Introduction
One of the key mantras for running a successful business is providing excellent customer service. Research says that almost 73% of the customers make a purchase where they receive a positive experience from the brand. On the other hand, 32% of them stop interacting with the brand after facing a negative experience. Serving great customer service does not always mean resolving customer issues but offering a seamless customer experience. Live chat support is one of the most commonly used by companies for engaging customers in meaningful conversations. However, there are a few etiquettes that need to be followed to get the maximum benefits from live chat support.
Professional Do’s of Live Chat
Live chat service is defined as a two-way communication channel that allows companies to answer customer queries as well as gaining invaluable customer feedback that helps in improving products and services. Below is the detailed rundown of what a company should and shouldn’t be doing while using live chat support.
1. Be Proactive
Always be proactive to your customers because they are not willing to wait more than a minute when they lodged their query on the live chat support. Ideally, the average waiting time for a response is around 48 seconds. However, if you are experiencing delays in responding to the customers, keep them informed about the reason for the delay. Providing an automated reply like” you are 2nd in the queue” increases the chances of continuing the chat for the customers.
2. Personalize the Chat
More than 80% of the visitors are more likely to purchase from the brand after they get a personalized approach from the brand. Offering a personalized approach should be one of the most important engagement strategies that you should follow. Another way of personalizing the chat experience is the implementation of the pre-chat service where the customers are engaged in providing their details like name, email id, and message. It ensures that the customers are connected to the right place.
3. Be Polite
The most important yet simple rule of creating a unique live chat experience with a current or prospective customer is being polite. As a customer care agent, you are not allowed to be rude with any customer in the chat despite the customers being angry and frustrated. The quote “The first impression is the last impression” applies here also. Customers will come again if they have received a positive appealing approach from the brand.
4. Combine Chatbots with Human Agents
Chatbots can serve customers 24*7 outside business hours too. Unlike human agents, chatbots can operate 24 hours a day that customers are demanding from a business. Personalization of chat is only possible when a human customer service agent replies to the customers. A chatbot cannot solve complex queries or provide a great customer experience. It is the human agents who are responsible for creating a unique customer experience while going beyond the live chat support.
5. Implement Set Replies
Set replies sometimes can give a customer a robotic feel, but using set replies not only saves time but also helps the customer service agent to utilize the time in understanding the query while reading the previous customer interactions. A great customer experience can be offered only when the company can smartly use the previously set replies to the customers’ response on the chat window. Set replies must be polite, appealing and they should include a warm greeting to the ones who are texting on the company live chat window.
Don’ts of live Chat
Apart from the best practices of live chat support, there are few aspects that brands need to keep in mind so that they don’t offend any customers. Always remember that an offended customer can spread negative Word of Mouth that may lead to a bad brand reputation.
1. Be Too Scripted
Relying too much on scripts can create a bad impression while making conversations robotic in nature. Conversations should be natural. Customer service agents are supposed to make open-ended questions to the customers so that they can express their concerns and eventually it will help in resolving the queries faster.
2. Limited Chat Hours
Limited chat hours represent that your brand is not available for customers 24*7. If you have a business that has international customers, then it is very important to serve customer service round the clock. Be sure that your customers know that you are ready to help them any time of the day rather than a limited time of the day. It will not only increase customer satisfaction, but also you will find that your brand is getting more average order value in the long run.
3. Keeping Visitors Waiting for Answers
Do not keep your customers waiting for a long time to respond to their chats. According to an online survey, 60% of the customers hate longer waiting time i.e., more than a minute for customer support. The main agenda of using live chat support for a company is to respond to the customers within a few seconds. Keeping your customers waiting for long will eventually lead to loss of customers and profitability for your company within no time.
4. Being Too Salesy
Using live chat support for solving customer queries and issues should be focused on customer needs rather than a sales pitch. Being too salesy in the chat can offend customers and they may think that their concerns are not important to you. You are too busy pitching sales quotes. A good example of upselling your product is when a customer asks for a particular product you can recommend a better one or add some value-added service to it so that it seems to be more useful rather than being salesy.
5. Be Too Negative
Always stay positive whenever the chatbot or a human customer service agent is engaged in a conversation with the customers. It is very important during a chat; the right words are used so that the chat doesn’t sound too negative. Avoid negative words like won’t, can’t, don’t, etc. to reduce customer effort scores. Make a big difference while offering excellent customer satisfaction while sending positive vibes on the chat in the minds of the customers.
Wrapping Up
Live chat support is the only way where brands can offer real human interaction whenever a customer is making an online purchase. In this digital age, customers are relying more on live chat while making a digital purchase. Hence, failing to serve customers through live chat support can eventually lead to loss of business. Whilst a bad live chat experience can make your customers away from your brand, however, a positive one can drive customer loyalty and increase brand reputation.
