In recent years, live chat functionality has taken the business world by storm. Today, it plays a vital role in the delivery of digital customer services. In fact, three-quarters of consumers say they prefer live chat to other contact channels.
That’s why more and more eCommerce and retail brands are using live chat as both a sales tool and for customer support. But why is live chat so crucial for eCommerce and online shopping? Here, we take a look at how it can benefit brands and help businesses achieve more success.
The days of face-to-face customer service and commerce in a store are long gone. In today’s digital age, purchases are much more likely to be made online.
The key to e-commerce success is improving customer engagement on the website. Companies in virtually every niche have been improving their online offerings to ensure the best possible customer experience.
This is one of the reasons why having live chat functionality is essential for all eCommerce and retail businesses.
Typically, a live chat for an eCommerce brand is displayed either as a pop-up or a window on the company’s website. It allows the customer support team to instantly communicate with website visitors and provide them with real-time answers to their questions.
Basically, it’s a way to instantly and personally engage with consumers online. Moreover, brands can meet their customers right where they are- in the middle of their shopping journey.
In addition, live chats have been shown to have a distinct advantage when it comes to search engine optimization. Adding a live chat app to your website could boost your SEO performance. This allows businesses to get their brand at the top of the search engine results pages so that more potential customers can find them.
Now let’s take a look at five more reasons why live chat can help your business.
Perhaps the most important benefit of live chat for eCommerce businesses is that it can increase sales exponentially. Nearly 80% of businesses report that the introduction of live chat has led to an increase in leads, sales, and revenue.
By using live chat, customers can be guided through the buying process. As they can ask questions and they’re answered in real-time, they can overcome doubts they may have.
Essentially, customers have their own virtual shopping assistant at their disposal; so they’re more likely to make a purchase than customers who don’t interact with a live chat agent.
Not only is a purchase more likely to occur when a live chat comes into play; but customers are also more likely to spend more time on the website as well.
In fact, the average order value increases by 10% when customers have engaged in a live chat before making a purchase, as live chats provide more opportunities for upselling.
Since live chat is a fast communication channel, it allows instant communication with the customer. As a result, issues can be resolved much faster; especially for more complex problems that require multiple back-and-forth phone calls or emails.
Live chat resolution rates are up to 13 times faster than those from using contact web forms or email.
Live chat not only speeds up resolution times but also improves wait and response times.
While using WhatsApp for businesses is one way to speed up customer communication, it requires the use of a separate platform. With live chat, the conversation can take place right where the customers are – on your website! It’s much more convenient and efficient.
Currently, the average wait time to communicate with a chat agent is only 35 seconds, and the average response time is only 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
It is far faster than the 13-minute wait time in phone queues and the 12-hour response time for customer emails.
With faster responses and resolutions, companies can benefit by building a better public image and increasing the brand’s trust.
Once a live chat is available on an e-commerce website, customer engagement increases. This is because there are more customer conversations, and more interactions always mean more chances to convert leads and turn them into paying customers while building stronger customer relationships.
In fact, live chat isn’t just changing online shopping. Today, service-based businesses also use live chat and offer virtual appointments to fulfill customer demands.
This also improves customer relationships by allowing consumers and the brand to interact more personally, strengthening the relationship and building trust.
In addition, live chat encourages consumers to engage further with the website, leading to more frequent visits.
Evidence shows that over 60% of consumers revisit websites that offer live chat, and the more often they return to a website, the more likely they’re to become repeat customers.
More customer engagement in the digital space through live chat functionality naturally leads to more revenue, greater brand loyalty, and better customer retention in the long run.
For brands in all industries, keeping their customers satisfied is the key to having a successful business. However, it often takes a lot of work to determine customer sentiment.
Interactions via live chat are a great way to gather information about customer sentiment.
By using the latest technology, businesses can measure customer sentiment and better understand what they’re doing well and what they need to improve.
Through the use of plugins and apps, it’s possible to collect data on customer sentiment from all web chat conversations to gain better insight into customer satisfaction and attitudes.
Tracking sentiment in live chat messages enables brands to ensure that their customers receive excellent support and service.
This information can then be used to optimize the user experience and make better business decisions in the future.
Live chat can reduce the number of abandoned purchases by allowing customers to stay on the site and receive assistance immediately.
When a live chat agent is available to answer questions, offer advice, and help with problems, customers are much more likely to complete their purchase.
Even better, live chat provides additional personalization that encourages customers to convert more.
By choosing a hosting service that supports live chat features, businesses can ensure that they increase their sales and customer satisfaction.
Clearly, live chat is becoming increasingly important throughout the world of e-commerce, and brands need to prepare to meet their customers right where they need them most.
It’s important to connect and engage with customers through the most appropriate channels and at the most opportune time.
With live chat functionality, businesses can take advantage of technology to improve the service they offer and increase sales.
Have you used a live chat for your business? If so, we would appreciate it if you could share your experience in the comments below.
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