4 Powerful Ways Live Chat Can Positively Impact Your Business

You do not have to be a marketing guru to know that excellent customer service is vital for business success. Your customers want things now—and they usually get it. But this is not the case for customer service. Most people do not have time to call in and wait for an answer. Sure, email is a great option, but response times take longer than 12 hours. And delays like this will send your customers running into the arms of your competitors.

So, how can you respond quickly to your customers?
It is simple. Use live chat.

One of the most important benefits of live chat is that it allows you to talk directly to your customers in real-time (pretty much what it says on the box)—but there is so much more to live chat than providing quick customer support. Live chat is a must-have tool for your business, and this blog post will cover why that is. We have put together a list of how live chat can positively impact your business.

Increase Sales!

Research shows websites with chat support report a 19% increase in revenue and 38% in conversions. The same study shows that customers that use live chat are three times more likely to make purchases versus those who do not.

While traditional lead generation methods usually target only certain parts of the sales funnel, live chat generates leads throughout the customer journey. When browsing your website, prospects will have questions about your product or service and live chat gives you the chance to hold your buyers by the hand, from market awareness and pre-sales to post-sales support and customer retention.

17% cheaper than a phone call, live chat is like having a sales assistant on standby. You can answer back immediately without having to spend money on costly telephone calls and long emails that may be too late. Live chat will help you turn website visitors into qualified leads.

Availability builds trust!

63% of consumers are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat. Why? Because responding faster = more leads. Consumers are naturally dubious about buying things online. It is human nature. But with live chat, you can have a direct conversation with your prospect, allowing you to give quick answers to questions about your products or services. It also helps you solve problems faster and assures your customers that you are there when they need you. That is a very effective recipe for improving customer service and building loyalty and trust.

As the chief currency between the business and its customer and as the secret sauce that can make customers leap, trust keeps customers coming back for more. Having a live chat on your website not only makes them happy but has a significant impact on their potential to convert. Without live chat, you will have to work harder to build trust with your website visitors.

Better customer satisfaction!

80% of businesses believe they offer superior customer service, but only 8% of customers think those same businesses deliver an exceptional service. The success of any business depends on one factor: customer satisfaction. With live chat come all kinds of valuable data about your customers. Not only does it allow you to engage in actual human conversation, but it allows you to flesh out your buyer persona to gain a deeper understanding of their needs, wants, and behaviour and pain points, transforming them into leads.

What better way to learn about your customers and your services and products than to talk to them? And customers love it just as much. At 73%, chat offers the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel.

Tracks your performance!

Live chat doesn’t just positively impact sales, support service and customer satisfaction. The benefits of live chat software are far-reaching. In the race to digitally transform, with businesses going paperless, live chat software supports that goal. And it also keeps track of your performance.

Rich with information, chat sessions allow you to harvest valuable data about the speed of your responses, helping you work toward service. With inbuilt analytics, chat software attracts visitors the moment they enter your website. It monitors sessions, conducts quality control, and gives you reports on usage, performance and customer satisfaction—all automatically and in real-time.

In addition, you get total visibility on the metrics that matter most. From engaging prospects in real-time, customising messages, shortening sales funnels, and improving lead nurturing to increasing sales, in today’s digital world, live chat is the best communication platform to offer a real-time prompt response to customers.

Live chat has the highest customer satisfaction levels, at 73% compared to 61% for email support and only 44% for traditional phone support. With 63% of consumers more likely to return to a website that offers live chat—can your business afford not to have it?

Set up a live chat NOW!

Customers are waiting on your site right now, and there are tons of live chat software available. You just need to find one that fits your needs, Clickdesk, Formilla, Olark and Livechatinc.