If your business is currently operating without a live chat option, you’re missing out on a lucrative opportunity to better engage with customers. A study by Zendesk revealed that 92% of customers are satisfied when they engage with a live chat feature, compared to other communication options like voice (88%), email (85%), web form (85%), and social media (Facebook 84%, Twitter 77%). Live chat provides your customers with immediate responses in a user-friendly platform. And, when used correctly, it can become one of your most valuable communication tools. Here’s how.
What is live chat?
Live chat – or live support – is software that allows your company to interact directly with customers when they visit one of your media platforms. Customers can chat via a chat box in real-time to access whatever information they need about your company, product, or services.
How Chat Can Improve the Customer’s Retail Experience
Despite the name, ‘chat’ is not about meaningless conversations that kill the time, but rather a very useful digital tool that can drastically improve a customer’s experience. According to Forrester’s, customers want to chat and ‘the companies that get it are moving towards a holistic chat strategy that straddles both customer service and sales.
1. Chat offers direct accessibility to customers
Old-school service centers manned by extremely bored staff members are long gone as we enter the fourth industrial revolution and all its technological benefits. These employees are now being put to better use elsewhere in organisations while businesses rely on WhatsApp chat and other chat platforms to meet customers’ needs. With just a click of a button, your customers can express their concerns, queries and desires which are met with a real-time, helpful response. This single interface makes it easier for your customers to reach you, and for you to reach your customers.
2. Chat at the checkout
According to Statista, the average cart abandonment rate for online shopping is sitting at almost 80%, which means you’re only securing around 20% of your potential sales. This is why engaging with customers at the checkout phase is so important – that’s almost 80% of people who’ve taken the time to browse the products and got as far as showing interest in purchasing them, only to falter at the finish line. With a live chat option at checkout, you can turn these potentials into sales by answering their queries related to shipping fees, issues with inputting data, and any other concerns that can quickly be attended to. It’s important to remember that your engagement mustn’t enter the realm of hassling customers though – in no way do you want this chat application to hinder the process at checkout.
3. Gather customer data with chat
With the innovative live chat feature, you’re not only engaging directly with your customers, but you’re also learning more about them – their likes and dislikes – and you’re storing this useful information for later use. Customer data is a valuable tool, but you must use it correctly. If your customers are constantly questioning issues like shipping costs or methods, it’s a clear indication that you have a supply chain issue that needs addressing. In addition to identifying areas of weakness, you can also pick up on trends and areas of increased demand for better forecasting.
4. Personalize customer experience with chat
According to Forbes Business Insider:
66% of consumers say they will spend more money with a company that offers an excellent customer experience when it comes to supporting a business
60% say they have not completed an intended purchase due to a poor customer service experience.
The modern customer wants a personalized experience, and you can meet this need by using live chat. Through every engagement, you’re learning more and more about the person behind the screen, and this useful data can be tailored for a more enhanced customer experience. By collecting and analyzing customer data, you’re able to offer them personalized promotions, suggestions and rewards.
5. Follow up with chat
Where your customer engagement once ended at the checkout, you can now use chat technology to improve customer retention and drive repeat purchases by following up. Some of the things to remember when engaging with your customer post-purchase is:
Be clear about who you are and what you’re making contact about.
Refer to previous engagements for a solid trust base.
Let them know you’re able to share special offers and discounts.
Encourage them to contact you with further questions.
Share contact details such as email and phone numbers as well.
What are the benefits of chat for business?
“Brands without self-service support options and online chat miss opportunities to answer immediate questions and prevent abandonment during the final stages of the conversion path.” - Gartner
By incorporating the chat steps to enhance your retail customer journey, you are going to enjoy the many benefits for your business as well. These include:
Convenience: In the digital world, convenience is key to customer satisfaction and retention. With live chat, customers and employees can use a single, user-friendly platform for faster solutions.
Agent productivity: With live chat, your employees can serve a number of customers simultaneously, minimizing frustrations related to delays.
Cost savings: By providing chat customer service, you’re saving on employee costs and freeing up employees to focus on more business-driven goals.
Cross-selling opportunities: With chat, you can introduce customers to new offerings that they might not have noticed or been interested in prior to engagements.
Create brand credibility: Because of the real-time engagement and improved customer satisfaction through chat, your brand credibility is enhanced. This results in word-of-mouth marketing and improved profits overall.
Why choose Clickatell?
Clickatell’s interact platform allows you to incorporate multi-channel conversations into your existing contact centres for a seamless integration. Through Clickatell’s chat application, your customer care agents can:
Engage with customers over websites and popular messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Proactively reach out and communicate with customers to easily provide support and informational updates.
Switch seamlessly between different conversational channels, including web chats, chat apps, phone calls, emails, and social media.
To find out more about this customisable chat solution, contact Clickatell today.
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