Live chat software is a technological solution that has allowed businesses and organizations to facilitate their online customers conveniently and in a timely manner. Giving a pleasant Live chat experience therefore is a great step towards realization of maximum ROI.
- Customers don’t have to wait for their emails to get answered, which sometimes can take days, weeks or even months.
- Customers don’t have to wait in call queues before a representative on the other end can facilitate their queries, saving them time and money.
- Customers don’t have to search for the company’s social account on a social media platform before they can start the conversation—that too provided the company is regularly active on a social network.
The platform has allowed businesses to improve their customer service operations. However, it also brings with it different kinds of challenges.
Encountered Challenges When Communicating with Customers through a Live Chat Platform
It is much harder to converse with a customer through a live chat session than on a phone, since you can’t really judge the tone and mood of the customer at the very first instant. Similarly, you can’t facilitate them in detail as you may with an email—you need to be quick, precise and be able to understand the need of your customers right from the word go. Likewise, you have to shape up a facilitating conversation during a live chat session as opposed to SMS support services, where actionable content is all that matters.
Overcoming these challenges is the key to creating pleasant and convincing live chat experience.
Tips to Creating Pleasant and Convincing Live Chat Experience
Making the First Impression Count
Just like every other mode of communication, where the first impression is important in shaping up the course of a conversation; for a live chat session too, it is essential to make that first impression count.
Greet the visitor in a friendly but professional way.
Make them feel comfortable with your opening few sentences, avoiding the use of industry jargons and where possible, integrating the use of terms that are familiar to the user. You can identify these familiar terms, by leveraging the use of Google Analytics tool and keystroke preview feature, both of which come integrated with various live chat software solutions available in the market at present.
Maintain a Humane Attitude
Customers like communicating and sharing their problems with someone who has a humane attitude, as they believe they can better understand their point of view and facilitate them appropriately.
As such, maintaining a humane attitude should be the key element of your conversations erected through a live chat platform.
The use of emoticons is something that you can definitely try. If you are using predefined responses to help reduce the wait time (hyperlink to the blog titled “How to Reduce Waiting Time During a Live Chat Session?”), punctuate them with your conversation only when needed. It is very easy for a customer to identify that they are being exposed to canned replies which can make them feel undervalued.
Don’t Shy Away From Sharing the Negatives
No product is perfect and no delivered service is faultless. As such, if you try to present the contrary, the entire conversation could look like a gimmick based on pure marketing fodder.
Your customers know this fact and at some point, they will definitely try probing into the negatives of your product or service.
When asked, rather than avoiding it, come clear. It would help to establish your integrity. And yes, it is more preferable to introduce them at the start of the phrased reply and following it with a counter argument, rather than try sandwiching it between the good elements.
Knowledge is Power
And, even more so when you are trying to serve your customers!
Equip your live chat agents with all the information about the product or the service that you are offering and train them on the set of expected questions that your customers are most likely to ask. The more informed your representatives are, the easier they would find convincing the customers to incite a productive action from them.
By following these tips, you can create a pleasant and convincing chat experience for your customers, allowing you to facilitate them comprehensively, conveniently and in timely manner.
