Live chat is a great technology to increase your customer engagement, stay competitive in your niche, and convert those who’re interested in your product/service into buyers.
Here are a few statistics to back it up:
• 68 percent of website visitors will use the live chat feature and 63 percent of them return to websites that are offering live chat for a repeat purchase.
• 38 percent of all online visitors will complete a purchase during a live chat
• A live chat feature has been found to increase a website’s conversions by more than 20 percent
If you haven’t added a live chat feature to your website, you’re missing out on all the positive benefits. Engage your audience!
While this may seem like a complicated way to work towards improving conversions it is easy and effective. Below we go through a few of the benefits a chat service can bring to your site
BE AVAILABLE AROUND THE CLOCK
9 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday doesn’t cut it online. Customers shop around the clock and expect their customer service to be available anytime. If you don’t have in-house staff to handle the chat outside business hours, you can hire virtual assistants to assist customers 24/7.
TIME INITIATING THE CHAT RIGHT
There will be several types of visitors on your site. Some will be taking their time making up their mind on purchase, some just browsing and some who know exactly what they want.
It is a good idea to use software with tracking features to understand your visitors’ movements better and learn how to target the right visitors, especially on pages you have targeted call to actions.
GET REAL
Customers don’t want to feel like their talking to a robot. Train your staff to personalize their chats, call the customer by name. This is possible after prompting the customer to provide name, email and contact number.
ADDRESS YOUR CUSTOMERS PROBLEMS
Sometimes it can work in your favor to swallow the loss if live chat agents are addressing a customer’s pain point in return. This strategy, apart from increasing live chat conversions, has the potential to bring in recurring business and build customer loyalty.
OFFER/SUGGEST SOMETHING VALUABLE
Most live chat software features include loads of information on the visitor, which can in turn be used to provide valuable customer service. By going through a customer’s chat history and information, live chat agents can provide them with valuable suggestions.
For example, if a customer shows dissatisfaction towards a product design, the support representative should take a minute to see whether an alternate item with a different design, but same features is available. If the option is available, it can be suggested to build valuable leads.
UPSELL, UPSELL, UPSELL
After you demonstrate value and make the case for a higher level of customer service, you can try increasing conversions by upselling. Once the agent has engaged visitors by understanding their needs, they are in a better position to recommend upgrades, add-ons, etc.
Internet Retailer revealed that Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. uses live chat to achieve conversion rates as high as 23 percent. Customers that used their live chat converted a rate 3.5 times higher than the customers who didn’t engage the chat feature.
The interesting fact is that the UK-based airlines don’t use their live chat to push airline ticket sales but as an opportunity to upsell. Their customers are already in the decision-making phase when purchasing their tickets online and upgrading their purchase to include priority seating, personalized meals, etc is easier. This increases overall averages of sale value and total sale revenue.
TAKE CUSTOMERS WHERE THEY NEED TO BE
A number of live chat agents overlook the fact that their visitors may not know where to go on a website. For example, they may want to look at the faq page before completing their order but don’t really know how to find it.
As a result, your chat agents can make things easy for them by sending the links which redirect them to their webpage of choice, and that’s how you facilitate actions that lead to conversions