Is there a sure-shot formula for your business to skyrocket? Well, no, but yes as well. If not a sure shot hack, it’s definitely a consideration.
Even two decades back, most of the businesses especially in third world countries had monopolistic nature. Today, the world is welcoming an open market. Open market means to match the steps with a competitor.
There is one product but several brands to offer the same product. Sometimes, the quality too doesn’t vary much. Then what is the masterstroke? None other than experience, most importantly, customer experience.
The customer is the king in modern times. There are a plethora of options that one has on their plate.
Out of all of them, it is really the customer’s discretion on which service or brand they choose from. Much of this decision comes from how the customer is treated. People today look for two things precisely: on-demand service and customer satisfaction.
The quality is crucial but it can be given a miss by some if they are promised for a better one when they seek redressal.
According to Esteban Kolsky, Founder, ThinkJar, if a customer is dissatisfied then 13% of them will tell at least 15 people that they are displeased with a company’s service.
Especially if you are a company that is hot off the oven, this is murder. The ideal thing is to build your base keeping in mind the likes of your customers. Be it new or old. New businesses need customer testimonials that are organic over social media for footfalls to increase.
On the other hand, the established businesses need the goodwill to be maintained and talked about all over. They would need the customers to become their brand ambassadors.
Many brands have even considered that as an image positioning vehicle as well. Now technology has come to be a big boon and the best of it is that it has multiple options through which a customer or a potential customer feels at home.
A personalized approach is what many people look for and live chats are proving to be ultimate winners in bridging gaps between businesses and buyers. It is the present and is also the future of the customer experience.
Some tactful practices using live chats can prove to be absolutely useful. Few of the best practices with a live chat that businesses can follow are-
Align live chat with business goals
First thing’s first, you need to ask yourself why your business needs a live chat? Is it a type of business that can leverage from a chat system? If they do, then it has to be an omni channel for your business and customer satisfaction.
It can include KPIs, SLAs, customer issue resolution, and reducing shopping cart abandonment. According to CX Trends Report, businesses embed chat solutions for native customers.
This includes having self- service content in an e-commerce website or an embedded live chat window to provide support.
Optimize user experience
Live chat location, access and timing are the three pillars basis which the user experience can be judged. Potential customers draw the basis of their first impressions on what they see on your website.
The website should have a clear indication of where to address in case of any issues. If they are satisfied with the way they have been catered to, depending on the prompt response, or tone or language used, proactiveness, all of them earn brownie points.
Proper intervention and assistance on the customer support chat are well appreciated among potential customers. The frequently your team can extend support and suggestions, the fewer chances are of abandoned carts.
You got to be unobtrusive so that you don’t drive away your potential customers. For a budding business or a business that sees a lot of competition, driving away customers is the last thing that should happen to you.
ALSO READ : Ethical Formalities Of An Ideal System Administrator And A Security Professional
Good user interface
A website that is easy to navigate and has simple language that speaks the customer’s language will always have a benefit of the doubt.
Your website must speak how supreme the customer is for you. Despite having compelling company stories or uber quality products, it will all fall flat if the customer feels that something is off with the environment.
Chatbots and a dedicated team will be wonderful to serve all existing and potential customers and make them feel special and important.
Not just that but you can also embed a pop-up chat box that opens the moment a potential customer lands on your business page.
Staffing requirements
Go for seasoned and experienced agents as they may be well versed with a live chat feature, chat routing, turn of calls, etc.
An agent who holds a better understanding of the process will inherently serve better and bring business. If you hire a novice agent, make sure that their training includes all basics.
Make them familiar with the chat software, language training, how to conduct research on the customer’s chat history, ticket issue, and resolution.
Sometimes there is a mingle between agents and chatbots. Agents pick on from the data and information that is shared by the chatbots.
An agent must inculcate the understanding that repeating the same stream of information will only lead to frustration which will turn off the customer.
Build a chat workflow
A workflow is a masterstroke to ensure that your customer support system is on point.
The process includes ticket escalation path, agent assignment plan, and real-time monitoring, and channel management.
Monitor and improve
There is always a scope of improvement. You must as a business owner have a team in place that will purely look at the live chat analytics and device any improvement plans.
Using this data, average wait times, customer satisfaction, and agent performance can be determined and outlined for the scope of improvement.
Once the live chat is up, it needs a close watch. Before that what’s essential is hiring the right team of agents, establishing the right objectives, training, and workflow creation are the main aspects.
The rest will be on keeping the objectives that were laid out in place.
ALSO READ : Role And Responsibilities Of Ideal System Administrator In 2020