A live chat button on your website not only allows you to improve your customer service but it can also be used to boost sales.
That being said, it is only as effective as you make it.
From ensuring that you always offer a personalized service, to replying quickly and succinctly, to using the ELI5 technique, keep reading to find out how you can make the most out of your live chat conversations and turn enquiring searchers into loyal customers.
Why use live chat?
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Before you find out how you can make your live chat sessions more effective, let’s first take a look at why you should be using live chat in the first place.
There are many reasons why you should be investing in live chat, but the most compelling ones are:
- Your customers expect it.
- Your customers love it.
In fact, 82% of customers are satisfied with their live chat experiences, and 79% prefer using live chat to other channels because of its intimacy.
That being said, 1 in 5 would be willing to stop using a product or service due to slow live chat response times, demonstrating how live chat is only effective if carried out correctly.
7 Tips for Outstanding Live Chat Support
Remember live chat is a conversation
One of the biggest mistakes that brands make when using live chat is in thinking that this channel is for making transactions. It is not. It is for starting conversations between yourself and your customers.
To start a mutually beneficial conversation, always make sure that you introduce yourself as this will create a personal connection and start to frame the interaction as one between two people rather than just a customer and a business.
Respond quickly
Speed is everything when it comes to live chat, with 60% of customers not willing to wait more than 60 seconds for a response to their query.
That being said, with the average response time for emails being 17 hours and the average response time for social media messages being 10 hours, live chat is still a highly effective way for customers to ask questions about their favorite brands.
The best way to think of live chat is like a phone call. You wouldn’t leave a ringing phone unanswered, so you shouldn’t leave a customer hanging on live chat.
Use the ELI5 technique
Depending on the industry you work in, there may be a lot of complex jargon that, although second nature to you and your staff, can confuse your customers. This is where the use of the ELI5 technique comes into play. Standing for “explain it like I’m five”, this involves you explaining the answer to any question as clearly as possible and so that it can be understood by everyone.
This technique is especially useful for a live chat where the response window is small, and you only have a few words to get your point across.
Make your live chat accessible
This may sound obvious, but if your customers have to hunt around your website to find your live chat button, this is already creating an inferior and frustrating user experience. Instead, make sure that you put a chat widget on every page of your website so that your customers can easily reach you wherever they are.
It can also be a good idea to use one of the many different types of chat triggers to proactively reach out to your customers rather than wait for them to message you. This can be highly effective at boosting conversions and improving your overall customer service.
Utilize links
If you need to provide a customer with lots of information to adequately answer their query, rather than making them scroll through a long email that can be both overwhelming and tedious, why not simply send them a link to an article instead?
Having a quality FAQ section on your website or a knowledge hub is a great way to provide your customers with the information they need quickly and effectively. As a general rule, if your instructions contain more than one image or more than three steps, you should aim to send out a link rather than an email.
Write concisely
One of the worst faux pas you can make when responding to a live chat message is to waffle on and use unnecessary jargon. As explained in tip #3, your responses should be easy to understand by everyone but writing concisely and effectively involves so much more than just using simple language.
You should also train your employees to determine what information is most important to any query, make sure that they are sensitive to different cultures and different language backgrounds, and be specific in their directions to avoid any confusion.
Close the chat in the right way
How you end a live chat message is equally as important as how you open one as this will be the last impression that a customer has of your business and may very well be the way in which they remember your brand.
Unfortunately, many businesses fall at this final hurdle and undo all the great work that they did during the conversation. If you are not sure how to close a live chat conversation, simply follow the below tips:
- Make sure that they got what they need. Ask: Do you have any further questions for me?
- Leave the customer with clear directions. What action should they be taking next?
- Be genuinely thankful. Thank the customer for their time and interest in your business.
- Make yourself memorable. Now is the time to add some of your brand’s personality into the conversation. Say something fun or entertaining.
- Create a clear endpoint. Don’t ghost your customers. Let them know that you are leaving the chat but that you are there for them if they have any further questions. Simply saying goodbye and wishing them well on their day is a great way to end the conversation and leave a lasting impression.
