How to Perform a Checkup for Online Chat Software (Part 2)

Last week we compared giving your car an MOT to performance management for businesses, needless to say it was quite difficult to draw parallels. The point being made was that it’s okay to let non-essentials tick over so that more time can be invested in more important things. The challenge lies in distinguishing between the essential and the non-essential, and in identifying the warning signs that your  online chat software process needs to be optimised.

This week we are going to take the lesson a step further and look at how to introduce further improvements to a smooth-running online chat software implementation. This is important because in the competitive world of business, okay simply isn’t going to cut it. As live chat for website grows in popularity it may also provide less of a competitive edge. The focus instead needs to be on creating a more effective live chat implementation than anyone else. Here are four tactics to improve your online chat software service.

1. Empower Operators with Agency

There’s nothing more frustrating for your live chat operator than having to let a hot lead turn cold. If your operators perform a sales function, make sure they can see process through from A-Z or at least have the ability to pass the lead straight through to someone who can. The same can be said of operators who provide more of a support function; give them the power to make decisions and the appropriate tools to carry them out. Operator training is an important step towards improving knowledge about products and services but, more importantly, it will create an autonomous team that can make the right decisions when it matters most.

2. Optimise Your Optimisation

Efficiency is one of the chief reasons that businesses implement online chat software so, even if you have optimised your implementation brilliantly, you should still be looking to build on it. Ensure that your pre-defined replies are the best they can possibly be so that operators spend less time replacing your FAQ page and more time handling genuine customer issues. Spend one day a month digging deeper by asking your team what kind of issues they feel are trending, then go through chat transcripts to confirm these trends and start drafting up a plan to deal with them before they grow out of control. Online chat software by its very nature is efficient but it can always benefit from a tune-up.

3. Recognise Traffic Trends

Providing more sales assistant and the most experience supervisors on the busiest day of the week is a no-brainer for retail stores, so why not follow suit with your online chat software? Monitor traffic trends at the start of your implementation so you can quickly establish the peak period for your website and when visitors are most likely to convert, and then put your best sales people online. Remember that one of the biggest advantages of online chat software is that chat operators can work from anywhere. Your most committed team members might even work from home.

4. Get to Know Visitors

Draft, re-draft and review your post-chat survey. We see feedback forms all around us both in the real world at the local café and while browsing the web. Companies do this because it works, especially if visitors are incentivised with rewards or entry into a competition. This data can then be used to launch highly targeted and effective campaigns. Feeding post-chat survey information from live chat directly into your marketing department should be a top priority. Besides market insight, it can be a great tool for collecting testimonials.

As online chat software becomes more commonplace as a sales and support tool the necessity to build on the platform becomes more pressing. Don’t wait until the last minute to optimise and play catch-up, start looking at enhancing existing areas or introducing new, streamlined processes.

Click4Assistance includes a number of features to help you achieve this, including real-time monitoring, reports, pre-defined replies, chat categorisation and even CRM integration. Our UK-based team is always on hand to perform bespoke development and offer expert advice on your live chat implementation.

Next time you sit down at a meeting to discuss the next major project, ask about empowering your live chat agents or improving your live chat with more thoughtful optimisation. Are you confident that you’re getting the most out of online chat software?