Top-6 Reasons Why Every Business Needs Live Chat Software In 2021
The most important lesson that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught businesses is this: Customers crave 24×7 convenience at all times, pandemic or not. With businesses shutting shop, owing to the strict social distancing norms, everything has gone virtual, with customer service being no exception.
One particular technology that has been lending a helping hand for businesses in these trying times has been the live chat software. In this blog, we will look at the key benefits of a business live chat software and why enterprises need to invest in this useful technology.
Top-6 Reasons Why You Need A Live Chat Software Going Into 2021
1. Offers Real-Time Support
As mentioned before, customers today want quick assistance. They want businesses to be able to address their concerns within seconds. This is where a live chat software solution can elevate your customer experience and set an industry benchmark when it comes to customer support.
In fact, more and more businesses are looking to embrace live chat to pave the way for real-time online support for their website. Take a look at Ruffwear’s live chat services, which proactively reaches out to customers and sends out targeted chat invitations:
The logic is pretty straight-forward: Brands can drive real-time conversations with customers and interact with their users instead of letting the latter ‘wait’ for an agent to sort out their issues.
2. Allows Brands To Stand Out From The Competitors
At the heart of any live chat software lies the all-important customer data. This data can be analyzed to extract invaluable insights so that you can offer a personalized experience to your customers. Spring bots example below demonstrates a chatbot’s ability to personalize the user experience:
The idea is to offer customers exactly what they want and go the extra mile in assisting them. This is where live chat software truly shines. Plus, it acts as a knowledge base, empowering users to self-serve and get answers to their concerns instantly:
Live chat allows brands to differentiate themselves in a variety of ways–from offering timely, even immediate service and hyper-personalization to providing accurate information and help round-the-clock. All these factors collectively contribute to removing friction and frustration in the customer’s mind.
3. Aids In Creating Long-Term Relationships
You can think of live chat as similar to the concept of instant messaging. In fact, some of the best live chat software solutions are well-conceived and feel effortless, both on the customer’s as well as the agent’s parts. Since people are already familiar with instant messaging (thanks to apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.), using a live chat feature feels more like second-skin to your customers:
On the business side, some softwares allow agents to preview what their customer is typing. This feature can turn out to be handy as the agents can better prepare their response and answer with context and accuracy.
4. Increases Conversion Rates
The importance of live chat on a website cannot be stated enough. For starters, live chat allows agents to handle multiple customers at once. This ensures that wait times are reduced drastically. As you can imagine, the customer’s frustrations get reduced, and the overall user experience turns more positive. The end result? Your conversion rates boost up, and with time, you get a steady stream of loyal customers.
5. Boosts Efficiency
One of the biggest advantages of using live chat is that it can route conversations to the relevant agents. Confused? Basically, the software captures the user’s details right from the first login session. This allows the customer to (literally) pick up the conversation from where they left it off, and more importantly, with the same agent. Naturally, this prevents customers from having to repeat the same issue to a new agent. On the other side of the spectrum, you end up saving your human resource’s valuable time as they don’t need to go back to the drawing board to understand where the customer is facing issues. All in all, it saves time and effort for both parties involved and boosts efficiency in the process.
6. Illuminates The Customer’s Pain-Points
Live chat is a treasure trove of customer data. It allows your brand to capture your customer’s motivations, pain-points, likes, and dislikes. All this information can be stored and looked into later so that you can work on improving your customer experience based on the user’s feedback/interactions. It also throws light on why users aren’t engaging with a brand and what roadblocks they might be facing along the way. If brands end up using the data correctly, they can make their customer feel heard and appreciated– a win-win for all!
Live Chat Can Live Up To Your Customer’s Rising Expectations
At this point, you might be wondering why there’s a sudden onset and growth of live chat and how businesses are integrating this all-purpose technology. Let’s look at some real-life use cases:
- Customers today want to know the status of their order and wish to be informed in real-time. This is where chatbots, a.k.a., virtual agents can help. Take a look at Domino’s chatbot for inspiration, which allows customers to “track order” in real-time:
- Customers want access to critical information (think: shipping, return policies, etc.) at their fingertips. Your live chat software can double up as an effective knowledge base, providing answers to important questions that your customers may have at the click of a button:
- Customers may want to proactively report bugs, give feedback, or suggest improvements in your product/service. Alternatively, businesses can ask customers for their valuable feedback and gather data on what they can improve. This data can then be showcased as a customer testimonial, thereby boosting trust and loyalty in the brand:
Now that we’ve looked at some real-life applications of live chat, let’s look at important live chat statistics that will convince you of its effectiveness:
- According to research, live chat boasts of the highest consumer satisfaction rate at 92%:
- Further research suggests that chats that last 15 minutes have an 88.23% satisfaction rate:
- Finally, research indicates that online stores that drive around 1,000 chats per month have an 87.29% satisfaction rate:
Key takeaway: Customers prefer using live chat over other channels due to its ability to deliver results quickly, efficiently, and reliably.
3 Companies That Used Live Chat To Skyrocket Their Revenues
1. Segment: The company used live chat to filter customers who weren’t interested in engaging with the brand and reach potential customers in real-time. The end-goal was to control the flow (and quality) of the leads. The brand approached interested users with targeted messaging to boost sign-ups and sales:
The result? The brand witnessed a 200% increase in conversions and a 500% increase in chat engagement.
2. SalesLoft: Initially, SalesLoft was only getting 5% of their demo bookings from the original live chat software. Users didn’t wish to engage with the live chat feature to book demos; they preferred the online form. So the brand rolled out forms that customers had to fill as ‘pre-chat.’ More importantly, the company sent targeted messages to customers based on the site activity and geographic location:
The results? SalesLoft’s new live chat feature led to an 800% increase in sales appointments, and the automated messages boasted of a 40% open rate on SalesLoft’s contact page.
3. Tradeshift: Tradeshift was struggling to streamline its sales process and qualify leads in a speedy manner. The contact form was lengthy and required a lot of following up to ensure that the leads were a good fit. To accelerate the lead qualification process, the company added a live chat feature on its website:
The results? The brand was able to boost its sales opportunities by 32%.
Closing Thoughts
Given that there’s a second wave of lockdown happening all over the world, businesses need to think about how they can deliver an extraordinary customer experience and keep their user’s interests at heart. This is where live chat can be a boon for businesses in this ongoing pandemic. You can connect with existing customers, qualify quality leads, boost revenues, and increase user satisfaction–all through the use of centralized live chat software. Convinced yet?
About the Author
Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.
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