How to settle down before chatting? Chatting without the stress

Chatting is definitely not a simple business. You never know what kinds of questions people will ask. Do everything you can to feel perfectly prepared, even though you will not know the answer to every question.

Here are a few tips on how to settle down before jumping into the crazy world of chat. Remember that these are only tips on how to organise things and handle a busy day on chat. Once you get into the swing of it, you can come up with your own style and your own tips for taking the whole situation in your stride.

Add your photo to the chat

If you add a photo of the agent the customer is talking to – a profile picture (you upload it in Settings – Personal) – you give them a sense of connection with a real person. You become memorable for the customer, they will not feel like they are talking to a robot and they will even be more polite. It is also proven that adding a photo to the chat multiplies customer response and increases sales of products and services.

Be ready to chat anywhere

If you are moving around and want to chat from a new place, make sure you can hear the chat sounds, for example a new incoming message. Take with you a list of frequent questions and the other things you and your team use often – it will help you find your way quickly. Before you start chatting, also make sure you have a comfortable space where you can work undisturbed. And make sure you have all the tabs you will need open in your browser, ready for customer questions.

Give yourself the time you need

If you have your hands full answering the chats you have already started, do not start answering new ones. If you bit off more than you can chew, you would not manage to answer every question, or customers would wait a long time for a reply. So that you do not lose customers, make sure you have your automatic messages set up properly. In practice it works like this: in the chat you set how long it takes for an automatic reply to reach the customer. For example, the customer is on the site for 30 seconds, and after that time an automatically generated message arrives: "Hello, do you need any help?" The customer writes back, but unfortunately you cannot reply right then. So after one minute another automatic message arrives: "We are sorry, we are currently handling earlier customer requests. Please leave us your email (or phone number) and we will contact you as soon as we can."

Change your account presence status

If there are too many customer questions on chat and you have nobody around to help you, change your account status to "Away". Customers will know that an answer will not come immediately and in most cases they will wait for it.

A recommendation: set up an automatic message saying "We are away from the computer". If your account is set to "Away" and a customer writes, after 20 seconds they will automatically receive a message letting them know that you are away from the computer but will be back shortly :) That way customers do not leave the site without an answer.

If you would like help with automatic messages, do not hesitate to write to us on chat.