What Happens When Live Chat Goes Wrong?

Learning how to put live chat on website pages may seem straightforward, but live chat can be prone to a number of issues, with mistakes coming from the preparation as much as communication. Let's show you some of the most common scenarios where live chat goes wrong, and how you can get it right.

Customers Waiting Too Long

A lack of an immediate response is one of the quickest ways to ensure the customer becomes more frustrated. The average live chat response time is 40 seconds. It's important to bear this in mind because anything longer can fuel the fire. It is better for a customer service agent to respond to a live chat request as this can get the ball rolling, which is where automated responses and chatbots are invaluable.

Using Emojis

Emojis are part and parcel of communication between friends and family. It's important that we utilise our words effectively. Adding an emoji can bring a personal touch to the conversation which can overcompensate for a sentence where there is the potential for misinterpretation, but it is important for the customer service agent to understand what the tone of the conversation should be, and this should be when they need to step back and let the customer dictate the pace and tone. Customers could use emojis, but they may also be staccato in their writing; with everything being short, sharp, and shocking. Emojis have a place in a live chat conversation, however, it's important to not over-pepper the conversation with them.

Not Sounding Like a Human

When you hear a human voice this is music to your brain. Interaction between humans is crucial as we've all determined since the pandemic. Live chat is there to benefit a business, however, it is not an immediate replacement for good old-fashioned talking. While we can argue that this would be far better placed in a real-life conversation, when businesses are trying to be more productive, live chat is one of the best approaches as the customer service agent can work on a number of different conversations at the same time.

How Can We Get Live Chat Right?

If we want to make it work, we've got to humanise live chat. We can do this through a number of simple soft skills and tactics, including these three:

Acknowledge the Situation As if It Was in Real Life

If a customer is frustrated, you should remain professional and use the right words such as "I'm sorry to hear that" rather than a conversational tone.

Explain Pauses

When we speak to somebody, we expect an instant reply, but when live chat is occurring, customers can still think it is a real-life conversation. While there can be pauses for good reasons, such as a customer agent finding the appropriate information, it's important to explain any silence.

Keeping Promises

If you say to a customer you will be 2 minutes because you are checking something, it's important to be, at most, 120 seconds. Because customers will take your word as gospel, it's vital that we make this a key part of how we deliver a service.

It's important to ensure that with the right live chat software, you also know how to utilise it to your strengths.