The Nature of Web Chat Software

Welcome back to all staff members that were lucky enough to enjoy some time off this Easter. With departments already preparing for 2015 enrolment, it’s important to make sure your teams have the training and tools they need to be as efficient as possible.

We’ve spent many months outlining the features that make web chat software such a necessary tool for the modern university. Pre-defined replies, file transfer and chat routing are just some of the features that we have explored in our previous blogs, but it’s important to not lose sight of the single biggest advantage of online chat software– the format itself.

When a phone call can put your staff on the spot and emails can go back and forth for days, web chat software represents the happy medium. In the world of student engagement and query handling, universities are often the Goldilocks who discover that the online chat software format is “just right”.

Unlike emails, which land into your inbox at an uncontrollable rate, with web chat software,  university staff can manage their own workload. The live chat tool from Click4Assistance also includes chat routing, which means it can route chat to departments based on the page of the website where the chat was initiated. Alternatively, the visitor can select which department they wish to talk to in a pre-chat window. Operators can even switch their status to ‘unavailable’ to continue with existing chats without allowing additional chats to come through until they are ready. Basic live chat software can help your team manage their workload, but choosing a provider that includes additional functionality, such as chat allocation, guarantees optimum efficiency.

Similarly, if a student tries to initiate a chat when your office is closed or everyone is already busy then a call-back form can be presented instead. This is also 100% customisable and can be edited to encourage the reader to leave their UCAS ID, full name and other details that will make them instantly identifiable to your team.

Not having to trawl through incoherent and half-completed voicemail and e-mail messages can save your team a lot of time.

The web chat software format is also advantageous because it is easily scaled according to needs. Setting up a new phone line or email account can be incredibly expensive – both in time and money. Most online chat software providers offer something much simpler. For example, with Click4Assistance you can choose to add another user from within the software itself. Then you simply download the software on to their existing workstation PC and they’re ready to go. They can even access a browser version of the interface if installation isn’t an option.

Sidestepping all the problems you might encounter setting up another phone or email operator can save a significant amount of time and money, especially when our UK-based team is here to help. Scaling up or down in an instant means you don’t have to leave student enquiries unanswered or team members dedicated to a communication channel that isn’t in demand.

UK universities that have already implemented web chat  software generally find that they don’t require a dedicated chat operator.

The instant messenger format allows university staff to perform their everyday tasks alongside chats.

Between April and June is when most universities will start to look at their budget and how to invest it. Why not try web chat software and see how a little tool can produce amazing results? Talk to one of our friendly University Coordinators who have already helped the likes of Glyndwr University and the University of Liverpool to implement live chat software. Call our UK team on 0845 123 5871, email us at theteam@click4assistance.co.uk or initiate a chat.