Top Benefits of Live Chat for Customer Service Teams

Customer service is not just a call center agent providing customer support. It encompasses everything that has to do with providing customers with the best experience. Greeting at the entrance, answering questions, recommending products, and emails–it’s all customer service.

Take this scenario for example.

You see an ad for a clothing store. The catalog shown is nice and totally fits your aesthetic. Interest piqued, you decide to check out the website. Right off the bat, it takes forever to load. Twenty seconds in and your interest is quickly dwindling.

Then finally, the page loads. It looks pretty but you don’t know where anything is. The text colors blend in with the background, making them hard to see, and their full catalog has no filtering options. To top it all off, there’s no help page nor any way to ask the staff besides email and you are not willing to wait for a response. Out of frustration, you click out of the page.

Will you check the website out again? Will you recommend it to your friends? Not likely.

One important aspect of customer service is providing means of communication. Not just verbally, but through several communication channels like email, phone, social media, and live chat. 

Live chat support for websites is not only a continuously rising trend but is currently a vital functionality. It gives a way for customers to instantly interact with the company when visiting the latter’s website.

How to implement live chat on a website?

Live chat is a technology that is embedded in selected pages of a website. It usually takes the form of a small widget or a chatbox on the lower right side of a page. 

How does live chat work?

Live chat customer service software is easy to use. Just click on the widget or the textbox on the chatbox and input what you want to say. You will either be answered by a chatbot or a customer support representative. The former is a technology added to live chat support software that answers commonly asked queries. The latter comes in when the problem is more complex or the client demands one.

What is live chat customer service? What differentiates it from using the chat option in social media? Let’s do a deep dive into the top benefits of live chat for customer service.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity for Customer Service Teams

It can be frustrating for a customer to wait for a reply when they need immediate answers. Live chat service solves this by allowing the agents to respond to multiple customers at once, at times with the aid of a chatbot.

By leaving frequently asked questions (FAQs) for the chatbot, customers with common or simple queries are instantly resolved. That way, some of the customers won’t have to wait for an available agent. At the same time, your agents’ workloads are considerably lightened. 

With these simple queries answered, your business’ resolution rate will rise. In case there are simply too many for your agents to handle even with the help of a chatbot, you can always partner up with other companies that offer live chat outsourcing services to help out.

Cost Savings for Businesses

The number one worry of almost all businesses is, you know it, budget. That budget, if not controlled, can quickly snowball and eat into your company’s profits. 

A chunk of that budget goes into operations. Adding to that is the cost of the needed materials, the maintenance, and the salaries of the employees. It’s no wonder why some companies decide to cut costs in some of these areas just to maximize their profit.

But it’s not wise to sacrifice quantity over quality. Quality is the deciding factor in customer satisfaction.

Unlike other channels like phone support, online chat customer service costs less to maintain. With the assistance of chatbots, you’ll be able to accommodate more customers without having to onboard more staff. Therefore, no added cost. Additionally, it allows agents to attend to multiple customers at the same time.

If the problem is not having enough workers to operate your live chat services, live chat support outsourcing is an option. It can be cheaper than allocating resources for the hiring process.

Personalized and Immediate Support for Customers

By recording and storing the chat history, more customer data can be gathered and used for future transactions. These data can be also used to personalize these clients’ experiences with the brand.

With previous data on hand, questions asking for basic information can be skipped. Thus, every query going forward will jump straight to the point, leading to a faster resolution time.

While a website may have a knowledge base for customer self-service, a client may not have the time or know where to start looking. In these circumstances, they can directly ask through online chat support and have the agents or chatbot push the right link.

This can also apply to live chat support for sales. Live agents can track a customer’s interest or whether they are lingering on a specific page and do some proactive customer service. They can push links that go directly to the product or service needed. This is especially helpful for upselling and cross-selling.

Unlike phone service, the agent doesn’t have to wait for the customer to follow the instructions and can instead move on to another client in the meantime. It goes the same with email, which can usually take days between replies.

Improved Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Live chat support on a website is a more direct method of contacting the company. So when the customer has an inquiry about a product or service, the live chat is immediately at hand. The customer doesn’t have to switch to a different device, click on another page, or do any other additional step.

