crucial part in helping your company with a plethora of tasks, but there are specific circumstances when a human agent is needed in improving customer experience. All in all, the mixed approach of employing the advantages of both agents and bots is the best way to acquire customers and drive sales fast.
Don’ts
If there is a list of things that help maximize the inclusion of live chat into your user help desk, then there are also specific decisions that you must avoid, to minimize errors and a mismatch in resolving buyer concerns.
Below are live chat support tips focused on typical mistakes that most business owners tend to commit when using this form of communication.
Unnecessarily Transfer Queries Across Multiple Agents
Transferring chats to other agents is unavoidable. At times, the agent handling the query may be a newbie and needs guidance from their superior to ensure they provide the correct solutions or answers to the customer. Alternatively, the agent may not readily have all the information required to solve the client’s issue. This is where a more experienced agent can help.
Indeed, some queries may be too complex, but try to limit the number of times an inquiry is transferred or escalated from one agent to another several times in a row. It will only leave people frustrated and even lead them to question your expertise in your services.
Be Too Scripted
Live chat scripts are essential to complete your chats in a swift manner. In contrast, relying heavily on a script tends to affect customer experience negatively. It can result in a robotic tone, a non-personalized service, and the impression of an inflexible service. That is why many customers are infuriated when you apply a live chat script. It is best to use scripts for Frequently Asked Questions as this will save the time and effort of regularly answering repetitive inquisitions.
Make Every Conversation Into a Sales Pitch
One of live chat’s main purposes is to provide a better and quick answer to customer queries and concerns. Although sales are important, the priority of incorporating live messaging should still be to make a customer satisfied before attaining more profits. How can you generate revenue if end-users and shoppers are not satisfied with your assistance? Pitching a sales-centric chat response removes the human and emotional touch to your live chat support. There is always a way to make sales and support meet halfway. You just have to do it very carefully.
Forget To Say When You’re Available
If your company only operates during business hours, you have to inform your clients of the availability of your company. This will help you to avoid making your customer feel frustrated. Or, you can make a personalized message or auto-reply during your off-hours. For example:
Hey Aileen! This is the Mirant Power Customer Service team. We’ll answer your concern during our hours: Monday through Friday, 7 am—4 pm. Expect a reply within 24 hours.
Sum Up
Ultimately, live chat is becoming more instrumental for both big and small ventures. There is no question there. Many companies understand the huge importance of live chat in increasing sales and providing real-time assistance. Use these live chat agent tips to deliver a commendable experience for all customers and even leads.
The advantage of New Media Services, a company that combines outsourcing live chat support service, is that they also include a full help desk and call center feature stack. They provide high quality and customized end-to-end customer experience in all broadly used communication channels.
