Providing Great Customer Care with Online Support Chat

Providing a first class customer care is becoming the foremost priority of the online retailers as it could score them life-long customers for their business. In today’s competitive business world, it costs more time and money to acquire new customer than retaining the existing ones; therefore, to bring loyalty in customers, you need to keep them happy by upgrading your customer services. Online Support Chat has helped enhancing the customer care, as a survey has shown that 56% shoppers are more likely to buy from websites with a live chat feature. However, the way live chat is being delivered matters in improving the customer support. Given below are some best practices for delivering effective live chat to improve the customer services.

Customization: Be sure that your chat icons/buttons or windows match your organization’s branding and are appealing for your online traffic.

Proactive Approach: It is becoming an increasing trend of business websites to proactively approach visitors for chat through a pop-up window. This way, they can get the visitors attention towards their services or products.

Avoid Aggressive Chat pop-ups: Make it an option for the online visitors to close or decline a chat pop-up invitation. The forced live chat pops might annoy or irritate your potential customer.

Chat Incentives: If you are offering online support chat on your business website for the first time, you can offer incentives to motivate the users. A survey conducted in 2012 revealed that 80% customers said that a free shipping offer would entice them to prefer live chat over phone calls or long waiting emails. The other 74% shoppers said that they would start using live chat if given special purchase discount.

Don’t Over Promise and Under Deliver: Delivering less than you offered or promised leaves a bad impression ultimately breaking the trust of your customer in your products or services. Therefore, don’t ever make promises with your customers which you think will not be full-filled. Always try to jump up expectations as it comes as a good surprise for your customer.

Be A Problem Solver: Online Customer Support allows chat operators to provide to the point and instant answers of the customers’ queries. Hence, don’t let your customers wait and worry; rather provide them immediate response leaving no question unanswered. A survey result has unveiled that 79% of shoppers chose to shop from websites having online chat as it provided them with immediate answers of their confusions and queries.

Effective Conversation: Always adopt a friendly and informal tone while offering online customer support to your potential and current customers. Be careful about the proper use of grammar and punctuation marks, as these carry a lot of weight in making or breaking your impression.

Online support chat in business websites is playing a key role in improving the customer support. The better a retailer is in providing the live chat; the more likely he is to improve his customer services.

Online Customer Care Resolves Apprehension in Booking a Stay

Tired of the day-to-day work routine? Then, it’s the best time to apply for an annual leave. Under U.S. federal law, employers are mandated to give employees a paid vacation, typically 10 to 20 work days! You can make use of this period by going on vacation. According to a study by WHIP (World Independent Hotels Promotion), hotel websites and booking engines are used in conjunction when planning a trip. While this study illustrates findings made in Europe, American hotels can use the information to understand how potent their websites are. They should integrate Online Customer Care to attract traffic to their website. This web-based tool enhances the visitor-to-conversion rate by delivering superior customer support.

An internet booking engine (IBE) is defined as an application used by the tourism industry to book flights, hotels, holiday packages, insurance and other services online. Although, it is more commonly used by airlines, travel associations around the world are using IBE to fulfill tourist’s needs. According to the information graphic, “Booking Patterns of Guests in Independent Hotels”, despite the presence of IBE websites, more consumers prefer to book their stay on a hotel’s websites. In fact, a customer will spend 14 minutes on a hotel website while they will spend only 11 minutes on a booking engine. Although, 20.2% of customers discovered the hotel through an online travel agent, they prefer to book directly on the hotel website!

In order to maximize conversion, hotels can add online customer care. This online CRM application connects visitors to a customer service representative (CSR) through live chat. CSRs play out the duty of a personal concierge. From the moment, a guest arrives at the website; they are individually greeted by a CSR and are proffered assistance. Although, a visitor is at liberty to respond, they will find it is in their benefit to live chat through Online Customer Service. A hotel chat representative uses online metrics such as referral URL, keyword searches, and webpage duration to comprehend a visitor’s activity. Online customer service then proactively engage customers into a meaningful discussion to help resolve booking concerns such as negotiating prices and to learn about amenities in detail.

iPhone and Android users prefer Online Support Chat

Choose a side: iPhone or Android? Everyone has their favorite but according to information graphic, “The Battle for Smartphone Supremacy”, the two-horse race between iPhone and Android is still raging on. In 2012, Google’s Android had the greatest global market share (61%) whereas Apple’s iPhone came in second place (20.5%). Despite the gap in market share, e-tailers claimed both mobile devices are responsible for a 103% increase in website traffic. Digital marketing company Monetate discovered iPhone had the larger slice of total Smartphone website traffic (5.41%) while Android users are credited for a 3.31% of total website traffic. Instead of preferring one Smartphone user over another, retailers should adopt tactics to improve m-commerce revenue. They can accomplish this goal by making better mobile versions of their websites and by integrating Online Support Chat.

