Customer service is the backbone of any business. It doesn’t matter how amazing the product is if the customer service is lacking. Customers expect companies to act quickly and offer instant support to match the fast-paced world of marketing and social media, or they will take their money elsewhere.
(Pixabay / 200degrees)
To make it in today’s world, businesses have to keep up with the latest trends in customer service, one of which is to offer customers instant support through live chat. Immediate interaction with customers is what differentiates a successful online business from a stagnating one. Live Chat has significant potential that can easily boost your sales and help you understand your visitors’ behavior so that you can further tailor your business model.
Here’s a closer look at the key advantages of live chat:
- Avoids lengthy e-mail response times: Many businesses still rely on old-fashioned methods of communicating such as e-mail, but the problem with this method is that the customer usually ends up waiting a full day (or more!) before getting a reply from the company. If the customer has a follow-up question, he has to wait for another extended period, but who has the patience? A simple exchange of communication could take several days before its completion. With live chat support, the customer can ask as many questions as necessary and get the appropriate responses within minutes.
- Increases sales: The primary goal of live chat is not to sell a product or service but to build the trust of your customers. Once you gain their trust, customers are more likely to return to your business to make future purchases. A lot of companies have reported a significant increase in their conversion rate since they implemented live chat.
- Saves money: Live chat can save your company a lot of cash because it is a cost-effective solution to customer service. A live chat support tool is a lot cheaper compared with telephone or email support because customer service agents can respond to multiple inquires at the same time.
- Avoids long call lines: Companies that run their customer support through phone service often face the ire of frustrated customers who have been placed in a long queue for their chance to be heard. For a customer with complaints about a product or service, going through the call menus before talking to a live operator is frustrating enough. The situation only gets worse when he has to wait for an interminable period of time to speak to a customer support agent. With live chat, this type of problem is avoided, and the complaining customer instantly gets an answer to his question.
- Provides a competitive advantage: Not many companies offer live chat customer support service yet, and some companies that do offer the service have it available only during business hours. Your business will have a clear advantage over your competitors if you offer live chat 24/7.
Every contact a business makes with its customers influences whether that customer comes back to make future purchases. Offering live chat support service gives businesses an advantage over their competitors because the customers get instant answers to their queries, resulting in a solid customer-company relationship.