As the world adjusts to the “new normal”, the use of online shopping and services have increased drastically as more people practice social distancing. This means that businesses need a well-structured online support system should their customers or clients need to get in touch urgently with the expectation of instant replies. If you have not adjusted your customer care approach to accommodate for online live chatting, then we’re here to change your mind by pointing out the benefits and sharing the top do’s and don’ts of live chat customer care.
What is Live Chat Customer Care?
If you ever logged into Facebook, you should know what a live chat is. It’s that little messenger box that pops up when your friends send you a private message. Only those included in the messenger chat will be able to see the sent and received messages. Some brands have included a similar messenger pop-up on their websites to offer instant customer support. While most of these chat windows are usually run by chatbots (artificial intelligence programs created to respond via chat using pre-set automated responses to common queries), they are not always ideal, as they offer little real human interaction which is vital for optimal customer care. However, chatbots can offer immediate responses and will acknowledge submitted queries after business hours, ensuring your customers feel heard. You can then respond to escalated chats during normal business hours.
Did you know…
According to studies by JD Power and another by Crazy Eggs, 46% of customers prefer a chat above emailing, and 46% of customers are more likely to complete a purchase if a company clearly shows that they offer live chat support.
What are the benefits of offering Live Chat support to customers?
Promote safety during pandemic
While store visits will still be needed for many businesses, most can reduce their in-store / office foot traffic by switching to online communication tools. With live chat and online ordering, customers can easily get the services they need without having to leave their homes or come into contact with strangers. If your store or office depends on a lot of visitors, find ways to move that traffic online instead, and only promote store visits if needed to ensure your premises caters to social distancing.
Boost responsiveness
With the evolution of technology, more customers have grown less patient when it comes to query responses. Instead of replying to customer emails as and when you have time, you’ll set up chatbots or employ a customer care consultant to tend to your chat messengers, offering instant responses as queries are submitted. This boosts your response rate, which is visible on Facebook and informs potential customers that your brand cares about people and not just about making sales. A brand that responds fast is viewed as more legitimate and trustworthy.
Create an all-round approachable brand
Live Chats not only allow your business to be available to all throughout the day, but also offers a cost-free communication platform for customers that cannot call customer care lines unless they are toll-free.
Proactive and personalised marketing
The great thing about chat boxes is that you can pre-empt frequently asked questions or add AI (artificial intelligence) to them that picks up on what product or service a website subscriber has viewed before to send them automated chat messages with discounts or other relatable special offers. Just be sure to use AI with caution and avoid being creepy, as no customer enjoys the feeling of being spied on.
Having a live chat button on your services or products pages can act as the final component that lands a sale, as it offers instant, custom and empathic engagement between a customer and your brand.
The DO’S and DON’TS of Live Chat Customer Care
- DO: Be attentive and read the customer’s message fully to understand what is going on before offering the best solution. Take care to type carefully and avoid grammatical errors.
DON’T: Be impatient by skimming messages and incorrectly assume to know the problem.
- DO: Be polite and always offer a formal greeting and a “thank you” where possible.
DON’T: Close the chat until the customer has said “goodbye” and left.
- DO: Be brief and speak only about the problem and relevant solution in clear concise replies.
DON’T: Be boring or sound like a robot, add some personality to your real-time and chatbot replies.
- DO: Be pre-emptive and offer a list of common questions with matching answers to help the customer with possible solutions before escalating to a (human) customer care consultant.
DON’T: Be afraid to transfer or escalate queries that you cannot answer.
- DO: Be informative and give clear instructions to ensure the customer correctly actions the steps for a satisfying resolve.
DON’T: Be lazy by opting to use abbreviations that your customer may not understand.
- DO: Be user-friendly by setting up auto-responses for after business hours and ensure your live chat button is clearly visible and includes a type indicator that shows customers that you (or your chatbot) is actively busy typing a response.
DON’T: Be set your Live Chat Support to be available for limited times of the day / week only.
- DO: Be thorough and follow up to ensure each customer’s query was resolved and to check how happy they were with the live chat support. Use the feedback to improve your chat support where possible.
DON’T: Be leave customers wondering whether there queries will be resolved.
Great customer care is a vital ingredient for any business that wants to become a successful conglomerate, this is something we know and have built our entire business model around at Real Receptionist. We understand that employees can be so caught up with their daily tasks and project deadlines that they seldom have time to thoroughly tend to customer calls, losing out on retainable clients and profits in the process. Subscribe to Real Receptionist and one of our polite and professionally trained virtual receptionist will receive all your incoming business calls to answer frequently asked questions, transfer calls as needed, or take messages when your team if unavailable. For more information, see our How Real Receptionist Works video or contact us.
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