For many companies, online chats have been an additional tool for communicating with customers, just like emails and phone calls. However, lots of companies either do not see a particular benefit in this tool or do not know the true potential of live chat. So what is online chat for modern businesses and how can it help your business?
Live chat is a flexible communication tool that you can use on your website for online technical support. If clients need help, they can ask an online consultant a question and get an instant reply. But that’s not all. By working competently with such a service, you can generate many new leads, which will ultimately lead to increased sales. Live chats are a source of information about the state of business, suggesting how to move.
By using chat solely as a communication tool, you are missing out on many growth opportunities. Below we will discuss different — and sometimes unexpected — ways to use online chat.
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How can online chat be beneficial for your business?
What is so special about having a chat on your site? To answer this question, let’s look at other popular communication tools among companies. Email and telephone calls perform roughly the same function. These types of communication allow you to exchange questions and answers relatively quickly, and with a phone call, it is possible to communicate in real-time. In contrast to these tools, an online assistant for your website will enable you to communicate with site visitors and see who is currently online. In the case of email or telephone, you will only know about the client when they email or call you. It is possible to see how many users are on your website and reach them through a live chat.
Here are the three main reasons why online chat is a helpful tool.
1.Better experience on the website
It is convenient for visitors to use chat for several reasons:
- They can instantly contact a support operator: no need to search for an email address or dial a phone number to talk to a company representative;
- According to research conducted by 13chats, more than 51% of users prefer chatting to emails or phone calls. Chatting allows you to do several things at the same time. Even if the visitor has to wait a couple of minutes for an answer, they can continue to browse the site without losing time;
- Live chat can store conversation history. Users perceive text information more efficiently than audio information. Moreover, you can send links in the live chat;
- The client receives information that helps them make a purchase decision. According to the study, 44% of shoppers enjoy asking an agent a question while considering buying a product or service.
2. Online chats save money
Here are a few reasons using online chat won’t hurt your budget:
- One support manager can have several conversations at the same time. As a result, there is no need to hire a large number of customer support managers. Compared to a call center, the waiting line in the online chat is much smaller. It is possible to create quick replies, to communicate with customers faster, and managers will be able to communicate with a bigger amount of users at the same time.
- Using an online consultant leads to an increase in the average order value, as clients receive recommendations and answers to questions in real-time, without delays. A customer service representative will be happy to help customers choose the right product or service, which, in turn, also reduces the costs associated with returning goods.
- Installing live feedback on your site will only take you a few minutes and does not require any special knowledge. For example, 13chats is compatible with all popular content management systems.
3. Increase conversion and sales
Even with a chat for your website, an impeccably trained support team is a critical success factor. Employees should know what they are selling from A to Z. So they will be able to answer questions from potential customers and recommend related products. If a customer is in doubt, a customer support employee can encourage them to purchase a product by offering them a discount coupon.
Live chat solution and messenger chatbots
Live chat is not a new thing. But some services provide a live chat solution with a connection to messengers. This approach also allows you to create chatbots and lets you communicate with a potential customer in various channels — a multichannel approach.
Chatbots
Today, when automation is an essential condition for scaling a business and competing, chatbots are a lifesaver that helps save hundreds of hours of human work. However, there are still frequent cases of people overestimating the capabilities of chatbots.
From a marketing perspective, you should always test chatbots and find the best option for your business. Lead generation chatbots, questionnaires in your chatbot flow, and informational bots are all possible additions to your marketing strategy. Usually, it takes time to experiment to find the “best” option for working with your particular audience. Unfortunately, poor chatbot implementation can undermine the credibility of chatbot marketing in general.
On the one hand, this is another channel of the user’s request, and, as a result, it can take the load off support. On the other hand, this is an experiment to scale the benefits to the entire web. Increasing attention to content in the chat format will have a long lifespan. If this is a new reality, why not search and consume all content through chatbots? The effect can be enhanced by connecting additional channels — messengers that users themselves use — Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp. Here, the chatbot, having initiated the continuation of the web session, then opens a separate application.
Another plus — chatbots help solve the headaches of marketers by providing users with additional information in the consideration stage of the purchase funnel.Also, if a person subscribed to the chatbot, the manager will not lose contact and have 24/7 dialog access with all the information about.
So, as we conclude, using live chat is essential for modern online businesses, and can be made even better when connected to chatbots.
Author Bio
“Nick is the Head of Customer Success at 13chats. Start his marketing journey 5 years ago, currently involved in various innovative marketing projects. You can find him on LinkedIn“
About Carson Derrow
