Troubleshooting with Website Chat Software
As website chat software suppliers we meet and talk with a lot of website owners. If there’s one thing we’ve noticed, it’s that they strive for perfection, whether they performed the development themselves or outsourced the work. But there are only so many hours in a day and understanding what your website visitors want in terms of functionality is an ongoing challenge. When perfection isn’t possible, we need to at least make the most of the resources available.
Whether it’s an e-commerce, charity, service or other business type behind the website, the infrastructure of the site needs to create the best possible experience for visitors across all devices. This means maximising sales (or the equivalent of a sale) by streamlining the visitor’s path; from arriving at the website to the final step in the conversion funnel. Since there will always be visitors to your website with the intention of buying or performing a set action, it’s important that your website’s architecture makes it as painless as possible.
While striving for perfection is admirable, it’s important to recognise limitations
Not all visitors who fail to convert can be blamed on inadequate design or functionality. For example, a visitor might abandon their purchase/action because they feel their time or money would be better invested in something else. Most experienced website designers will already have a basic grasp of what works and what doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean they always get it right. With so many companies looking to create something innovative, it’s not uncommon to see usability suffer because of a creative design. Even today, when website navigation should be fairly standardised, there are so many websites that get it wrong.
Besides navigation, a single presentation issue or bug on a website can jilt the visitor’s entire experience. For example, many websites don’t create a design that can flow on all devices. If a page doesn’t resize correctly after a visitor clicks on a link, they could become disoriented and abandon the site entirely. Multimedia items can be similarly off-putting. Most of us have experienced a flash or JavaScript crash and understand how frustrating it is having to restart the browser.
Unfortunately, these things are unavoidable. This is why it is so important to keep eliminating bugs, improving the design and optimising functionality. The real challenge lies in identifying problems with the website and prioritising them in order of severity. Most customers that encounter a hurdle will just leave the website.
As provider of a fully customisable website chat software package we have seen the Click4Assistance Toolbox put to a number of unique uses
In fact, some websites have used this form of live digital engagement to get in contact with visitors as soon as they experience a problem. Not only can you recognise frustrated customers flicking back and forth trying to perform a particular action through our real-time reports, you can also invite them to a chat through the same interface. Adding the website chat software is as simple as copying and pasting a script, which means you can include a live chat button on a customised 404 error page. Giving visitors that hit a dead link on your website the opportunity to talk to a real human being is great from a troubleshooting and a sales point.
Not only can the visitor explain the action they performed that caused the error, they can receive assistance in resolving the issue. This is particularly important at the checkout or other final stage of a conversion. Lastly, Click4Assistance includes reports that show where chats have been initiated, i.e. where the potential issues on your website lie.
