In an era of evolving technology and shifting customer preferences, businesses are rethinking how they connect with consumers. Live chat has become a powerful channel for brands to engage with customers and website visitors in real time. But why should your business consider implementing live chat?
This article explores 15 live chat benefits, discussing why it's becoming indispensable in modern business communication.
1. Improve customer satisfaction
Live chat enables real-time issue resolution, leading to higher customer satisfaction than other communication channels. According to a Zendesk study, live chat support leaves 85 percent of customers happy. It outperforms help centers (83 percent), email support (82 percent), and Facebook support (74 percent).
2. Boost team productivity
Unlike handling one phone call or email at a time, live chat agents can manage multiple chat conversations simultaneously, significantly boosting productivity. Live chat software equips teams with tools like automatic message routing and canned message templates for smarter and faster work.
3. Increase sales
Live chat provides a convenient way for customers to get product-related questions answered, ultimately increasing sales and conversions. On average, live chat can boost conversion rates by 8 to 20 percent.
This conversion rate increase can have a profound impact on your bottom line. Live chat allows your sales representatives to proactively engage with visitors, guiding them through the buying process, offering product recommendations, and addressing concerns.
This personalized and real-time assistance contributes to a sense of trust and reliability, further enhancing the likelihood of closing sales and driving revenue growth for your business.
4. Realize cost savings
Live chat conversations are cost-efficient, with research showing that phone calls are twice as expensive as electronic interactions. Support agents can handle multiple chat conversations, reducing business costs.
This efficiency allows you to allocate resources more effectively and redirect funds toward other critical areas of your business. By optimizing your customer support process through live chat, you can ensure both cost efficiency and enhanced customer satisfaction.
5. Recover abandoned carts
For e-commerce businesses, reducing cart abandonment is crucial. Research indicates the average online cart abandonment rate is 70 percent, which leads to many lost sales. This high rate underscores the importance of finding effective ways to re-engage potential customers who have abandoned their shopping carts.
Live chat can incentivize users to complete their purchases. You can offer them various incentives, such as exclusive coupons, discounts, or free shipping, to encourage them to finalize their transactions.
With live chat, you can turn abandoned carts into successful sales, boosting revenue and minimizing potential losses.
6. Provide faster response times
In today’s fast-paced world, customers expect quick responses, especially in customer support. Timely assistance can be a deciding factor in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
According to Comm100, live chat significantly lowers response times, with an average first response time of 46 seconds. This is much faster than email and phone support, where waiting times can often extend into hours or even days.
Live chat's near-instantaneous response times can substantially affect how customers perceive your service.
7. Offer an omnichannel experience
Customers prefer to reach businesses through their preferred communication channels.
A Salesforce study found that 67 percent use multiple channels for transactions. However, the significance of offering various communication options goes beyond just live chat.
Whether by email, phone, chat, or social media, offering a consistent and interconnected experience can greatly contribute to customer satisfaction and, ultimately, higher conversion rates.
By incorporating live chat into your communication strategy, you are meeting customer expectations and providing omnichannel support.
8. Lower phone call volume
While some issues may require a phone call, live chat can handle general inquiries, saving agents time for complex conversations. This two-tiered approach significantly reduces phone call volume, resulting in substantial savings in both time and resources for your business.
Directing customers with routine queries to the live chat allows you to resolve their concerns swiftly without needing a phone conversation. The result? A more efficient support system that ensures phone lines are available for issues that genuinely require one-on-one conversations, thus making the best use of your resources.
9. Scale the communication channel
Live chat is highly scalable, offering your business a flexible solution that can readily adapt to your growth. Its scalability extends beyond just accommodating increasing customer inquiries—it also simplifies the management and training of your support teams.
Implementing live chat doesn't necessitate extensive training, making it an accessible and user-friendly tool for both your customers and support staff. Your support agents can quickly become proficient in using the platform, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.
