Why Live Chat Is Crucial For Customer Support – Jason Grills
Since the beginning of the global Internet age, everyone started going online. This includes business organizations as well. Naturally, when businesses realized just how many people are online on a daily basis, they saw the opportunity to expand their business incentives to the digital world as well.
Although this has created a lot of new options and an increase in profit, at the same time this new way of doing business also created new problems. One of the most difficult things for an online business is to build a quality customer support team. In the past, customer support has been an important factor as well but now, it holds greater value than before.
The reason why customer support was such an issue was simply because there is no direct contact between customers and business representatives. This is why various solutions such as call support, email, and ticketing systems were implemented for improving customer support online. However, the best solutions so far for support online are live chat tools and here is why.
It’s The Cheapest Solution
The first reason why live chat is better than any other online customer support solution is the fact that it’s cost effective and affordable. There are two options for implementing a live chat tool:
- Buying & implementing
- Getting a SaaS live chat software
The first option is a once in a lifetime expense. A business simply buys this tool and implements it on their website. From that moment on, the organization does not have to pay for anything else and they can use the tool at will. The cost is a bit higher, but it’s a once in a lifetime investment and it can return the invested money multiple times.
The second option is to find a vendor who would offer the tool on rent. The organization will be obligated to pay monthly fees for the tool and use it while the subscription continues. This option is great for businesses (facing budget constraints) that can afford only small monthly costs for their customer support.
Customers Prefer Live Chat Communication
Website visitors and modern consumers, in general, prefer to communicate with business organizations through live chat. First of all, when a live chat box appears on their screen, it doesn’t seem like anything official and the greeting messages businesses send are usually casual, warm, and welcoming. This helps to make the customers feel at ease and break the barrier people have of contacting a business organization.
On the other hand, people are used to this kind of communication. Most people are active on social media today where they chat and they also use various chat apps such as messenger, Viber, etc. This is why consumers will feel free to write to customer support agents handling live chat and raise questions if they encounter problems.
Most people won’t bother to call a business because they worry about costs, especially if the business is located in a foreign location. They also don’t bother to send emails given the fact that they will have to wait a long time before someone answers them and, with live chat, these obstacles are removed.
Live Chat Provides Quick And Accurate Information
One of the best things about live chat is that it’s simple; a customer only needs to ask what he or she wants to know and the agent on the other side will instantly receive the question. After that, the agent can give answers, discuss the issue at length, offer suggestions. All-in-all, he/she will have a better understanding of what is bothering the customer.
Live chat agents need to be competent to provide all the necessary information and, if not, they need to have a knowledge base or some other system that allows them to quickly find the answers customers are looking for. There is nothing limiting the conversation and even if the agent needs time to get the right information, the customer can continue browsing the website while the chat box is open.
Given the fact that an agent is in front of a computer, he or she can also look into what’s bothering the customer so that there are no misunderstandings. The only important thing is that the chat agent has the right set of skills to do this job.
You Can Exchange Content Through Live Chat
Another very important benefit of live chat support that other solutions cannot provide in a timely manner is valuable content and links leading to valuable information. In some cases, customers simply won’t be able to locate the right information and, in this case, the live chat agent can simply go to that page and send the link to the customer.
This is the most effective solution for these kinds of situations, as opposed to explaining how to get somewhere. Additionally, in certain situations, people will ask questions that require complex answers and writing a long text explaining something is not that easy, nor is it practical.
In these situations, a prepared business organization will have proper material prepared that agents can send so that consumers can quickly get in depth information which they can go through at their own pace, while the chat agent can focus on other potential customers that need help.
A Single Live Chat Agent Can Handle Multiple Visitors
In order to provide adequate live chat customer support, a business organization doesn’t need to hire a whole team of agents. A single live chat agent who knows how to do this job can handle multiple visitors at the same time without any problems.
Compared to call centers where a single employee from customer support can only help one person at a time, it becomes clear how capable live chat is. Not only that you will need fewer people to handle customer support, but you will quickly be able to add more agents if needed and you don’t need any new investments (except for paying them for the work done)
Conclusion
Live chat is more scalable and you need fewer people to take care of customer support. This is a great thing for businesses that are just starting and don’t have a lot of money to invest in this business aspect.
If you want to provide quality customer support online, and you do, live chat software is the right way to go. Not only that you will get all the benefits mentioned above, but your business will be more competitive and, through quality customer support, you can create great relationships with your customers. This can lead to establishing a loyal base of customers that can drive your organization forward and spread the word about your brand.
Author Bio:
Jason is a technical writer currently associated with ProProfs Chat. He enjoys writing about emerging customer support products, trends in customer support industry and the financial impacts of using such tools. In his spare time, Jason likes traveling extensively to learn about new cultures and traditions.
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