With the advancement in technology, most shopping activities happen online. Customers use the Internet to find relevant information about particular products before making any purchase decision. For customers to visit and make a purchase from your website, you need to offer exceptional customer support. Good customer service will benefit your business in the long run since you’ll be able to build a large loyal customer base. Poor customer service, on the other hand, for instance, not responding to customers’ queries on time, may frustrate and dissatisfy them, which can attract negative reviews or a bad reputation about your business.
That can be solved by having live chat platforms, like JivoChat, to help you quickly address customers’ needs. Live chat is a communication tool that has gained a lot of popularity recently. It gives customers opportunities to raise concerns they may have about your products. From the business standpoint, the live chat feature allows you to address customer problems as they arise and assist them in making a purchase decision.
If you don’t have a live chat option on your website, you need to consider installing one on your business website. But, if you already have it, here are some of the live chat best practices to follow to deliver excellent customer support.
Don’t Delay to Accept the Customer Chat
You need to note that most customers are impatient, and you shouldn’t keep them waiting for too long. Be sure to respond to them as soon as they initiate a chat. If you take too long to respond, they might become irritated and leave your business website for other alternatives. So, it would be helpful if your live chat option automatically accepts live chat requests so that customers can quickly access the information they’re looking for on your website.
Be Friendly and Chat with a Smile
Once you’ve accepted the customer’s chat request, respond using a friendly tone to ensure your conversation is enjoyable. Approach your client in a happy mood to help deliver a fantastic customer experience. Customers are helping you generate revenues, so they expect you to be friendly.
Start by greeting your customer in a professional way, while remaining friendly at the same time. Ensure you show them how you value them and be ready to answer any question they might have.
Don’t Operate like a Robot
Every customer wants to chat with a real person and not a robot. With robots, your customers may end up having clunky chat experiences. Don’t even think of using some of the robots programmed to mimic a human being. Make sure you give your customers a natural response of a human—that’s the only way to retain your customers.
Be Cautious of Grammar When Chatting
Whichever language you use to communicate with your customers, make sure you’ve mastered that language. Also, be sure to proofread your messages for grammar and spelling mistakes before pressing the send button.
With poor communication skills and spelling mistakes, some customers might view you as unprofessional and might think you don’t value them. Be sure to scan your words before sending. This will help you to appear professional and mindful of the customers.
Keep Your Customers Informed
Sometimes, you may not have an immediate answer to a customer’s question, and you may want to consult with someone else. If that happens, be honest and tell your customer to wait for a few minutes as you try to sort out the issue. Once you’ve consulted, get back to the customer as quickly as possible, and be sure to thank them for their patience and apologize for keeping them waiting for long.
Manage Customer Expectations
When installing the live chat option on your business website, ensure you clearly state the hours when the live chat isn’t available. In most cases, live chat options are available 24/7, but, sometimes, you may need to limit your chat hours. If that’s the case, you can have automated chatbots to ensure your live chat option is always available to engage your customers when your live chat agents aren’t available. It would also be helpful to give your customers some quick options, like an FAQ page for some questions they may have.
Don’t Go Outside the Topic
Remember that a customer visits your website because they want to have their problems solved. That might not be possible, especially when you lose the focus of solving your customer’s problem. Ensure you stay on the topic and avoid engaging in a discussion that won’t solve the issue at hand. Even if a customer introduces another subject, you should try to steer the conversation back to the original topic in a polite way.
Be Sure to Check In
In most cases, you may find customers in live chats taking breaks or pauses. If that happens, don’t be in a hurry to end the conversation. They could be attending to an urgent matter or answering a phone call. So, be patient even if you don’t get a response within ten minutes. Stay online and give your customer a few chances to respond before ending the live chat.
End by Appreciating Your Customer and Get Feedback
Don’t be in a hurry to click that end button as soon as you think you’ve solved the customer’s problem. It would be best if you professionally end your chat by thanking the customer for visiting your site and discussing their issues with you. Also, it would be good to ask your customers whether or not they’re satisfied with your services. That feedback will help you know where you need to improve to continue offering the best experience to your customers.
Takeaway
Live chat options are currently widely adopted for customer support. The above-explained best live chat practices can positively impact your live chat performance and overall business. Apart from reshaping your relationships with customers, they also help generate revenues since, in a live chat, you can easily convert your customers into sales. Also, by adopting the live chat best practices, you’ll help your customers achieve their goals. And, as they achieve theirs, you achieve your business goals, too.
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