Shopping rates are often at their peak during holiday seasons. From Sept to Jan, companies organize massive marketing campaigns to win a market share of customers come Black Friday all the way through X-mass.
This is the time when online traffic almost doubles and leads to 50% – 100 % rise in ecommerce revenue. But it is also a time when ecommerce businesses must stay on top of their customer service strategies by adding things like live chat support to manage the extra traffic.
And with mobile shopping becoming a popular trend, 60% of these increased purchases are made through mobile devices.
The Pros and Cons of this Seasonal Inflow of Shoppers
For merchants, this presents an advantage as well as a challenge because of the downsides of buying items through mobile which requires consistent support.
Most times these businesses struggle to give quality support amid the inflow of online shoppers. Customer care staff are often under the pressure to handle many support requests to ensure buyers make it to the final step of the customer’s journey.
And to date, most of them haven’t managed to meet this inflow of online buyers with a capable customer service strategy that can lead to maximum conversion.
Live Chat Support is one way to solve customer requests as they come in. This engagement point is faster and more appropriate for addressing customer problems that require immediate attention.
The ability to fix problems right away is particularly important during holidays because too many unsolved support requests could slow down sales and lead to more problems.
Live chat can help your dedicated support team stay on top of customer problems and help convert potential leads into repeat customers. It improves interaction and makes it easier to manage customer requests compared to other solutions.
How to Take Care of Seasonal Traffic with Live Chat
If you choose to implement live chat support, here are some strategies to ensure you get the most out of your efforts.
Attract Prospects’ attention with active Live Chat
Fifty-five percent of today’s customers will abandon a purchase if they not receive response from a website’s support service within an anticipated period, according to a study by Forrester. An active live chat service fosters engagement with prospects as soon as they land on your website.
Providing reliable help through chat not only improves the quality of each interaction, but also reduces the possibility of abandonment.
Maximize conversion during high seasons and retain more and more of these customers by providing a satisfying solution to their problems with the best live chat support experience.
Onboard more Support Agents
You promised the best service during your intense marketing campaigns and shoppers expect nothing less.
You shouldn’t take too long to respond despite the increase in the buzz of activities. Established companies weather these storms by onboarding temporary support staff to attend to this inflow of shoppers.
A better way is to outsource your live chat to a third-party service provider. With a team of experts handling your support, you can relax knowing your website will handle the influx of buyers. It also saves you the cost of training new agents from scratch.
Be there 24/7
This is the only time of the year when you won’t regret a round-the-clock strategy, or at least, an extension in your customer service hours.
Be there for your customers all day, and if possible, all night long depending on the market you serve. But it can also be difficult to tell between day and night if you serve customers from different time zones so you being around 24/7 is your best option.
Customers love to be prioritized; immediate response at a time when everyone wants to shop can be a satisfying experience.
Faster Response
Your response time can make or break you peak sales season. Train you support staff to balance between a satisfying support experience and clock-guided assistance.
Outsourcing some of your live chat support activities to third party vendors can help you manage extra requests.
Final Words
As you think of your marketing campaign strategy for the next peak season, get ready to offer a satisfying live chat support experience for your new customers.
Rethink your customer support approach by applying the above changes. Live chat, if implemented carefully, can help you take care of this inflow of buyers. Also, remember to prepare your agents for this increased traffic.
