With product availability options steadily increasing for consumers, great customer service can be the defining piece of your business that differentiates your brand from the competition this holiday shopping season. Implementing a live chat into your ecommerce store can help take the customer experience to the next level during the busiest time of year. A live chat is a form of customer service wherein visitors can communicate instantly with a trained customer service representative, usually in the form of a text-based pop-up window that can be accessed on demand.
A live chat service gives ecommerce stores the opportunity to reach potential customers that are on the fence during their shopping experience. Before live chat functionality was introduced, online stores only had been able to engage with potential customers before or after they completed a purchase using more traditional marketing efforts like social media, and eNewsletters.
Live chat can offer a business a variety of benefits, despite having some disadvantages like decreased page load time and the cost of dedicating valuable resources. With the right ecommerce platform and a strong implementation, live chat functionality can be an essential tool for improving the customer experience.
Keep reading to find out how adding a live chat to your ecommerce store can improve the overall user experience and fuel growth.
Convenience
With live chat, customers don’t have to navigate away from your website to send an email to customer service or pick up a phone to make a call to an 800 number. Instead, they can type a question and receive real-time answers to product questions. This can be a key customer service resource during the busy holiday shopping season.
Customer Satisfaction
According to a Zendesk report, 92% of customers feel satisfied when they use the live chat feature. Customers that complete a purchase with a positive experience are probably more likely to leave a positive review about the product and business. The growing influence of customer and social review sites is yet another reason to provide the best shopping experience possible.
Increased Conversions
Customers can abandon shopping carts for a variety of reasons. Live chats can help to minimize the amount of customers who exit your site because of uncertainty about products because they allow customers to get instant answers.
Customer Relationship
Giving potential customers the ability to chat one-on-one with your staff can help develop a relationship between your brand and customer. Live chatting also helps to personify and humanize your brand. Relationships are vital to brand loyalty.
Los Angeles-based Adventuretown Toy Emporium recently went on a quest to improve the overall customer experience of their new online store by implementing the LiveChat module. Now, shoppers can ask questions and receive real-time answers from Annamarie von Firley, Adventuretown Owner, regarding product specifics. Customers can also utilize the LiveChat feature to get assistance with finding the perfect toy. Business owners don’t always have the time to field every customer question, but with an easy-to-install and use live chat module, support staff can be easily trained to connect customers with the information they need to generate more conversations.
Choosing the best live chat for your business.
- Determine your budget. Live chat services have a monthly fee. Do some research to find which cost is best suited for your business.
- Decide whether you want your employees to run the chat service or a third party company.
- If you’re using a third party business tool like Salesforce or Mailchimp, your live chat software should be compatible.
- Mobile is a must. Make sure the live chat functionality works across all mobile devices.
- Look for a live chat that offers a variety of advanced features like chat rating, reporting and analytics. These reports can provide your business with valuable information designed to help you improve your customer experience.
About The Author
Katy Ellquist
Katy Ellquist, Miva’s Digital Marketing Strategist, is an accomplished writer, marketer, and social media analyst who has created sophisticated content campaigns for a broad range of professional clients. She brings to Miva a complex understanding of ecommerce trends and techniques, building upon extensive digital agency experience and a prior role as direct liaison to Miva’s top accounts. Katy is a regular contributor to the Miva blog, covering essential ecommerce topics like design & development strategy, site optimization, and omnichannel selling, with the goal of increasing the actionable knowledgebase of the entire Miva community.
