Imagine giving your customers real-time product walk-through, answering all of their questions on-the-fly, and negotiating the product pricing instantaneously instead of expecting them to shop with you next time. Unlike traditional lead generation methods like online forms, phone, and email, live chat is special because it offers a perfect mix of human touch and automated responses that are quick and interactive.
Here are a few benefits of using live chat software for your business:
1. Live chat improves lead conversions
Live chat helps businesses convert likely prospects into customers by appealing to their preferences at the right time—when their engagement level with the product is at its peak. Customers prefer the quick and convenient nature of live chat assistance. You can use live chat to share links to relevant sign-up pages, send them a webinar invite, offer them a discount code to see them through the checkout or nudge them to sign-up for a free trial.
2. Live chat helps with prospecting
Unlike intrusive pop-ups or pre-chat forms, a modern live chat software is designed to capture lead information in an intuitive, user-friendly way. Live chat automates the lead data to your CRM so that you can create a drip campaign to nurture leads and ease them into becoming your customers. A modern live chat has all the context businesses need in order to have a meaningful conversation with customers when they come back with more queries.
3. Live chat is a proactive engagement medium
Live chat stacks really strongly against the traditional means of customer engagement methods such as phone and emails because it’s proactive and not reactive. Client engagement is a business agenda and live chat gives businesses the onus to reach out to customers at various stages of their brand journey instead of limiting them as a reactive contact center that jumps into action only when a customer initiates a query. For example, you can automate your live chat tool to trigger a contextual message when customers come to your pricing page to offer them a flat 40% discount on their first purchase. This is a proactive way for businesses to capture their customers’ imagination and create deeper levels of engagement.
4. Live chat drives sales
Live chat for website is a powerful way for businesses to add a new avenue to their sales funnel. It’s fast, convenient, and contextual—the three most important ingredients customers need in their buying phase for making snap decisions. Similarly, people who initiate a live chat conversation on a website are more likely to buy products after having convincing chat interactions. Customers who use live chat also spend 60% more than the remaining customers. Live chat is an incredible sales tool because it helps customers reduce their time and effort in finding the right resources they are looking for and help in their decision-making process. Therefore, live chat is not a substitute for a contact center solution but a sales enablement channel.
5. Live chat is great for customer support
Over 40% of customers tell more than 10 of their friends or colleagues about a positive live chat experience they experience with a brand. Live chat for customer support is highly responsive, preferable, and personal—unlike conventional support channels. Live chat also offers the capability to embed self-service content like help videos, product tutorials, FAQs, etc. so that customers can easily find answers to their problems without having to talk to a live chat agent. This is unprecedented for other support channels. Customers become more engaged with a brand when they are self-discovering answers on their own and find it in an effortless, convenient manner.
6. Live chat helps you build brand loyalty
Your customers are more likely to stay with your business when you offer live chat support because their shopping experience is always convenient and more fulfilling. The more the customers are engaged, the more likely they are going to be loyal to your brand. This is the reason why customers are even willing to spend more money for convenience if it means distancing themselves from more affordable brands. The always-there, always-on consistency of live chat meets customer expectations and they will be happy to advocate your brand to other prospects in their circle by word-of-mouth advertising.