9 advantages of using live chat software for websites

Making a company outstanding in the online market is a big challenge, considering how competitive the digital world is. No matter what sector you are in, it’s essential to develop strategies to grab your prospects’ attention on the internet and turn them into customers. Having live chat software for websites can help you with that.

What is live chat software for websites?

Live chat for websites is a tool that allows you to create a direct, real-time, channel of communication with everyone who accesses your website. The visitor doesn’t need to install anything, go to another app, send an email, or make a call to get in contact with your company, they just need to click on the live chat button.

Offering that resource encourages the website visitors to send their questions since it takes less attention and work than making a call, and it’s quicker when compared to waiting for an email response.

A live chat is the opportunity to develop connections with your customers and increase conversion rates at a lower cost. Different from chatbots, live chat is managed by people, you are going to deliver a much more personalized experience.

Basically, the live chat process can be divided into 3 steps.

1. The visitor types in a question in the live chat window

2. You receive a notification instantly

3. You send the answer right away and the person receives it at the same time.

If you opt for a proactive reach, you can set the live chat to send an automatic message, before the visitor types anything as well. Then, the live chat window is going to open at the time you have defined, for example, when someone enters the page or is leaving it.

Why you should install live chat software on your website

1. Live chat has the highest satisfaction rate

According to Econsultancy research, live chat is the customer service channel with the biggest satisfaction rate, 73%, against 61% for email and 44% for phone. Among the ones who prefer using live chat, the main reasons for it were:

Getting questions answered immediately;
Be able to multi-task;
It’s the most efficient method of communication;
It works well;
Receive better information when compared to email;
Dislike talking on the phone.

Also, E-tailing research revealed that 20% of the shopping population would rather use live chat to contact a retailer than any other communication channel.

2. It helps to reduce lead response time

A Harvard study showed that companies that answer their leads in the first hour have 7 times more chances to qualify them. If you take less than 5 minutes to send an answer, your chances of getting successful contact increases 100 times.

Lead response time is a key factor when it comes to increasing the number of sales, and a live chat is a perfect tool to answer immediately. This way, you diminish the chances of giving time to your competitors to get ahead of you, and you show efficiency to your leads and customers.

3. You can save money

Using a live chat can help you reduce costs regarding customer assistance. The money spent on phone support is more expensive because of toll charges, for example. According to Forrester’s research, live chat can be 17% cheaper than phone calls.

It also allows your team to manage multiple customers at the same time, reducing the cost per hour, while phone calls require focusing on only one client at a time. It’s an opportunity to enhance productivity and enjoy your resources in a better way.

4. Increase sales

Live chat can help you sell more products at your ecommerce business by actively engaging with your customers, solving their questions, and guiding them through the sales process. An American Marketing Association study revealed that people who use the live chat are 3 times more likely to complete a purchase than the ones who don’t.

Live chat doesn’t need to be used only as a customer service support channel, it can also be a sales tool, where you won’t wait for the website visitors to send a message. Instead, you are going to be proactive and start the conversation, for example, to avoid a customer from abandoning the cart.

Your sales team can get in contact to try to understand why the person is leaving and offer benefits to convince the customer to buy the product or service.

5. Improve the user experience

If you have been studying digital marketing, you probably have already heard the term UX, which refers to User Experience. Developing a website that focuses on how visitors can better enjoy navigating through each page is a basis in web design best practices, and also helps with conversion rates.

Live chat is directly connected to this because it turns the process of sending messages much easier. The live chat window is well-positioned on the interface, showing the customers that they can start a conversation with one click, then, by having an employee offering help in real-time, the experience gets even better.

But, be aware, your sales and customer assistance teams need to be trained to know how to conduct the conversation, and ensure a positive experience. Showing that your company cares about their clients, through the live chat, will help in building a good relationship with them.

6. Proactive outreach

Implementing live chat software at your website allows you to develop proactive strategies to engage with your leads and customers. A study made by Forrester revealed that companies that invested in a reactive chat had an increase of 15% in the ROI (Return on Investment), while the ones that used proactive chat saw a 105% ROI incremental.

The numbers speak for themselves. Although, there is one main concern about proactive chat, which is about annoying website visitors with the messages. To prevent that, it’s important to be assertive on timing, analyze your visitors’ behavior by studying your website metrics to set the right moment to send a message on the live chat and personalize the text according to each page.

7. Build trust relationships

Although the number of people who buy online has increased considerably and it tends to keep like that, some customers still feel more insecure about making purchases online, regarding sharing their private data, the product or services quality, and the companies’ liability.

Live chat helps to reduce that insecurity by showing them that your brand provides assistance and that they can count on real people to help to make a purchase and after it. According to an Oracle study, 90% of the customers affirmed that having a live chat button on a website gives confidence that, if needed, they will get help.

8. You will get to know your customers better

The more you know your target audience the better you can develop precise marketing strategies to create brand awareness, increase conversion, sales, and retention rates. As in a live chat, you are going to be directly speaking with your leads and customers, that’s a valuable opportunity to understand which are their pain points and how you can help them.

Develop processes inside your company to follow up on the live chat conversations, define metrics to be analyzed, and orient your team to deliver regular reports about the interactions. Also, encourage them to give feedback about what they think can be improved by their perception through the conversations they have, in sales, and customer service.

9. Conquer competitive advantage

By having live chat software for website, you are adding a competitive advantage when compared to other brands from your sector that don’t offer that kind of assistance. It’s a form of highlighting your business and can be the deciding factor that makes a customer opt to buy from your company.

You will be able to reach a bigger number of people in a faster and effective way. Imagine the situation, you are in doubt between two products from different companies, and want to have some questions answered before making any decision.

Would you prefer to click on the live chat button and make your questions right away, pick up the phone and make a call or access another app to send a message? The facility of live chat will increase the engagement rate.

Start using live chat software at your website

Now that you have learned more about what is live chat software for websites and the many advantages it can offer to your business, how about starting to implement it in your company?

JivoChat is an all-in-one business messenger that provides you with the best solution when it comes to having a live chat. The JivoChat widget was carefully designed to fit perfectly on a side panel of your website, and it works on any device.

With an intuitive interface, the JivoChat app will allow your team to manage multiple conversations at the same time. Besides, you can integrate it with several other software, such as CRM and CMS platforms, and Google Analytics.

It’s possible to save chat conversations at the customer profiles in your CRM, and also load customer information on the JivoChat app, which allows your employees to have more information about who they are talking to, providing even better assistance.

And you can have all that for free. JivoChat Basic has no costs for your first 5 agents and it includes:

Unlimited chats and websites;
Customizable chat in 25 languages;
Desktop, mobile, and browser agent apps;
24/7 customer support;
2 month chat history storage;
Basic CRM functions;
Team chats for an unlimited number of staff members;

Conclusion

Implementing live chat software for websites can help you in several ways, it’s an effective tool to deliver a better user experience, increase engagement, improve conversion rates, and sell more. But, to achieve those results, it’s necessary to prepare your team to offer excellence in customer assistance and know-how to deal with your leads and customer needs.