The first step in creating an effective live chat strategy is to ask your prospect if they need any assistance. This is an important step, because it prevents abandonment. It also ensures that you don’t interrupt the most important stage of the buyer’s journey. It is important to never pop up the live chat box without your prospect’s permission. If it does, you risk interrupting the stage when your prospect already knows what they want.
First response time (FRT)
Having a good first response time (FRT) is essential for the customer experience. It sets the first impression in the customer’s mind and shows how well your team is prepared to handle customer demands. Customers expect almost immediate responses, and a long wait could make them feel less valued. Therefore, it is important to measure your FRT regularly, and then use the information to optimize your strategy.
First response time is the time it takes for a live chat representative to respond to a ticket. It should be under 1.5 minutes for live chat and three minutes for telephone. First response time can be easily monitored by using Klipfolio PowerMetrics, a free analytics tool.
A first response time can be calculated by analyzing the amount of tickets and the time of day. Identify the agents who respond the quickest. Look for trends in response times, and identify the slowest agents and improve their workflow. If there’s a trend of decreasing first response time, you should look for ways to improve it.
First response time is one of the most important metrics to measure. Slow response times can lead to inflated first incident reports and a frustrated customer may submit multiple tickets for a single issue. Furthermore, customers who feel neglected will tell their friends about their experiences. Therefore, companies should strive to respond to their customers even if they don’t have an answer yet. An acknowledged customer is a happier customer.
Improving your first response time (FRT) is a vital metric for any business. A good first response time means improved customer satisfaction, higher retention rates, and improved brand trust.
Customer experience
Live chat is a great way to understand your customers better, serve them more efficiently, and build human connections. In fact, a lot of businesses swear by Visitor Chat. However, before you implement this tool, there are a few things you should do to make it successful. Planning ahead is the key to a successful rollout. By implementing these steps, you will be more likely to see the benefits live chat can bring to your business. These 5 simple steps will ensure that your live chat implementation goes smoothly and is a success for your customers.
First, make sure your chat agents are capable of handling multiple sessions at once. But be careful not to overbook their time; you don’t want your customers to wait a long time for help. Therefore, set a maximum number of chat sessions for each agent. This way, they can make the most of each chat session and leave customers satisfied.
Next, you should train your agents to use appropriate language and tone when communicating with customers. In addition, you should consider integrating your knowledge base and help center into the live chat application. This way, your agents can direct customers to the right help document when necessary. You can also use live chat to display images, screenshots, and files in reply to a customer. Moreover, you can use tags to associate the knowledge content with organic keywords.
Then, you should keep track of your customers’ online behaviour. You should be aware of which pages they visit and whether they have ever visited your website before. This will help your agents understand the questions and queries customers are most likely to ask. It will also help them route their chat sessions intelligently.
Timing
One of the most important steps in an effective live chat strategy is timing. It is crucial to ensure that your team is able to attend to every chat request within a reasonable time. You can send out an auto-generated message to notify customers that they can expect to wait a certain amount of time before being helped. Alternatively, you can close the window when the number of chat requests you receive exceeds a certain threshold. Regardless of the method used, this simple step will ensure that your team is able to give attention to each customer within a reasonable time.
Choosing the right times to offer live chat can help you increase conversions. A study by Workarea showed that ecommerce conversions peak on Mondays from 8pm to 9pm, and on Sundays from 7pm to 8pm. Therefore, it is crucial to provide live chat support during peak hours, especially for international customers.
When planning your live chat strategy, consider the types of chats that are most common. It is also important to identify common customer pain-points. Once you identify these, you can create better solutions for them. You can also use the response time metric that was developed by customer service call centers to measure the quality of customer service. It is important to take the time to answer customer questions thoroughly.
You should also practice your solutions before giving them to customers. This will help you iron out any problems and ensure that the solution meets the needs of the customer. Alternatively, you can seek the help of a colleague or manager for guidance.
Relevance
The relevance of a live chat strategy cannot be underestimated. Research shows that 77 percent of consumers would like to talk to a human before they make a purchase. Having live chat at your business can increase your customer satisfaction, as well as your sales. It also allows you to create long-term customer relationships.
Moreover, using live chat can reduce response times and reduce the amount of time required to resolve problems. In one study, Zopim analyzed 85K live chats and found that on average, an agent can answer a customer’s query within 23 seconds. That’s faster than the average email response time and first-call resolution time.
Live chat can also be used to educate leads and recommend products. A consultative approach to sales can lead to higher customer satisfaction and a more healthy bottom line. Live chat also increases the speed of purchasing decisions. This shortens the overall sales cycle, and delights sales professionals. Therefore, live chat is a critical component of sales success.
Invesp’s research has shown that live chat has a positive effect on the customer experience and conversion rate. However, a poorly-trained support team can make a live chat strategy ineffective. Agents must be patient and compassionate with customers, and should use phrases that build rapport.
Live chat has become a valuable tool for brands looking for an edge over their competitors. According to a Forrester report, live chat has grown significantly over the last few years.
Follow up with customers
A good customer experience is critical to the long-term success of your business. After all, the quality of customer service you provide will determine whether a customer returns or buys from you again. Following up with customers after a purchase can help you improve the customer experience and show them that you care about their concerns. It can also help you improve your brand’s reputation.
The goal of follow-up is to maintain a relationship with a customer. It shows them that you are invested in their experience, and helps them feel like they are part of your team. You can also use follow-up to reinforce what you did well and improve on what could be better. By following up with customers, you can avoid customer churn, which can hurt your brand. In fact, 75% of businesses lose customers simply because they have to wait too long for a reply.
When you follow-up with a customer, make sure to personalize your follow-up emails. A generic follow-up message can be considered spam and can ruin a customer’s day. Make sure your follow-up messages are valuable to your prospects, and include a call to action in each one. To do this, study your prospect and learn about their problems and ask questions that will be useful for them. You can also share stories of your previous clients’ success, and offer tips and recommendations.
Follow-up messages should express gratitude for a customer’s purchase and ensure a consistent relationship with them. It’s also important to include contact information so customers can reach out if they need to. Follow-up messages can also be a great way to upsell your customers.
