Live chat support challenges and how to get it right
Gone are the days when customer support could only be provided through phone calls. Thanks to ceaseless technological advancements, customer service and support can be done through different communication channels.
Customers value convenience and quality of services now more than ever. For businesses, providing live chat support has become essential to achieving customer satisfaction.
But what a lot of businesses fail to recognize is that simply having live chat support will not always equate to happy and satisfied customers.
In this article, we’ll outline the five common challenges of live chat support and what you can do to get them right.
Why is live chat support essential to your business?
Live chat support has now become the norm for growing businesses. More so, it has also become a key essential in customer service processes.
Although global customer satisfaction with live chat support wavered between 2015 to 2020, it bounced back to 85.6% in 2020, according to Statista.
Another survey conducted on US internet users also proved that live chat is among the top preferred channels, along with phone and email.
Here are some of the primary benefits of live chat support for your business:
Immediate customer support
It lets you provide real-time customer support to your patrons. Immediate customer attention means answering and resolving your customers’ questions and issues right away. This helps you retain your customers and keep them loyal to your brand.
Personalized support
Live chat support enables your agents to provide maximum support to your customers. It lets you deliver more human touch support to your customers.
Cost-effectiveness
Live chat software is more cost-effective and does not require a long process of installation unlike other forms of communication channels.
Setting up your live chat support involves a hefty budget, from hiring the right people to providing the right resources, office space, and facilities. On the other hand, outsourcing has also been a viable option for businesses, especially for customer service.
SixEleven, for example, is a BPO company that provides you access to state-of-the-art infrastructure, the latest technology, and top talents.
Live chat support hurdles and ways you can get it right
Before implementing live chat support to your customer service program, you must be aware of the following challenges. Below, we also discuss ways to overcome these hurdles:
An influx of live chat support requests
It is no secret that customers these days choose to reach out to brands via live chat. Thus, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the number of live chat requests you can get every day. Take note that a slow response rate will lead to your customers leaving your website.
What you can do:
You can program your live chat software to direct particular questions to your FAQs page or any resource center. If the answer is not available here, your live chat software will then direct the customer to your live chat support agent.
Irritated live chat customers
Unhappy and disgruntled customers are always inevitable in customer service. Worse, it is easy for these customers to treat live chat agents disrespectfully as they are hiding behind their screens.
What you can do:
Your agents should be able to distinguish between frustrated customers and abusive customers. Train your agents to not consent to aggressive behavior and be empowered to report it. Enable the block feature on your live chat software to protect your agents.
Unending conversations
In some cases, live chat support conversations can seem unending, especially when agents need to walk customers through a specific process.
What you can do:
Ensure that your agents know how to determine when they should suggest a new method of communication (e.g., call, email, etc).
Delayed response time
Customers choose live chat for immediate support. This means they expect a faster response time.
What you can do:
Make sure that your agents are properly trained to respond right away. More importantly, choose a live chat software with an automated messaging function. This will save your agents’ time in, for example, typing a greeting, and it helps your agents respond properly.
Poor-quality live chat support
Poor-quality chat support often stems from improperly trained agents. This will result in dissatisfied customers who are no longer interested in transacting with your brand.
What you can do:
Have your agents undergo continuous training and one-on-one coaching. Set proper key performance indicators (KPIs) so everyone in your team will work on the same goals.
Build your live chat support team through SixEleven
Partner with SixEleven and work with industry experts who understand your business requirements. Contact SixEleven today and get your free quote.
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