Take it a step further and add 24/7 availability and multiple languages in order to expand your market reach.not only will you be able to cater to more customers, it also serves to assure them that your service is available any time, furthering your reliability and their trust in your brand. A survey validates this, saying that 68% of customers are likely to switch to a different brand that offers support in their native language.

Improved Customer Service Metrics and KPIs

How do marketing strategists know what to do? How do they know which direction to go? How do business owners know how well their company is doing? Data. Lots of it.

How do they get this data? Metrics. 

Money is not the only number being kept track of in a business. The data being gathered from communication channels, customer satisfaction surveys, and other means are processed after being compiled. From the results, insights are gathered and used to improve how the business runs.

Here are some of the metrics that benefit from the usage of live chat support:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Score

This metric is collected by giving out customer satisfaction surveys to customers. They will be asked to rate an aspect of their experience based on a scale. These forms can also contain open-ended questions and multiple choices, giving you both valuable quantitative and qualitative data.

A high CSAT score means that most of your customers are satisfied with their experience or the solution given after contacting live chat for customer support.

• First Response Time (FRT)

First response time, also called first reply time, shows how long a customer waits before an agent sends an initial response. This metric goes together with customer satisfaction as the first reply is a crucial part of the area. 

That first reply serves as an acknowledgment. The faster the reply, the more ready you are to help them. 

To calculate the average FRT during a specified time frame, divide the sum of the first response times by the number of tickets (chat sessions).

average FRT = sum of First Response Times / sum of tickets

This metric, however, excludes automated responses and inquiries outside of business hours. Moreover, it does not indicate the overall quality of your service.

• Average Resolution Time (ART)

Meanwhile, resolution time refers to the time it takes for a representative to resolve an issue. It tracks how well your representatives deal with customer issues. 

Like FRT, this metric also impacts your CSAT scores. A high ART means that your team efficient in their jobs and have effective methods. 

To calculate ART within a specified time frame, divide the total time of resolved conversations by the total number of conversations.

Average Resolution Time = total duration of resolved conversations / total number of conversations

Note that this only applies to resolved conversations. This metric also does not indicate whether the customer is satisfied with the solution.

• Total Number of Chats

Total number of chats is a lead generation metric that measures the successful chat sessions from the total number of chats. It shows how engaged your customers are with the conversations and tracks your agents’ productivity.

To get the percentage, use the following formula:

Total Number of Chats = (total successful chat sessions / total number of chats) x 100%

A high percentage, especially with a high chat volume, shows that your team is capable of handling surges in customer queries. It also indicates that the customers are satisfied with the service enough that they continue engaging with the agent until their issues are resolved. 

As with the other metrics, this also has its limits. It does not show how satisfied the customers are with the solutions.

• Chat to Conversion Rate (CTCR)

This metric shows the number of chat responders who converted into customers during and after the session. You can track the effectiveness of live chat in convincing customers to make and finish a transaction. 

Exploring the Potential of Live Chat

In this digital age chock full of information and ways to communicate, one bad review can circulate to several circles. This makes delivering top-notch customer service a priority in many business owners’ minds. There’s also the fact that customer demands and behavior are changing that businesses must adjust.

Live chat aids in delivering quality service by providing instant answers to queries. More issues are resolved by enabling agents to multitask. It also promotes efficiency in the workplace by leaving the common questions for the chatbot and complex issues directed to an agent. The technology brings convenience by allowing the customer to immediately find what they need.

The above qualities then result in a positive effect on the monitored metrics. These metrics show your business’ growth and the direction to go next.

When utilizing live chat support, you can’t rely on chatbots to do all the work. You also need manpower to add the human touch and take care of the more complicated queries. However, that may not be possible for other businesses, especially small ones.

The next best solution then is to outsource live chat operators instead. Not only will this option not break the bank, but it’s also more scalable for businesses in case they want to expand or downsize.

If you’re thinking of outsourcing live chat support for your business, why not partner with New Media Services live chat support services?

Boost your conversions and customer retention with hour round-the-clock availability. This makes sure that no matter the location or time zone, no customers will be left waiting for hours.  Our live chat support solutions also have a multilanguage capability, ensuring that there are as few barriers between your customers and quality customer service.

We also put the effective in cost-effective thanks to our pay-per-service feature. That means you’ll only pay for the agents’ active hours, making every penny worth it. Add to that our customizable plans and that’s a steal!

Let’s achieve both quality and quantity. Contact us!