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Live Chat - Better than the alternatives?

Mark Harding   —   19 January 2015   —   Opinion

Statistics, Livechat vs other forms of communication

Live Chat is an enhanced customer service support that is popping up on websites everywhere. Today’s consumers know what they want and know how to source what they want and this is forcing the hands of companies to innovate and adapt. Live Chat offers customers the ability that they once had, which is to chat to companies instantly and in real time without any hassle, delays and its completely free to use. Live Chat helps companies connect with their customers in an all new way, but what benefits does it bring to the table?

It’s Convenient and Effective

Live Chat can provide fast access to customers of your site, allowing them to engage with your team instantly to acquire that all important information they require. This reduces customers’ frustrations and increases their satisfaction ensuring a superior customer experience, improving your company’s satisfaction ratings with your Customer Services.

A study was conducted by eDigital's Customer Service Benchmark which surveyed 2,000 consumers on their experiences of various customer service channels and found that Live Chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73%, comparing that against email with 61% and 44% for phone.

Frequent ecommerce and customer service users have gravitated to Live Chat and appreciate them for a number of reasons, time being the main factor. Of those who prefer Live Chat, 46% agreed it is one of the most efficient communication methods and 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly.

In this day and age people are very tech savvy and use all means of communications and as a result are more prone to interact with others using the internet, through apps, social media, email and now more than ever Live Chat.

Increase in sales through lead generation

Generally among users in marketing forums and on blogs, Live Chat on a website will lead to improved sales figures. A recent report found that 31% of online shoppers from both the USA and the UK say they would be more likely to purchase after a Live Chat.

The reason is simple, it’s like walking into a shop having a helpful shop assistant there waiting to answer all your questions.

Analytics: because you can never have too much data these days

Most Live Chats on the market now will offer some analytics/insights into customers’ behaviour on your websites. This insight can help companies better understand who their customers are, when and where they need support. Depending on which Live Chat you use some integrate with major SaaS products such as, Salesforce and IM tools such as Adium, Pidgin, and imo.im for mobile devices which help companies target certain customers.

Like many good analytical applications, the Live Chats analytics are able to notice trends which will allow companies to create rules that target customers at the most important times. Building up the analytics within the Live Chat can be important as it can influence changes to improve your customer’s journey.

The end is near

We at Access see Live Chat as a great return on investment and has become a very good way of lead generation for many sites. So much so we have implemented an array of Live Chats for our clients. Each client differs with their requirements and we have advised on which suits them best for functionality and budget. Whether it is to assist with buying products, answering questions, feedback or to help engage with customers and to generate better quality leads.

We'd be more than happy to discuss your 'Live Chat' questions here at the office. Give us a call and ask away.



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