5 Steps for Creating a Remarkable Live Chat Experience for Your Visitors
Just having live chat on your website is not enough for quality customer support. You need to make sure that chat agents are delivering value to visitors by timely addressing their queries and efficiently resolving issues. Paying attention to factors that count for a gratifying chat experience would help you land more customers. Make sure your chat agents have excellent communication skills; encourage them not to overuse scripted messages since they make the visitors feel that they are not talking to a real human and many of them would be reluctant to seek assistance. From the start of a chat session, every chat agent should know the importance of warmly greeting visitors and showing willingness to help, so that they feel comfortable to share their questions/concerns. Have a look at this five step guideline to create a remarkable live chat experience for your visitors!
Greet Visitors Warmly and Professionally
First impression counts. To make visitors feel welcomed, chat agents should initiate the conversation with a warm and professional greeting message. Visitors should always be addressed by their names and should be greeted in a manner that they feel they are talking to professional customer support representatives who would quickly answer queries and look up for solutions to their problems. The greeting should be friendly and professional, chat agents should not use very formal tone for greeting and addressing the visitors, instead they should create a comfort zone for them.
Focus on Understanding the Chat Subject
Live chat agents need to focus on understanding the chat subject, if there is a confusion or more information is required, questions should be asked to get insight into a query or problem. It is vital for chat agents to comprehend the context of a query or complaint a visitor shares over chat. Agents should never process a query or issue based on assumptions as it can lead to a negative and frustrating experience for visitors. After understanding the question or issue at hand, discuss it with the customer/visitor to ensure that any important point is not missing.
Empathize with Customers and Draft a Clear Response
A customer who is annoyed due to order cancellation or a website visitor looking for an out of stock product wants the live chat agent to understand their frustration. Chat operators should empathize with every customer to give a gesture that they understand his/her emotions and situation. After comprehending the query/complaint, a chat agent should draft a simple and clear response. Even if there is some technical hitch that you need to communicate to visitors, do it in simple language, proof read the response and make sure it is easy to understand.
Offer a Quick and Insightful Solution
It often happens that a chat agent does not have the answer to a visitor’s query. If you need time to research, inform the visitor, it is even better to mention a timeframe like, “ let me look this up for you, give me 2 minutes.” Make sure that the solution you offer is detailed so that the customer/visitor does not have to contact support over and over again. If with research, the answer to a particular question or solution to an issue is not found, offer the customer few possible options and make sure to share links, contact information and other details that might prove useful to him/her.
Always End Chat Session on a Memorable Note
The end of a chat session is as important as the start, if handled the right way, you are likely to get satisfied and happy customers who would prefer using your live chat support again. Instead of ending the chat session on a formal “goodbye” and “thank you” give your visitors something to remember, ask for their feedback about the solution offered and tell them you will be here to help them if they need more assistance. Make them feel that you value them and want to hear from them again. Ask them to rate their experience with you and encourage them to share their suggestions for improving it.