Why is it worth having live chat on your website in 2024?
)
A website without a chat is like a bricks-and-mortar shop without a shop assistant. When you have a live chat window in your online store, you gain an enormous advantage over the competition. All it takes is giving your visitors the chance to talk to you comfortably, and you can turn them into satisfied customers straight away.
Why is that?
Live chat is the most used channel
Even though many companies still try to use traditional channels such as email and the phone for customer support, the trend among website visitors is exactly the opposite. Up to 41 % of website visitors prefer live chat.
Why? The younger generation is so used to chatting that phone calls simply feel unnatural to them. Other people appreciate that while they are chatting, they can do other things at the same time. But the biggest plus is that a problem can be solved through chat in real time, without a long wait on the line.
You gain a competitive advantage
You gain the first advantage simply by giving your customers a personal, fast and effective way to communicate.
But why not go further? According to research by Reshoper, 54.1 % of live chat questions came in between 10:00 and 15:00. But the customers who buy in the evening – from 19:00 to midnight – are not to be ignored either. In that window visitors asked 15.1 % of all questions. You can put that to good use: install live chat on your phone and answer customer questions even at times when other stores are already asleep.
You raise conversions and save on sales and marketing
Live chat raises conversions. Our internal statistics show that a customer who used the chat is 5 times more likely to buy than a customer who did not.
And once you have helped a customer with a purchase, you increase the chance that they will come back and buy again. Positive experiences build customer loyalty, and that achieves an effect similar to the one created by your sales and marketing departments – because 43 % of people spend more money with brands they are loyal to.
You build good customer care
To give the customer that positive experience, it is important to communicate effectively. A huge plus of live chat is that, unlike other channels, it lets you attend to more customers at once. But do not forget about speed: 45 % of customers will not complete their purchase if their question is not resolved quickly.
Here are our tips on how to communicate effectively:
Be responsive. Customers expect fast answers, but they also understand that you are not a robot. So if you need more time for an answer, a quick "I am working on it, one moment please" is perfectly enough. If you give them no quick answer at all, they will leave disappointed and with a poor rating.
Be concise. When you send the first message, say hello first and put the answer to the question in the next message. Avoid long paragraphs and keep links to articles and tutorials at hand. When you are dealing with something complicated, offer to send the visitor an email with all the important details.
Use shortcuts – prepared messages that you use often and send in one tap, for example to welcome a customer or say goodbye. They let you answer all the frequently asked questions in a flash and make your customer service more efficient.
You can do all of this easily with Smartsupp
Smartsupp gives you every feature you need to take your customer communication to a new level:
A customisable chat box – adjust the chat design to suit your brand.
A mobile app – lets you chat with customers from your phone even when you are out of the office.
Shortcuts – prepare answers in advance to make your communication faster and more effective.
Statistics – track how your customer support is doing and keep improving your service.
Simple integration with dozens of platforms – installing Smartsupp chat takes only a few steps.
Still not sure what to do? Contact us through the chat after logging in to your Smartsupp account. We will be happy to help. Please note that customer service is available in paid plans only.