Before the internet, if a potential customer had an interest in your business they would find your phone number and give you a call to inquire about your products or services. Now that most companies have a website where visitors can look for answers to their questions on their own, the age of the phone call is coming to an end. But what happens when a customer can’t find what they are looking for, and don’t want to (or are too lazy to) pick up the phone? That’s where a live chat feature on your website comes in handy.
What is Live Chat?
Live Chat is a feature that is increasingly being used by businesses to help improve both prospective and current customers’ online experience when visiting their website. It is a simple way of presenting a user with a tool to communicate with a representative of the company in real time. Whether this be answering questions about the business’s products or services, fielding leads from potential buyers, or even finalizing sales, live chat allows a company to provide answers to customers quickly and personally.
How Does Live Chat Work?
Let’s say you have an e-commerce website that sells custom made birdhouses and a customer is interested in ordering one of your products, but first has a few questions about their purchase. Instead of sending an email or leaving a phone message and awaiting a response, a Live Chat button will be visible on the webpage, inviting the customer to connect directly with a company representative. If the user has no questions then the button can simply be ignored, as it only becomes active after a customer clicks on it.
The chat button is visible at the bottom right corner of this webpage. |
After pressing the live chat button, it opens up into this convenient messenger! |
Live Chat Tips (Best Practices)
- Avoid using live chat if no one can be online to answer inquiries. If it is outside of business hours and no one is available to respond to incoming messages, simply turn off the chat function.
- Answer messages as soon as they are received. If someone is choosing to use the live chat functionality on your website, they expect a quick answer.
- Use the messages you have received to help understand your customers and their needs better. If you keep getting the same few questions about your products or company, consider creating a FAQs page.
Live chat is here, and it likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Before implementing this communication tool into your site, it’s important to determine what your business will be using it for.
Interested in getting more leads, conversions, or simply offering speedier customer service?
Connect with the team at idig and let’s discuss your business goals and website capabilities!
idig Marketing is a full-service digital agency that generates meaningful website traffic and drives high value leads to your organization. By optimizing organic content with paid advertising our custom methodology includes hosting, eCommerce and online security.
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