By now, most of you are aware of the benefits of live chat software. But do you know how deep those benefits run?
Live chat doesn’t just impact sales positively. It doesn’t just impact support, or service, or satisfaction positively.
The benefits of live chat software are diverse and far-reaching, and there are more than we could feasibly list in a simple blog article. So, here's just a quick summary of our top 25.
1. A low-barrier option
Live chat is accessible. With chat, customers don’t have to spend time searching for contact details or email addresses. They simply land on your website and launch a session.
2. The convenient channel
For customers, one of the key benefits of live chat software is its convenience. They can use it with minimal disruption to their day, typing out messages whilst continuing to multi-task.
3. Increases web conversions
Your website is your digital sales showroom. By adding chat, you equip it with a team of skilled sales agents in the same way you’d staff a physical showroom.
4. Creates choice
Some of us hate picking up the phone. Some dislike social media; for others physical meetings are the devil; some hate laborious email conversation. Adding a chat option adds choices for your customers.
5. Reduces website errors
One of the forgotten benefits of live chat software is its effectiveness in driving down site errors. Visitors with forgotten logins, or hitting 404 pages, can be helped immediately and effectively.
6. Allows you to harvest data
With live chat comes reams of valuable data. The pre-chat survey yields key contact details, chat sessions are rich with information, and post-chat surveys provide you with useful feedback.
7. Channel discretion
A live chat channel funnels angry social media users who demand immediate answers into a private, discreet space. You can resolve problems out of the public eye, with less damage to your reputation.
8. Removes language barriers
For international businesses, one of the key benefits of live chat software is its multilingual capacity. Your messages can be translated back and forth in real-time, opening your website to the world.
9. Low cost
All studies show that live chat is a low cost alternative to the telephone as a service channel. According to BT, a live chat session is a full 20-30% cheaper than a phone call.
10. Quick connections
Rather than waiting on hold listening to awful music, or waiting an unknown stretch of time for an email response, live chat offers an instant connection to a real person.
11. Rapid resolutions
As well as this quick connectivity, chat resolves the issue at hand rapidly. On average, it only takes 42 seconds to resolve a query using live chat software – making it a highly efficient channel.
12. Easy to monitor
The benefits of live chat software are multifarious for your management team. With chat, it’s easy to monitor sessions and transcripts, conduct quality control audits and both support and supervise agents.
13. Prevents cart abandonment
By reaching out at the right time with the right chat message, you can prevent website visitors from abandoning cart and close the deal you were about to lose.
14. Makes your business approachable
Another of the overlooked benefits of live chat software is its capacity to encourage engagement. It makes you more approachable, as visitors with piqued interest can contact you on a whim.
15. Powers personalised service
Because chat integrates with your CRM, it enables you to pull in the customer’s account details immediately and offer personalised, informed service from the off.
16. Supports your digital transformation
In the race to digitally transform, businesses are looking to go paperless with their customer comms. When integrated with customer portals, live chat software goes a long way in supporting that goal.
17. Offers a secure environment
One of the bland but truly essential benefits of live chat software is its security. It’s PCI /PII complaint, encrypts conversations, and can even be self-hosted.
18. Reduces call volumes
With a live chat option, you can direct customers away from the phone and free up agent availability. Agents can handle multiple chats at once, meaning you can deliver quicker service, to more people.
19. Minimises agent fatigue
As well as being less draining than a phone call, live chat comes with canned responses. By sending pre-set answers at a click, it prevents repetitive manual keystrokes and agent frustration over FAQ.
20. Inbuilt analytics
Your chat solution will give you reports on usage, agent performance and customer satisfaction – all automatically and in real-time. You get total visibility on the metrics that matter most.
21. Prevents channel disruption
For your customers, one of the most straightforward benefits of live chat software is that they don’t have to switch channel to exchange documents. It can all be done right within the chat window.
22. Reveals customer satisfaction
More advanced chat solutions – like WhosOn – can analyse sessions for sentiment. Then, satisfaction scores can be calculated to reveal how happy your customers are in real-time.
23. Enriches your CRM
Your chat software will automatically stream data to your CRM. From new leads, to customer contact details, to feedback and sentiment, you can keep your CRM informed and updated.
24. Manages busy periods
With live chat, not only can you assess peak periods and usage trends, you can also set agent chat schedules to meet demand. Your busiest times can be manned and managed with ease.
25. Your customers love it
Of course, one of the biggest and best benefits of live chat software is that your customers love using it. At 73%, chat offers the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel.
Convinced? Start your free trial with WhosOn today.