How can live chat software help my business?

What do your customers want? Assistance! When do they want it? Now! Ok, so maybe no one’s going to picket your business with handwritten signs and annoyingly catchy chants. But, as social media and marketing consultant Brian Honigman explains in this The Next Web (TNW) article, “If your business doesn’t put the customer in charge, then you’re not likely to succeed in the future.” It’s important to remember that when your customers are ready to buy, they are ready to buy now—not when it’s most convenient for you—and if you miss the chance to lock in their business at the right time, it may be gone forever. But offering instantaneous support to your customers is just one benefit of using live chat. Let’s take a look at several more advantages:

Improve Page Rank Leads drive your business, but to increase your number of leads you need to drive more traffic your website traffic—and live chat can help you do that. Dwell time—the time it takes the user to return back to search results—plays a role in how search engines (like Google, Bing, and Yahoo) determine page rank. Engaging your customers via live chat can keep them on your website longer, increasing dwell time—and over time, your page rank.

Turn Leads into Customers

What do you do once you’ve got all those leads? You capture them by engaging with those visitors by using live chat software. According to a 2014 Website Magazine study, consumers who use live chat software “are more likely to buy and less likely to abandon their sessions.” Plus, live chat gives you a great opportunity to upsell customers by offering a current discount code or plugging complementary products and services. Cha-ching.

Improve Conversion Rates

Say you’re at a restaurant and have a tough time picking an entree. What do you do? If you’re like us, you ask the waiter for a recommendation. But what if you can’t physically be there for your customers? That’s where live chat comes into play. Using live chat on product or check-out pages (or any page with a high exit rate) to engage these indecisive customers works so well that, according to a survey referenced in this Conversion Scientist article, “‘Around 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a Web site can offer.’’ When your customers can’t decide between a few different products or services, live chat can help.

Increase Buyer Confidence Direct and personal interaction via live chat tells customers that you care about them. Perhaps that’s why customers who use chat are three times more likely to buy—and buy more than they intended. Remember the TNW article from earlier? Honigman asserts that live chat “often increases the average order value of customer purchases since many of these customers are getting helpful advice and insights on what to shop for matched with their interests, as well as answers to any product questions they might have.” That means more revenue, happier customers, and fewer refunds (and negative online reviews).

Differentiate Your Business

How many other small businesses in your market use live chat? If the answer is “not many,” then live chat software could help you stand out from your competitors in a competitive market. Not only does live chat improve the customer experience for the customers who actually use the chat, but the data you gather from using chat can help you improve the customer service for all your website visitors. (Psst—this also helps with customer retention.)