You’ve all seen them and most of you have probably used them under certain circumstances and conditions. We’re talking about popup web chats, also called live chats. Consider this. What makes you want to begin the chat on some websites and you can’t close the window and move on fast enough on other websites?
In all boils down to what it’s able to offer your online viewers. Here are some benefits that you can provide your potential clients or customers with a live chat feature on your website.
Time
The ability for viewers/customers to save time seems to be the biggest factor when it comes to successful live chats. When you are in a hurry and want a quick answer you’re more likely to use the website’s chat feature. According to data collected in a survey of almost 5,000 global online consumers conducted by BoldChat, they reported that “Of those who prefer live chat, 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly.” That number is a lot larger than their number two reason, at 51% , which is the ability to multi-task while using a website’s chat feature.
Customers who chose “time” as the main factor liked the fact that their questions were answered immediately and the wait time was much shorter than if they emailed or used the phone. This is a huge selling point for live chat’s high satisfaction rate.
The above information is provided by BoldChat’s online report. Read the entire BoldChat’s 2013 Live Chat Effectiveness Research Report here.
Customer Satisfaction
Satisfaction is another reason customers use web chat services. Many customers feel that the quality of answers and information they receive online is much better than the quality of information they receive on the phone or through email.
According to statistics collected from the EDigital Customer Benchmark survey of more than 2,000 consumers, customer satisfaction rated very high in the reasons why customers choose to use web chat. They said that “Consumers who use live chat for service and support talk it up as one of the most rewarding support channels available today. Stats from the new eDigital Customer Service Benchmark report show live chat out in front in terms of customer satisfaction levels with 73% of consumers saying they were happy with their live chat experience. In comparison, email had a 61% satisfaction rate, social media had a 48% satisfaction rate, and phone came in at just 44%.”
Trust
Online visitors begin to feel a sense of trust after talking to customer service representatives via online web chat if they get quick and correct answers to their questions. Olark, a web chat service provider, writes in their blog that “answering their questions makes them trust your products/services more, and makes them more likely to purchase your products and services.” They also reported that “Overall, the statistics and testimonials from users show that live chat programs decreases bounce rate and increases sales. “
LiveChat, another web chat service provider, documented two cases of improved conversion rates for websites using web chats. In one, the conversion rates increased by 10% and in another 17%.
According to statistics, live chat appears to be a logical choice for website owners that field a lot of questions from customers and are concerned about providing great customer service.