Improving Online Business with Web Chat Software

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Organisations with a web presence will be constantly looking for ways to improve their business. Satisfying more visitors will lead to achieving higher conversions, whether this is making a sale or booking an appointment or demonstration etc.

Web chat software has a higher customer satisfaction rate than other communication channels such as email and telephone, with 73% compared with 61% and 44% respectively. This is due to its instant nature; visitors are connected in real time with a representative where they converse via text-based messages. The communication channel enables visitors to contact the organisation directly on the website rather than having to switch to an alternative platform (email / social media) or device (from a laptop to a phone etc.)

It is also convenient for visitors as they can have a live chat from any location, there are no charges for use of the communication channel and there is no risk of being overheard, as you can experience with phone calls.

Once a chat has been completed, the visitor can request to have the chat conversation automatically emailed to themselves, therefore they have everything discussed in writing. This means there is proof for anything that has been agreed.

How Web Chat Improves Business Operations

Visitors find web chat beneficial as they are able to have their questions answered quickly, but along with increased customer satisfaction, businesses find that their operations improve from their implementation of web chat.

With most web chat software, the communication solution will also include some monitoring metrics, allowing organisations to analyse visitor behaviour and pick out any trends. This could include knowing what pages are the most popular among visitors, finding out which pages are causing the most abandonments and what ones are not being browsed at all. Identifying these trends can help businesses to evaluate their website and to make changes to improve the customer journey.

Web chat software not only increases customer engagement as it is the preferred communication method, it also increases operator productivity. Representatives can handle multiple enquiries at any one time depending on the complexity of the enquiry and the speed the visitor types. They are able to manage their workload with most solutions by switching their availability. This prevents more chats being routed through to them when they have reached their personal limit, and as soon as they have completed their chats they can once more switch to available to receive more enquiries.

Having representatives that can handle more than one enquiry at a time is great for companies that experience issues with resourcing, whether this is a call centre that has high turnover rate or absenteeism, or an organisation that has a tight staff budget. Web chat allows businesses to triple the productivity that single operators handling one enquiry at a time would achieve.

Once in chat representatives are able to help visitors with their enquiry, which can help them to continue with their purchase or to book a demonstration or an appointment. There are opportunities when using live chat to cross sell and upsell, as they are able to send links to similar products and they can view a replica of the page the visitor is browsing to see what products or services are of interest. This allows them insight regarding what the visitor wants and they are able to tailor their approach to help close the sale / booking.

Web chat software has many hidden features and benefits, and in this digital age it’s crazy for any online organisation to be without it. Has your company already implemented web chat, or are looking to integrate it in 2018?

Gemma Baker
Gemma Baker is the Marketing Executive for UK web chat software provider Click4Assistance, with a range of knowledge in live chat software and customer engagement channels, customer service methods and improving online business.

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