Ever wondered what’s the biggest influence on consumer behavior brought about by the technology boom over the last decade? It is a remarkable reduction in our average attention span. In a study conducted by Technical University of Denmark, they found the average human attention span has reduced to 8 seconds in the year 2020.
With such a low patience level, keeping your customer waiting for minutes or days to respond can clearly be disastrous to your business.
With a growing adoption of customer experience strategies, few companies are going over the top in providing ease of access to their customers. Customer support, being the frontline actor, has to naturally abide with such strategies. Hence, the adoption of live chat feature in customer support has grown immensely in the past few years.
Live chat allows your website visitors to interact directly with your customer support agent in real-time and get instant response to their queries. This is a big game-changer in the service industry and has many benefits that include:
#1 Convenience
With the live chat support, customers usually get a popup on the webpage that prompts them to engage in a conversation right then and there itself. This makes it quite convenient for them because of:
Less effort
Customers don’t have to switch the channel or platform. This is quite hassle free and reduces the Customer Effort Score (CES) considerably.
Multi-task
Even if it takes a few seconds for them to get the response, they can leave this tab open and carry on with other things until they get the response notification.
Instant help for purchasing decisions
When a customer is making a purchase decision, it is often reassuring to speak to an agent to address any doubt or apprehension. This feature provides them with that facility.
#2 Saves time
When compared with other forms of communication like email or phone, live chat software saves a lot of time for the visitors.
Faster resolution
Support agents can quickly meet where the customers are rather than going through the long procedure of customer identification. Through features like screen sharing, they can resolve issues at a much faster rate.
Waiting time can be utilized
While the customer is waiting for a response, they can use that time to perform other activities in their browser window.
Higher first contact resolution rate
With features like transfer chat, support agents can help resolve the issue in the first contact itself. Without a need for customers to follow up, the agent can immediately transfer the chat to another expert who can resolve the query immediately.
With nearly 39% of companies not even measuring First Contact Resolution, this can be a major competitive advantage for initial adopters.
#3 Ideal for mobile users
Nearly 53% of the website traffic worldwide is from mobile users today. So, if you are not leveraging this platform to its greatest potential then there’s no better time to start than now. Live chat is ideal for mobile users because of:
Engaging on-the-go
With live chat feature on mobile, customers don’t have to sit and wait for the response. They can engage whenever and wherever they are and get the responses immediately.
Leverage device affinity
There is a staggering growth happening in the number of mobile users year on year than that of any other device. By embedding live chat feature on this device, you can drive more website traffic through customers who don’t use any other digital device than mobile phones and engage them effectively.
Suitable User Interface
Chat windows are the most suitable user interface on mobile according to its screen size as compared to emails. With a relatively lower size of chat window, it becomes much easier to engage through this feature.
Because of the above reasons, more than 80% of tech-adopters have progressively switched over to the live chat support on their mobile devices as shown in the below illustration.
#4 Chatbots enhance the live chat experience
Chatbots take the live chat experience to one step further through following benefits:
No waiting times
Even in live chat, there can be a bit of lag in response if it is completely manual. Chatbots eliminate even that response time through instant response.
Helping customers locate the right resources
Most of the customer queries are recurring for which chatbots are most useful. Customers don’t mind if they find help through a bot or a human as long as the resources are helpful. Chatbots help them locate the right resources on a website.
No more queuing
With the chatbot’s ability to handle vast set of customers simultaneously, customers don’t have to wait in queues to get responses even in busy hours.
#5 Integration with Social media and Messaging apps
Omnichannel presence is the best strategy for today’s audience. With the live chat presence on social media and messaging apps like Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp, you can have multiple benefits like:
Reduce effort
When your customers are on your social page, having a live chat option there helps them to engage easily without requiring them to visit your website.
Seamless experience
By providing live chat on social media, you do not require them to disconnect from their activity flow but rather meet them exactly where they are. Through this seamless experience, you are able to make your place in customer’s ecosystem that often helps develop their affinity towards your brand.
Final Thoughts
Every touchpoint a customer makes with your brand should add some value to them. Helping them reach their goals faster and more efficiently is the most prominent step for you to take. And the value they receive gets compounded over the time shaping customer loyalty towards your brand. I am sure 10 years from now, people cannot even imagine customer support without live chat service.