According to an information graphic, ‘How Mobile is Impacting Retail Commerce”, shopping trends are evolving. There is an ongoing trend to purchase products via mobile devices. In the past, 72.7% of customers shopped in-store. Today, that figure has dwindled to 56.6%! M-commerce retailers give credit to customers who switch on their Wi-Fi connection and browse online after watching an attention-catching television commercial. They no longer have to get up from their couch or bed to access a desktop browser. Big Commerce revealed 53% of customers have abandoned in-store shopping because of showrooming. It is a practice by which they examine merchandise in traditional retail establishments but consummate the purchase transaction online.

Over the past years, the m-commerce industry has made headlines. It is predicted to grow 33% annually to $31 billion in the next five years. Big Commerce admits 30% of Smartphone customers have found a superior price online! Monetate states m-commerce enables shoppers to carry out product and price research online (35%) and make a purchase (26%). Despite the convenience of owning a Smartphone, the average order value for both iPhone and Android rivals that of buyers who purchase from a desktop browser! Retailers can encourage shoppers to spend more mobile money by creating better mobile versions of websites. Many websites either lacks a fast checkout solution or does not possess image-zooming capabilities. They should also supplement Online Support Chat on their mobile website.

Online Customer Support is an online CRM application which connects users to a customer service representative (CSR) in real-time. The web-based tool was originally integrated on e-commerce websites but it is now functional on iPhone and Android phones. Online Customer Support is designed to increase the conversion rate. CSRs are available around the clock to communicate in the customers’ preferred language choice. They welcome guests the moment they arrive and take on the duty of a personal concierge. They also navigate customers around the website to help them locate the products which they covet.

Online Support Chat: A Touchpoint Faster Than Light

Every now and then when people want to get in touch with a company for help, most of the time they pick up a phone to call support centers. Last year it was revealed in a research that more than 3/4 of the total population in the US would always be on the internet. Therefore, with a great number of users going online today, expectations for efficient services are much higher than before, which means that businesses have to come up with new ways to communicate with their user base instantly. Better than telephonic or email contact, online support chat provides a touch point that lets customers connect live with company representatives within seconds. This feature is quite akin to IM, highly efficient and the fact that it is extremely cost-effective to deploy makes it stand out even more among other communication channels.  Let’s compare online customer support with email and phone see how it surpasses them whether it’s cost, efficiency or delivering better customer experience.

• With online support chat, a company rep can assist multiple customers at a time. Unlike phone support that requires one operator to assist just a single customer at a time, live reps have multiple chat windows to converse with and thus assist many browsers, so there is no question of putting them through long waits for their turn.

• When compared to phone support, live chat support is much cost-effective to deploy. It possesses superior scalability i.e. concurrent handling of online customers enables a few agents to handle the same number of requests in a shorter time.

• Online customer support lets customers access instant solutions. It takes at least 24 hours for to an email to get back to the customers and phone calls entail either long hold-times or even busy lines, however with live support company reps are present right at the website to assist the customers. As soon a browser lands on the page, a chat window automatically opens with a company rep proactively offering help.

• Live chat can prove to be very beneficial for a company's bottom-line in the long run as compared to phone support.  It can lead to customer loyalty and hyper-repeat customers. Skillful customer reps perfectly route, connect and interact with the customers to solve their problems that leads to maximum satisfaction, which lengthy phone calls or email cannot do.

According to a study by Forrester, live support can significantly up the conversion rate and thus translate into higher profits. Besides making navigation of a website easier, live support allows customers to access solutions in a jiffy right from the convenience of their computers. So there is no longer a need for companies to resort to a trade-off between quality and cost-effectiveness.

Online Customer Care Helps Bridal Registries Create Personalized Lists

Newly engaged? The wedding may be one year away but it doesn’t mean you should put off creating a wedding registry.  Traditionally, a bridal registry is a service provided by brick-and-mortar retailers. The merchant works with the engaged duo to create a list of gifts they would like to receive on their big day. In 1993, Target became the first retailer to offer this service electronically. Today, self-service registries have become a popular business around the globe but some customers have apprehension of creating a wedding list online. Vendors can use online customer service to help couples create a more personalized registry.

