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Benefits Of Live Chat: Increase Conversion

June 10, 2021
June 10, 2021

There are many benefits of live chat and many ways in which it can improve site performance. We package our services into 3 programmes: Increase Conversion, Customer Service and Lead Generation.

This blog post will explain 5 key benefits of live chat, in particular the benefits of live chat in increasing conversion. We recently wrote a post explaining the benefits of live chat from a lead generation point of view (check that out here) and there will be another post coming soon regarding the benefits of live chat for customer service.

So here we go, 5 quick and easy to understand benefits of live chat:

Reduce basket abandonment

We’ve already published a post on reducing basket abandonment through live chat (Reduce Basket Abandonment: Personalise The Shopping Experience), but here’s the long and short of it.

Live chat can be used to solve customer problems, big and small, with very little effort from the customer. One of the main reasons for abandonment is customers simply not being able to find the information that they need (or a similar small problem to this). Live chat means that instead of giving up and going elsewhere, customers can quickly get a solution from a live chat agent.

With pro-active chat invites, you don’t even have to wait for customers to come to you with their problem. A strategy can be implemented which allows your live chat to trigger with custom greetings when it looks like someone is about to abandon. Read more about reducing basket abandonment with custom greetings on the LiveChat blog.

Build rapport

Without a tangible store, it’s a little difficult to gain trust and build a rapport with potential customers.

One of the huge benefits of live chat is that it can create this trust for customers online. 41% of online shoppers say that they are more likely to trust a brand if live chat is available. Of course, simply installing live chat isn’t enough to gain trust and build a rapport. Trust through live chat comes with consumers being able to have real conversations with real people. If your chat spends most of the day offline there isn’t the chance to see the real, friendly people behind the brand.

Chat should be used to provide truthful and helpful advice. That’s how live chat can improve customer satisfaction and increase conversion. Consumers don’t click on live chat to experience a hard sell. Consumers click on live chat for help. Being honest and helpful will lead to a sale.

Personalisation

94% of companies agree that personalisation ‘is critical to current and future success.’ Probably because 59% of online shoppers believe that it is easier to find interesting products on personalised eCommerce websites.

Personalisation is here to stay. And another benefit of live chat is its ability to provide personalised recommendations at a higher tailored level than most automated recommendation software. Automated recommendations are usually based on what the customer has previously bought or is currently browsing. Live chat can provide a personal shopper service where the live chat agent can find out exactly what the customer wants and make meaningful and appreciated recommendations based on that.

The more personal and tailored a recommendation, the higher the chance of a conversion. Because it’s actually something the customer will like and want, rather than just something a lot of other people bought after they bought product X.

Cross sell

A lot of the benefits of live chat overlap. For example, better recommendations don’t just mean more conversions, they also mean increased customer satisfaction and repeat custom because customers receive a helpful and friendly service when getting the products which they want.

Another linking of benefits is the link between personalisation increasing conversion rates, and the increase in average order value which can come from cross selling. After recommending a product via live chat it’s often possible to offer up further suggestions to the customer in a non-pushy manner.

Once you’ve discovered the reason for the customers visit to the site and have recommended the original product which they came for, you might be able to suggest something which would go great with it. The customer will no doubt appreciate the recommendation too. The customer leaves satisfied with the personal and attentive service. And they no doubt leave after checking out with a higher value basket than if they weren’t to receive the personal recommendation.

Customer feedback

Live chat can be used to increase conversions in the long run as well as on a short term customer by customer basis.

Due to live chat’s more informal nature, in comparison to phone and email, customers are willing to open up more to customer service representatives. This means that customers are more willing to express their tiny grumbles about your service/product/website. Listening to customer grumbles and acting on them means that the customer experience can be improved. Improving the customer experience means that customers are more likely to return and buy from you. Therefore conversion is increased in the long run.

A study by Walker predicted that by 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Improving customer service is the key to improving conversions in the long run.

If you’d like to read about how we can increase conversions for your business through live chat, follow this link to our Increase Conversion guide or start a chat with one of our agents. Our blog post on the benefits of live chat from a customer service perspective is coming soon, but our post regarding the benefits for lead generation can be found here.

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