Live Chat Allows Customers to Contact You in the Way They Want To
E-commerce is about convenience. It’s about consumers being able to purchase from your retail business the way they want, when they want. And this convenience should extend to how customers can communicate with your company. Today’s consumers want to be able to choose the options that work for them, and well-thought-out live chat is an option the consumers you want to reach are interested in.
The Bold Software/E-Tailing Group research finds that 20% of shoppers prefer live chat. And this 20% of consumers tends to include those age 31 to 50 with above average income and who are more likely to be college educated and spend more online on an annual basis than other shoppers. Can you afford not to appease this audience?
The Right Way to Execute Live Chat
If you’ve decided live chat is the right option for your e-commerce business, you need to be sure to implement it correctly. Customers who engage in live chat say its success completely lies with the chatting customer representative. They found the chat software’s features to be far less important.
The E-Commerce Edge Is Customer Service
At Blueport, when we work with clients that are implementing live chat, we instruct them to really think about who they are assigning this task. We find the ideal chatters to be web-savvy and have a good mix of customer service and sales skills. Deep knowledge of the product catalog is essential.
Your retail chatters need to be clear on their goals, which should most likely be customer satisfaction and closing the sale. Chatters should also keep in mind that the customer decided to reach out to them via chat, so they should tread carefully about sending users to alternate medium, like the phone or in-store, for resolution. Your chatters need to be empowered to quickly answer questions and resolve issues all within online chat or in the follow-up method each customer prefers.
Are You Going to, or Have You Already Implemented, Online Chat for E-Commerce?
If you’re thinking of incorporating live chat, remember that the software is just a piece of the puzzle. Go to sites that offer online chat and see what does and does not work for you as a consumer. How long of a wait for the retailer rep to begin the chat is too long? Could the chatter answer your catalog questions, or could you learn more from the product page? If an item was out of stock or not what you wanted, were you offered alternatives? When you said you’d come back later or go to the store, were you given an incentive to buy today. Note what your frustrations and what you liked so you can incorporate best practices into your own implementation.
If your website already has live chat, how do you know if you’re maximizing this opportunity? Regularly review the transcripts to see what opportunities may have been lost and to see if you have given your chatters the information and tools they need to make the customer interactions successful. And be sure to engage in live chat on your website as a customer every now and then to see that the experience is what it should be.
Related posts:
- A Fluid Online Shopping Experience Trumps Deals and Offers
- Marketing to the Smarter Consumer
- E-commerce 2.0 – the Next Wave
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