Generate excellent client feedback by using live chat software
In our fast-paced digital world, consumers expect convenient and speedy online customer service with instantaneous resolutions and answers. The average call center leaves much to be desired, with long wait times and overstretched staff who often put frustrated customers on hold for hours or hang up altogether.
Live chat customer service solutions offer an efficient alternative to the problems associated with traditional customer service methods like telephone and email. When a customer arrives on your website, the software will present itself as a widget in the corner of the screen, which consumers can click on to chat with agents.
It offers the opportunity for businesses to take a reactive approach, waiting for customers to make the first move to chat, or a proactive approach by prompting them with an initial question like “how can I help you today?” to engage them from the start of their browsing experience.
The benefits of live chat are far more than just giving a quick response to your customers and an easier way to get in touch. It also allows you to improve your support experience, boosts customer service productivity, and helps you get to know your customers even better. With excellent service comes good feedback, which in turn, helps you make more informed product decisions and generate higher revenue.
Why customers want live chat?
Although there are several ways to get in touch with businesses, from social media, phone calls, email, and live chat, customers tend to prefer live chat to other types of correspondence. Why? Because it’s the fastest and most convenient way to get their questions answered, giving them the option to continue to shop while they have a simple and direct interaction with an online agent. No one wants to waste their time waiting on the phone for a customer service representative to pick up, being passed between departments, or having to wait hours or even days for an email or social media reply.
In fact, the instantaneous nature of our fast-paced digital world means that customers want a resolution quicker than ever. Research has found that 75% of people prefer to communicate via live chat over any other channel, with 44% of online consumers saying that customer support live chat is one of the most important features a website can offer. And around 63% of customers are more likely to return to a site offering live chat services.
It’s quick and easy to use, with customers simply writing into a chatbox without the need to download any additional software or move away from the page they are on. It also gives you the option to provide 24/7 support, particularly if you opt to support your teams with an AI chatbot too, and also collect data that you can use to inform product decisions.
Live chat services for business
Live chat is an accessible and easy-to-use software for both agents and customers, although agents have significantly more operating powers. Using a simple interface, they have a window where they can access all the different open chats, move between multiple windows, and re-route them directly from their dashboard if needed.
Here is what makes live chat an excellent customer service option for businesses:
- Provides an analytics dashboard where you can assess customer marketing data
- Live chat automation with chat software for 24/7 customer support and automated responses
- Time-saving features thanks to an easy-to-use dashboard
- More efficient customer support with simultaneous customer chats that your agents can easily move between
- Easy-to-use and quick to learn for both customers and your customer support agents
- Improves future customer service with collected customer data
Tips for better live chat customer service
Live chat is proven to be one of the most satisfactory tools for customers. However, you can make the customer experience even better by using these tips for live chat:
Answer promptly
Your customers have come to your live chat as they want a quick response, so try to minimize wait times as much as possible. Consider using an automatic welcome message to give them an instant response when they first write, so they feel acknowledged and don’t feel they’ve been left on hold.
Use friendly language
Don’t use overly formal language or waste time introducing yourself - customers can already see your name and avatar. Keep your greeting friendly with a simple ‘Hi!’ or ‘Hello!’. Even if the customer doesn’t start with a greeting, always use one in your reply, followed by your response.
Ask for feedback at the end
Once it’s clear the conversation is over, ask the customer for feedback with a quick customer satisfaction survey. Ask them to measure the quality of your service so you can see how satisfied customers are with your service and improve the quality in the future.
Show understanding and empathy
Rather than jumping to any defense, try to understand the customer's issue from their perspective. Avoid being judgemental, patronizing, or forcing them to repeat themselves by speaking to multiple agents. Try to listen to and understand them and resolve the issue in the best way possible.
Stay positive
A positive tone in your live chat responses will improve clarity and make you seem more cooperative and trustworthy. Soften the way you deliver information to keep your customers onside, even if they’re complaining. Avoid negative language such as “you should have” and “don’t” in order to keep your customers happy.
Address all problems
Some customers can be inconsistent with their communication, not replying straight away or asking several questions at once. Keep the chat open until the customer thanks you, then make sure that their issue has been resolved by checking if they need help with anything else. The conversation ends when the customer says they have no further questions.
The next step
Once you set up your live chat, you can further increase customer satisfaction by integrating a chatbot. A chatbot is AI software that simulates human conversation, allowing customers to interact with a device as if communicating with a real person.
Chatbots can answer simple queries, send welcome messages, and provide answers to frequently asked questions while your customer support team digs into more significant issues. It allows your team to service more clients simultaneously and only pass the more complicated inquiries to your customer support team.
Chatbots support your staff to reach more inquiries by providing automated greetings and answers, meaning customer requests are acknowledged promptly. This allows your agents to work with more requests without agents feeling stressed and customers feeling ignored, meaning you can resolve more issues in less time. Because of the software’s virtual nature, there are also no time restrictions, so businesses can offer 24/7 support with detailed automated responses outside working hours.