Live chat seamlessly grows with you as your business expands and attracts more customers. This scalability future-proofs your customer support operations and positions your business to meet the evolving needs of your growing customer base without significant overhead or disruptions.
10. Implement it with ease
One of the notable advantages of live chat is its ease of implementation. Adding live chat functionality to your website is straightforward, and you don't necessarily require a developer to get started. In most cases, you can integrate live chat widgets by inserting a simple code snippet, which your existing team can accomplish without extensive technical expertise.
Once you add the live chat widget to your website, your support teams can efficiently manage incoming chats from a singular dashboard. This centralized approach streamlines the management of customer inquiries, ensuring that your team can deliver quick and effective responses while maintaining a user-friendly platform for customers and support staff.
11. Integrate it with other channels
Live chat can seamlessly integrate with customer support channels like voice, SMS, and social media. This ensures a consistent and cohesive customer support experience, regardless of the channel your customers choose for interaction.
Furthermore, live chat can be linked to customer relationship management (CRM) software, such as HubSpot or Salesforce. This integration enhances teamwork by providing your support teams with essential customer information and context from the CRM, enabling more personalized and effective interactions.
Connecting live chat with other channels and CRM systems empowers your business to offer a holistic customer support experience, strengthening customer relationships and improving customer satisfaction.
12. Have personalized conversations
Personalized experiences play a pivotal role in boosting customer engagement and satisfaction. Live chat facilitates personalized interactions between you and your customers, creating an environment where customers feel valued and engaged. It connects a website visitor to a live representative who can quickly answer questions and provide that personable experience when needed.
Connecting personally and receiving real-time assistance enhances customer satisfaction, fosters trust, and promotes a positive perception of your brand. As a result, live chat becomes a powerful means to build lasting customer relationships, ultimately contributing to increased customer loyalty and advocacy.
13. Provide 24/7 support
Customers expect round-the-clock access to support and information. Live chat offers an effective solution to meet this demand, providing 24/7 support that ensures your customers receive assistance whenever they need it.
To achieve continuous support, businesses can leverage AI-driven chatbots and self-serve portals integrated into their live chat system. These intelligent chatbots are always available, tirelessly addressing common inquiries, providing quick responses, and guiding users to relevant resources or solutions.
By offering uninterrupted support, you capture potential opportunities and address issues promptly, further strengthening your brand's reputation for reliable and accessible customer service. This commitment to 24/7 support can significantly impact customer loyalty and trust in your business.
14. View text history and logs
Live chat offers a valuable feature that allows your team to view chat history and logs. This capability provides important context for resolving customer inquiries more efficiently.
By having access to chat history, your support agents can quickly understand past interactions, previous issues, and customer preferences. This context saves time and ensures that agents can pick up where previous conversations left off, eliminating the need for customers to repeat their concerns.
15. Stand out from competitors
In today's competitive business landscape, setting your company apart from rivals is a top priority. A live chat widget is a strategic move that can distinguish your business from the competition and contribute to your success.
Implementing a live chat widget signifies your commitment to providing efficient and responsive customer support. This commitment goes a long way in differentiating your brand from competitors who rely on slower and less interactive methods of communication.
Customers often gravitate towards companies that prioritize their convenience and satisfaction, and live chat is a prime example of this dedication.
Quick and effective support enhances customer satisfaction, instills confidence in your brand, and encourages repeat business. Moreover, satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your services to others, contributing to positive word-of-mouth marketing that further sets you apart from competitors.
Unlock live chat benefits with Textline
Implementing live chat for businesses has numerous benefits, from improved customer satisfaction to cost efficiencies. Are you ready to add a simple web chat to your website to reap these benefits?
Textline offers a live web chat and SMS hybrid solution. This scalable solution lets businesses engage with their contacts via a website widget and transition a conversation to SMS. This helps businesses collect more leads and reduce chat abandonment.
Do you want to see web chat + SMS in action? Book a demo with our expert team today.
