Aimee / Published on February 12, 2013
You may have seen the live chat function on a number of websites out there, and been wondering whether it is something you should invest in on your own site, but just how beneficial is this service?
Let’s have a look at the pros and cons:
Pros
1. Live Chat can help reduce your customer service costs
2. It provides a human aspect to your website – customers will view the site as more friendly and feel more comfortable with asking questions
3. Questions can be answered quickly without having to wait on hold on the phone or search around the website for the right answers
4. All conversations can be recorded and then used to fill in the F.A.Q section of your website more comprehensively
5. Real-time feedback can be gained from customers – this is especially useful if there is a glitch somewhere on your site
6. Customers will end up spending more time on the site, increasing the likelihood they will purchase something
Cons
1. Sometimes customers will just want to speak to a customer service advisor over the phone
2. Customers may have limited IT skills and struggle to use the live chat function
3. Canned responses and unhelpful or standard responses can lower the customer’s view of the company
4. Some visitors will not want to use the live chat function and a proactive chat feature that pops up instantly could be an annoyance.
As you can see, there are more positives than negatives to having a Live Chat service on your website, and in this day and age we would recommend that all sites install this beneficial feature for their website visitors.
Just make sure you employ the right people who are trained properly to answer any live queries and you are good to go!
Have you ever used the live chat option on a website? What were your experiences?
Try our live help function to find out more about what Choiceful.com can offer!
