No matter which service or support channel a customer chooses – the customer experience must be positive. A growing number of customers are opting for web chat when needing to communicate with a company. Web chat has many benefits for the customer including the ability to multi-task, which is a welcome advantage for people with busy schedules.
However, the customer’s experience can be less than favorable if the live chat agent uses too many scripted lines, fails to personalize comments, or asks questions irrelevant to the customer’s need. While many service and support agents will transition naturally into a live chat role, some may need chat etiquette training to improve their written communication skills. Continue reading to learn the five must-know best practices for effectively using live web chat for customer service and support.
1. Be Proactive
There are two options for implementing live chat. First, allow the customer to select a button to initiate a live chat with a customer service representative. This approach eliminates the chance of annoying customers and lets them select the support or service channel they prefer. The second option is to automatically initiate live chat after customers have spent a certain amount of time on a page. This method increases the likelihood of issue resolution or customer purchase by increasing the number of chat interactions. Smart companies know that offering live chat as a support channel is a wise decision. They also know that offering live chat and instigating the communication is a proven method of increasing revenue and lowering operating costs.
2. Customize Welcome Messages
It is common for live chat conversations to begin with scripted introductory phrases. Overuse of scripted phrases can set a negative tone and make the customer feel unimportant. Taking the time to customize the introductory dialogue to complement page content, or at the very least overall website content, can go a long way to engaging a customer. Showing that you understand the customer’s needs and pain points is an ideal way to build rapport and increase brand loyalty. Use personalized comments to set the customer at ease and to show a sincere desire to help.
3. Don’t Over-Personalize
There is a fine line between customizing a customer’s experience and going too far. You may know that a customer has visited a particular product page ten times in the last 2 days – but it is not appropriate to share this data with the customer. Divulging every little detail can make customers feel as if their privacy has been invaded, and may hinder the decision to purchase or continue with issue resolution. Use information gathered judiciously to add value to the conversation.
4. Communicate Clearly
Grammar is important in all written communication — and even more so in business communication. Web chat may be a customer’s first touch-point with a company and the communication style of the customer service or support representative sets the precedent for the customer’s overall experience. Employees monitoring a live chat service or support channel must have good written communication skills and the ability to effectively express empathy in writing.
5. Express a Willingness to Serve
A positive attitude and good product or service knowledge are two key elements to providing great customer service. Like all customer-facing roles, a live chat representative must express a genuine desire to help. The use of positive phrases such as, “Here’s what I can do” and “Let’s work together,” instills confidence in customers and shows that the live chat representative and the company put value in customer satisfaction.
Consider these five best practices when implementing live chat and you’ll see:
- Happier customers.
- Reduced cost of operations.
- Improved profits.
Thanks for the post, Rachel. These are very good tips.
I’d like to extend the list a bit further to reach what I define my "Golden Rules for Online Customer Interactions”:
– Route the contact to the right agent and, never, offer proactive engagement if you do not have available agents
– Give the Agent all the information to handle the chat properly – a lot of them come directly form the navigation path, referral page, product in the chart and so on
– Target the most profitable visitors and the ones that need real help: most customers live well with web self-service
Design the chat interaction around the webpage not as a different channel. Co-browsing and page pushing are much better that never ending canned messages.
– Train agents properly to support online customers: it needs different skills that phone support
and finally consider to integrate chat with voice media(VoIP & CallBack), sometimes a "voice conversation” is more efficient and fast than chat.
Great additions Gianluca! I agree with your points and agent training is definitely an essential step in providing excellent online support.
I really liked your point about customizing welcome messages. I use live chat quite often so I can really tell when a company puts some time into theirs.
Hi Alexia,
Thanks for reading! A personalized welcome beats generic script every time 🙂
Personalized welcome is much better. It may take a little more time out of your schedule but it will serve you better in the long run. A good example is on http://www.expertndt.com – Great article. Thanks!