12 Live Chat Software Facts That Will Impress Your Boss
Trying to get ahead at work can be an interminable rat rate, especially when you are trying to impress your boss like a hundred or so other colleagues. But this is perfectly understandable; your boss is the person with the greatest potential to improve your work life, he/she has the most direct control over your day-to-day activities.
As a rule, you can improve your career in one of two ways
Either you improve your current job situation (by obtaining the best assignments and acting as the right-hand man) or you can be completely transferred into a new job. Your boss is at the crux of both these scenarios – allocating the workload and constantly on the lookout for talent.
Working hard and being competent at what you do is a basis for making a good impression, but how can you obtain that coveted recognition? Even if you're uncertain about a future in your industry, you should know your business and strive to make your company the best.
Showing an awareness of your business’ place in the context of its competitor’s sends a loud and clear message to your boss. Our own business is obsessed with keeping ahead of the game and a large proportion of our clients come to us after seeing that their competitors are using live chat software on their website. This ties in neatly with our first fact about live chat software.
1. Promotional Campaigns Drive Live Chat
An eConsultancy study revealed that customers will respond to offers, like discount coupons, by contacting live chat representatives. This is particularly true if the customer received the promotional via their inbox. Encouraging website visitors to chat with live support reps to find out more about special offers is the first step towards boosting conversions. Whatever campaign your business is running, it should have live chat software available as a communication channel.
2. Business Chat is Growing
According to research from the Aberdeen Group, the majority of B2B-oriented marketing and sales teams are now formally deploying live chat to support their customer acquisition activities. This has largely been driven by the ability to enable a secure connection for live chat sessions.
3. US is the Chattiest
Although text-based customer support has received worldwide adoption, more than 80% of the companies using live chat are US based. This is followed by Mexico, Canada and Europe – meaning that UK businesses have a vast undeveloped market waiting for them.
4. Customers are chattier than Companies
Our own information shows that live chat service is generally initiated by visitors seeking instantaneous online help. Most people expect operators to initiate the chats with customers but all evidence flies contrary to this belief.
5. Silver Medal for Quality, Gold Medal for Efficiency
The Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide found that 90% of customer service phone sessions got a “satisfied” or “very satisfied” rating, compared with about 80% for live chat sessions whereas E-mail comes in a distant third. But the guide also found live chat to be more efficient, with operators capable of handling 90 to 120 live chat sessions per day, compared to 60 to 70 for phone calls.
6. Chat is King of Customer Loyalty
An in-depth report from the Loyalty Marketer’s Association shows that customer loyalty is key to sustainable growth. Live chat software was identified as one of the most valuable tools for collecting marketing information through website traffic reports, post-chat surveys and real-time monitoring for the purposes of improving customer relations.
7. Software-less Live Chat
Quality live chat software providers offer browser-based versions of their software. This makes it easier for operators to hot-desk or work from home. Not having to install the software can save time, boost adoption and reduce operator down-time.
8. Private & Secure
Another e-Tailing report discovered that website visitors view chat messaging as more anonymous than a phone call. The right live chat software is also very secure, negotiating over a safe SSL connection and keeping the transcript off-premise in a secure location.
9. Please Come Again
Given a choice of email, phone or live chat, previous chatters will always choose live chat (according to findings by the e-tailing group). Our own experience in the industry has taught us that this is a sign of well-trained operators.
10. Online Over Offline
A report from a US-based provider found that consumers favoured online customer service over in-person customer service. Despite the limited availability of live chat in the UK, it was used by more than a quarter (28%) of those surveyed. This suggests that, wherever a live chat option is available, it will be heavily used.
11. Turning Away Money
According to data collected from our clients, only 57% of customers would try to e-mail or phone the company if their website did not offer a live chat function – the other 43% would look elsewhere. Companies ignore customer demand for live chat software at their peril.
12. Keeping Up with the Joneses
The UK Contact Centre Decision-Maker's Guide 2013 (11th edition) notes that web chat between customers and agents has risen from 0.7% to 1.7% within 2 years (from 2011-2013). The report shows that 72% of UK businesses surveyed intend to enhance their web chat functionality in 2014. Point this out to your boss and you’re bound to get some well-deserved recognition.
The above information provides a skeleton for approaching your boss with a live chat software proposal and makes a solid case for introducing the technology into your business. To find out more about the potential ROI of our technology, request a whitepaper or trial our live chat software yourself.
