Why Your Company Support Team Really Needs Live Chat

Text messaging really hit its stride in the consumer market after the introduction of the Nokia 3310 in the early 2000s. The handset made it easy for people to text each other from their devices, anywhere in the world.

Twenty years later, device technology has come along a long way. But, despite all the breakthroughs, the love of texting remains.

Strangely, though, relatively few firms communicate with clients via this cherished medium, preferring phone and email. And that’s a problem. Many of today’s consumers actually prefer texting to any other form of communication.

Live chat is a tool that lets you text customers in real-time on your website. It’s like a digital front door you can use to welcome people to your site and meet their needs.

This post explores some of the reasons why your company support team needs live chat and how it can help you. Learn more below.

It’s Fast

Picking up the phone, typing in a number and waiting to get through to an agent takes time – a precious commodity in today’s economy. Users can waste upwards of an hour just to get an answer to a simple query.

With live chat, though, communication is instant. There’s no busy tone, and if there’s no human agent to take the query, a bot can answer it instead.

It Costs Less

Brands also add online chat to website pages because it costs less. Phone operators can only talk to one customer at a time while live chat reps can interact with five or six. Plus, when no one is available, bots can take over parts of the conversation, reducing expenses further. Clients can benefit from lower prices while brands are able to preserve their margins.

It’s Easy To Record Chats

Recording and transcribing calls into CRMs is time-consuming, expensive, and difficult to get right. Auto-generated caption software is a long way from being perfect, so recordings are often inaccurate.

With chat, though, saving, uploading, and transferring conversations is easy. Usually, it’s just a copy-and-paste job. Agents don’t have to spend any time writing down customer details. It’s all right there in the chat.

Customers Prefer It

Your company also needs live chat because customers prefer it. On average, 46 per cent of customers say website-based texting is their favourite form of support, followed by 29 per cent who want email and 16 per cent social media.

We see this general preference towards text-based communication in many other places. Businesses, for instance, prefer to communicate on text-based services, like Slack, while consumers still text instead of call.

It Makes It Easier To Pay

Depending on who you go to for your live chat solutions, you can also use them to make it easier to pay. Click4Assistance’s Live Chat tool, for instance, comes equipped with smartCast, a slide-out panel you can use to display additional resources, including payment gateways.

Suppose, for instance, a customer is interested in a product or service and wants to make a purchase. Instead of getting them to leave chat and go elsewhere on your website, smartCast lets them enter their details into a payment portal, following an agent’s instructions. It’s just a regular form, making the checkout process much smoother.

It Lets Customers Multitask

Live chat also makes it easier for customers to multitask. They don’t have to wait on hold, listening to the same classical music sequences repeatedly, just in case an operator answers. Instead, they can send their message and then continue whatever they were doing before until they get a response.

You Can Offer Support Around The Clock

Another reason for offering live chat is the flexibility it offers. It’s much easier to provide customers with support around the clock in a text format, than in a call format. It requires less training, and you can use non-native speakers in different time zones to keep costs to a minimum.

You Can Promote Your Products

Lastly, Click4Assistance’s Live Chat software lets you promote your products and services directly to customers. Agents can programme smartCast windows to play ads while website visitors wait for an agent to respond to their query. This functionality keeps customers engaged, adds value, and drives sales.

Conclusion

In summary, company support teams are crying out for live chat solutions. Not only are they inexpensive, but they also let you chat with customers in a format they love. Businesses can lower costs and agents can speak with multiple customers at the same time.