Is it time your business had live chat?

Time has always been a precious commodity in all walks of life and that seems even more relevant today in the ever-changing, fast moving, technological world of business.

Where products can be copied by rivals and sold to your target market for less than what you charge, you must be able to differentiate on service to be able to have any sort of competitive edge.

However, every successful business realises that customers are still kings, or queens these days, and do their utmost to keep them satisfied. So, when your product is similar to everybody else’s and your customer service levels are on a par, then there is one word that will see you leaving your competitors way behind – speed. Yes, speed of response to any query your customers or prospects have. Because if you think time is crucial for you as a business, you can be assured that time is just as important, if not more so, for your potential clients.

Time really is money

People have far more important things to do with their lives than hang around waiting for a response to a question they have about your product or service offering. They don’t care what time of day it is, or what day of the week it is, they just want an answer. NOW!

I mean how many days have you waited for a reply to an email request? Exactly! I’m not a gambler but I’d wager that whatever you were looking for you went elsewhere and never returned to that lethargic, lazy company ever again – and neither did any of your friends, colleagues, relatives or neighbours.

You might think that FAQs are a great addition to any website but even the most comprehensive ones cannot answer every query.

OK, here is another familiar scenario, one I’m sure everybody has experienced. There is no live chat option, you’ve been scarred by email, your question isn’t on the FAQs, so you’ve resorted to phoning the company. Having managed to negotiate your way through the never-ending automated options of consecutive number pressing you finally get through, but are held in a queue, so you are forced to endure annoying music, with no idea about how long you have to wait. Then after 45 mind-numbing minutes the music stops, raising your hopes, only to realise you have been cut off and have to start again!

What are the benefits of live chat?

After reading that you’re probably already a live chat convert and that’s before I highlight some of its benefits.

Research shows that more leads are captured via live chat because of the immediate response time. Your odds of contacting a lead falls by 50% after a response time of five minutes and drops to zero after 15 minutes.

Live chat will help you increase conversion rates and therefore drive sales. Let’s not forget that live chat also improves customer service and retention rates.

The real-time assistance it provides makes for a convenient and satisfying experience and research shows that consumers prefer live chat over any other customer service channel, so happy customers make for happy business.

Just in case you think that because you run a small business you simply don’t have the resources to answer questions, you can with the help of bots. By integrating bots into your live chat software, you can help customers when you are not there.

Another benefit is that you can deal with more than one customer at once, something that was only achievable in the past with a large call centre. Live chat also enables you to provide customer service for longer hours and during weekends, giving consumers a positive, professional perception of your business.

Live chat is fast becoming the must-have tool for any business website, regardless of sector, so maybe it’s time for you to get your company up to speed.