Don’t Have Live Chat? Here’s Why You Should.
When you need help, you want it now — not in a couple minutes or hours. But each call center agent can only handle one call at a time. That means you have to get smarter and more efficient about using their time and resources to serve as many people as possible.
Sure, there are self-service options and automated chatbots to speed up service. But sometimes, customers just want to talk to another human. In fact, 44% of online consumers say having questions answered by a live person during an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer.
Still haven’t added live chat to your website? Here’s why having the feature in your cloud call center is an absolute must going forward.
1. It’s more convenient for everyone.
In the digital age, consumers want convenient, online service options. Live chat makes things easier for everyone, no matter who they are:
- Prospects. Add a live chat tool to your website to offer assistance as potential customers browse your offerings. When they’re ready, they can ask questions and start the nurturing process.
- Customers. Provide omnichannel customer support so they have more options. When wait times are long or they’re unable to call in, live chat starts and keeps the conversation going conveniently from their mobile device.
- Agents. Agents are already at their computers. Make it easy to multi-task with live chat, which keeps call queues down and is easier to objectively answer with support scripts.
2. It’s more efficient.
Industry standards show agents can handle about two or three live chats at a time, while experienced reps can take on more. Live chat gives agents the ability to clear their queue faster while offering more service options to prospects and customers, right at their fingertips.
Plus, automation and AI can help assess customer need and sentiment in live chat conversations, whereas calls require real-time human processing to get to the heart of a caller’s issue. Pre-populated responses allow agents to quickly click and respond instead of formulating an answer every time.
3. It promotes conversion and builds relationships.
Much like an in-store salesperson, live agent support builds confidence and rapport with new website visitors, leading them to convert faster. Live chat users even spend 60% more than those who don’t.
That’s because conversation leads them to ask more questions and find out more about your product(s) instead of searching on their own. Users also get a better sense of the customer support you offer early on. You can also collect basic information to nurture them after the chat or use retargeting ads to bring them back to your site.
4. It allows you to be “always on.”
Don’t have enough agents to offer 24/7 support? Live chat makes the transition between time zones smoother if agents around the globe can take on conversations as the day progresses.
Or, if you don’t have global staff, automatically turn on chatbot functionality when agents are off the clock. Either way, live chat allows you to cover more of the day than simply turning on and off phones for designated hours, improving customer satisfaction.
5. It’s a competitive advantage.
Consumers seek out interactions in the channels they already frequent. As digital natives who grew up with technology get older, they seek support in digital-first channels like SMS, live chat, and social media. Offering these solutions provides an advantage prospects will weigh against competitors. Already, 59% of customers believe that companies need to provide cutting-edge digital experiences to keep their business.
Support Customers (and Agents) with Live Chat from Sharpen
The best customer support does just that — supports customers. When you offer live chat, you not only give them another channel to get help, but anticipate their needs so they can start the conversation when they need it most. But instead of adding more to your agents’ plates, make it easy to manage multiple conversations at once, reducing call volume and time to resolution.
Sharpen helps you ensure a seamless and consistent customer experience with inbound and outbound flows for voice, chat, SMS, and other channels. Our agent interface, SharpenQ, lets agents easily toggle between channels without changing screens or pausing the interaction — providing a more seamless experience for both the customer and agent. You can even add decision-making logic and integrate CRM data all in one interface.
Discover how live chat can benefit your call center by contacting Sharpen for a demo today.