Unlike, traditional retail establishments which forces customers to track an employee to assist them, Online customer service provides a customer service representative (CSR) to enrich their shopping experience from the get-go. This CRM application allows visitors to live chat with a CSR about the set-up process. While, online registries are really no different than the ones set up in stores, they offer customers more variety and offer feature merchandise which is not available in a physical setting. CSRs push links to the desired product and prevent customers from walking through countless aisles. They can help the engaged couple register room by room (i.e. Kitchenware, Bathroom products) or organize the selection according to the product type.

Instead of spending valuable time in front of an unresponsive touch screen in a department store, Online customer care helps customers create the bridal registry from the comfort of their homes. While, online stores are open around the clock, customers may need assistance at the most unusual times! Online customer care employs globally situated operators to live chat when it is convenient for visitors. Given the fact, most customers prefer receiving help in their national language, CSRs are multilingual. They provide support in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, Italian and German. They help create the wedding list, personalize the list according to guests’ price range, keep certain gift requests private from prying eyes, and send web link to their family members and friends.

Use Online Support Chat to Proffer Personalized Shopping Experience

Why do you shop online? If you are like thousands of buyers around the nation who prefer to purchase in your silk pajamas, then you aren’t alone. The internet provides buyers many benefits including convenience of shopping around the clock, comparing prices, and coming across more variety. Buyers also appreciate purchasing discreetly! They don’t have to deal with the embarrassment of hiding merchandise from near-by shoppers! Although, the internet allows for more privacy, IBM purports consumers are more than willing to share their personal information in exchange for a better shopping experience. E-commerce businesses can take advantage of this opportunity to enhance sales by supplementing online support chat on their website.

According to “Will Shoppers Share More Information for a Better Shopping Experience?” IBM surveyed 28,000 consumers and discovered they are receptive to the idea of sharing a variety of information with retailers. The info-graphic reveals 73% of customers are willing to share demographic information and 61% are willing to give out their real-name. While sharing such information could mean facing invasive profiling and over-aggressive marketing, shoppers are more than willing to comply. An IBM spokesperson expresses, “Overwhelmingly, consumers  are looking for a more personalized shopping experience and are willing to share select details about themselves with their favorite retailers, in order to educate brands on exactly how, when, and where to approach them.”

This info-graphic is a sufficient reason for e-retailers to integrate online support chat. This online CRM application connects visitors to a customer service representative (CSR) through live-chat. Upon entering the website, the CSR welcomes the guest and proactively engages them for a meaningful discussion. A one-on-one conversation enables online customer support operators to provide customers with a personalized shopping experience. Although, agents use the referral URL, keyword searches and webpage duration to strike a conversation, a truly in-depth conversation is possible when the customer willingly talks about what they want to purchase. Online customer support uses the context of their interactions to proffer compelling reasons to shop right now, personalized offerings and sales, and communication tailored to their unique interests.

How Does Online Support Chat Help MENA Organizations

These days all spotlights rest on the Middle Eastern & North African region (MENA). Aside from making the frequent political headlines, this region has become famous for their industrial development and social media growth. According to an infographic released by SocialBakers, “Middle East and North Africa on Facebook at the End of 2012”, there are more than 10 million new users on Facebook from this region. As a result, business organizations from across different industries worldwide are jumping on to the MENA bandwagon! However, despite having an active presence on Facebook, companies have yet to master customer engagement. And while, social media strategies get a facelift, companies can utilize online support chat to engage customers from their website.

In order to assess the engagement and response rate, SocialBakers analyzed the top industries ranked by their Facebook size. The top 5 industries included media, e-commerce, airlines, FMCG, and telecom. Despite the increase in social media usage, SocialBakers discovered more than half of the companies have a user response rate below 65%. This figure can be attributed to brands that have disabled user comments or those who have infrequent updates. In order to develop customer relationships, companies should utilize social media and integrate Online Support Chat.

There is no denying social media’s effect on enhancing customer service but online customer support can be even more effective if used properly. Although, social media posts generate traffic to the company’s website, Online Customer Support converts leads into customers. This online CRM application appears as a chat API that enables live chat between the visitor and customer service representatives (CSR). Upon visitor’s arrival, companies can utilize web analytics to predict whether assistance would be required or not. After gauging the referral URL, keyword searches, and webpage duration, the CSR proactively engages customers into a meaningful discussion. Live chat grants visitors the opportunity to discuss the product offerings, sales, shipping and return policy. Through this real time response system, customer queries can be resolved on the spot, increasing online conversions and the marketing ROI of the firm.