Live chat is fast becoming the new standard in ecommerce. Customers expect the same service online as they’d receive in your shop. And if they don’t get it, they can easily browse elsewhere.
So, to meet today’s online needs, you need live chat software.
Here’s just a brief overview of the use case for live chat in retail.
Boost web sales
Did you know that chatters are worth 4.5x as much as website visitors who don’t chat? Or that chatters spend 60% more per purchase than non-chatters? How about the fact that 77% of online shoppers want to contact a real person before buying?
It’s simple: chat turns browsers into engaged users. And engaged users who have a supported web journey are more likely to buy.
If you can be there to assist and nurture leads, you can steer more prospects to purchase.
Create convenience
Users browsing your website don’t want to wade through FAQ pages to get an answer to a question. They don’t want to search for an email address, type out an email and wait for a response. And nor do they want to commit to a telephone call.
They want a quick way of getting in touch. Preferably, one that doesn’t involve delay or disruption to their browsing journey.
Enter live chat software.
With its convenience and casual nature, chat presents a low-barrier communication channel that both encourages and increases contact.
Increase satisfaction
The most important priorities for consumers are getting through to an agent quickly (80%), and the speed with which their inquiry is resolved (74%). In both instances, live chat is your best bet for satisfying customer needs.
With live chat, the average response is 23 seconds; the average resolution 42 seconds. A live web channel puts customers directly in front of the agent they need, directly from the page they were browsing, offering direct help with their need. The result is resoundingly increased satisfaction.
Enrich your CRM
Put the wealth of your CRM behind your website. Live chat software can take key customer information from your CRM, to enhance the user’s session. But it can also feed chat data back into records, to keep your accounts current.
With a solution like WhosOn, leads are auto-created in your CRM. Records are added or updated with contact details and sessions transcripts. Unhappy customers are identified, and satisfaction scores calculated.
Coupled with your CRM, chat is a powerful online sales and service optimiser.
Offer a personalised experience
Using live chat in retail allows you to enhance a visitor’s journey in a way that’s personalised and relevant. Using its inbuilt analytics, you can see user details such as location, identity, pages visited and time on site.
That means you can offer informed, accurate help throughout the chat session. With real-time, retail-focused insights on the user and their activity onsite, you can take a targeted approach to the chat session.
In short, live chat enables you to offer surprisingly good service online.
Send rule-based invitations
Is a visitor browsing your site from a certain location? Send them an automated live chat message with local offers.
Visitor just finished reading a long help file? Send an automated chat invitation asking if they’d like to speak to technical support.
WhosOn enables you to send rule-based, automated live chat invitations to website visitors at opportune points in their journey. Your customers get proactive support that’s tailored to suit their needs. All without any extra effort for your agents.
See also: 10 ideas for live chat triggers
Track activity
A quality live chat solution – like WhosOn – will also be packed with web reporting features. So, you get extra insight. This includes real-time data on everything from individual IP look ups, to user journeys, to previous visits and past chats, to new prospects, to page and usage trends.
This granular detail allows you to track visitors as they move through your site. And for a quantitative view of data as daily overviews and monthly trends, there’s a full set of reports.
Live chat in retail, then, helps you optimise your site and understand its audience.
Open your website to the world
As an e-retailer, it’s imperative to avoid language barriers. 72.4% of consumers are more likely to buy an overseas product if offered info in their own language.
And for 56.2% of consumers, the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.
Solutions like WhosOn offer real-time language translation in over 100 languages. Wherever your web prospects are browsing from, you can chat to them fluently in their own language.
For global conversions, start global conversations.
Delight end users
Customers and operators alike love live chat software. For agents, chat provides the opportunity to speak to more customers, in less time.
They can use features like canned responses and typing previews to drive efficiency, and impress without effort.
For online shoppers, live chat software allows immediate communication with the right contact. No channel disruption needed. Their expectations are managed by detailed queue messages, and exceeded by features such as routing and sentiment analysis. Every end user wins.
The case for live chat in retail
This article is only a high-level overview, and much more could be said. But simply, the best way to explore the value of live chat in retail is to trial the technology for yourself. Get started today with a free test run of WhosOn.
Useful links
- - Converting your online window shoppers
- - The importance of interactivity in ecommerce (and how to achieve it)
- - Building a digitally accessible front door with chatbots
- - Preventing cart abandonment with live chat software
- - Conversational commerce explained
- - How the online checkout journey is changing