January 21, 2015
In the never-ending quest to stay one step ahead of the competition, keep customers happy, and deliver a satisfactory “customer experience”—all at the same time—progressive call centers are pulling out all the stops. The seemingly next logical step in this ever-escalating cycle of “one-upmanship” is now apparently offering live chat—and there seems to be evidence to support it.
WhaTech, a global information technology resource, took a close look at the results of a recent survey conducted by the business publication Contact Center Pipeline, and the findings were impressive. The industry publication reported that “…more than 66 percent of the contact centers surveyed were using live chat.”
WhaTech notes that this “is significantly higher than past usage estimates and clearly leads us to believe that live chat adoption is on the rise. We can probably safely assume that this scenario applies to smaller organizations as well—those that do not operate large, well-staffed contact centers 24×7.”
So, with this knowledge in mind, how can a savvy contact center manager use this information to their advantage while keeping costs down and engagement high? It’s a delicate balancing act, but it can be achieved primarily through a conscientious effort and by taking a proactive approach to live chat. WhaTech offers a few ideas on how to successfully implement this initiative by ensuring that there is:
- A short message on your homepage announcing that live chat is available on your website and explaining the benefits of clicking the chat icon;
- A reference to live chat and its availability on your website in all your marketing materials, including your newsletters, product alerts, autoresponders, and other transactional materials if your website engages in e-commerce; and
- A quick note about live chat during phone support calls, if you offer phone support.
But once you have live chat up and running, you need to back it up as well. WhaTech notes that a quick response to any inquiry is critical.
“Customers like promises that are kept,” the site says. “If your chat representatives have promised to email a customer a web link in response to a product inquiry, a how-to PDF manual explaining how to use one of your products, or a link to your YouTube ( – ) channel featuring a product demo, that link should be emailed to the customer within the hour if it is not immediately available to your chat representatives, for reasons beyond their control.”
In short, live chat can help give you the edge you need over your competitors. Just make sure that the promise made is also the promise delivered.
