6 Effective Ways You Can Use Live Chat In Conversion Rate Optimization
Excellent customer service is key to e-commerce business growth and success. You can encourage your customers to complete the checkout process by optimizing your customer service. Even if you’re getting tons of traffic to your e-commerce store, there’s no assurance that all of the people who’re visiting your store and adding products to their carts will complete their buying journey. That is why it’s critical for any e-commerce store to implement strategies that can help them get better conversions and sales. Live chat is one of the most powerful weapons in your customer support arsenal that you can use to maintain effective communication with your potential and existing buyers. According to a survey, more than 63% of customers said that they’re more likely to revisit the websites that have live chat software. Here, it is essential to understand that just installing and configuring the live chat software isn’t enough to get the desired results. In this post, we’ll be highlighting the 6 proven ways you can use the live chat in CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). What Is Live Chat? Unlike chatbots, live chat enables customers to get in touch with the support team in real-time. There’s no need for a telephonic conversation either. All you need to do is install live chat software, and your customers can ask questions in a browser window itself. Live Chat As An Ultimate CRO Tool
According to research, live chat can generate up to 4 to 8 times more leads. Talking with real humans gives website visitors confidence that the team behind your online store is legit and takes its buyers seriously. With Live chat, you don’t have to think a lot about A/B testing either. In fact, your website can witness conversions with a basic layout and interface. Here it is crucial to understand that while live chat is the path of least resistance, it can even reduce conversions if done incorrectly. Things To Consider Before Using Live Chat Feature For Your E-Commerce Store There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ rule when it comes to the live chat feature. Each website is different and requires different live chat strategies to get the desired results. If your website is already having good conversions, then you should not implement the live chat feature without mastering all the advanced-level features. However, if your website’s rate of conversion is less than 2%, then you must immediately include the live chat feature on your website to improve engagement. Data-Driven Approach As mentioned earlier, you cannot achieve the desired conversion optimization results unless you pay attention to the right live chat strategies. If your website is already performing well, you can opt for a data-driven approach to witness better results. For this, you have to prepare a comprehensive list of all the main pages on your website that are converting well. The next step would be to calculate the conversion rate for each page separately. Also, determine the average inquiry time for each page.
Know Your Customers You cannot offer a personalized buying experience without knowing your customers. The idea is to identify customers who are genuinely interested in your products and services. Choosing The Right Live Chat Software There are many live chat software (paid and free) available on the market that you can choose for your ecommerce store. Here are a few things you must consider before you choose a live chat software for your store.
Customizable triggers and greetings
Mobile responsiveness
app Benefits Of Using Live Chat For Your Online Store Saves Time Offering live chat support to your customers is one of the ways you can show that you respect their time. Customers don’t have to dedicate extra hours talking to your support team to get their queries answered. In addition, it also helps save your customer representatives time too. With live chat software, they can handle multiple buyers at a time. Gives Customers An Opportunity To Get Answers Right Away Since online buying doesn’t offer customers a tactical buying experience, they have many questions in mind before they spend their hard-earned money on any products or services. When your business fails to address your customer’s concerns in time, they grow into doubts. The buyer might not feel confident about the authenticity of your brand and are more likely to check out other options that they feel are more reliable and responsive to their questions. What live chat does is it improves customer’s buying experience. Gives You Valuable Insights Into Customer’s Buying Preferences Live chat gives your support team an opportunity to collect feedback immediately after resolving their concerns. With this information at hand, you can easily identify your buyer’s buying preferences. You can use this info to offer a more personalized experience to your customers for upcoming transactions. It’s More Cost-Effective According to Forrester’s research, live chat support is up to 17%-30% more cost-effective than telephonic support. With proper training, your live chat support team can seamlessly handle multiple customers at a time.
Helps Businesses Learn Customer Pain Points With conventional business communication mediums such as phone or email, it is not possible for your support team to learn customer pain points. Since live chat enables your business to keep a record of previous chat histories and other relevant metrics, your agents can devise the best possible solutions to address your customer’s concerns. Custom Reports And Chat Histories Live chat enables your business to view all types of custom reports, chat histories, and analytics. Access to this info is crucial as it helps you determine the number of visitors your website receives, wait times, chat records, and more. 6 Effective Ways You Can Use Live Chat In Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) 1. Live Chat Integrations Online selling isn’t like your 9 to 5 job. Since your website stays open 24/7, you can expect a customer at any time. That is why you’ll need a dedicated live chat support team (available in shifts) that is available 24/7 throughout the year. If hiring a big support team isn’t an option at the moment, you may consider integrating your live chat software with your email. This way, you would be able to accurately keep track of the total number of customers who have visited your website and their details. Also, you must integrate your software with VOIP that enables you to call your customers using the internet instead of your regular phone line. 2. Use Canned Responses Canned messages/saved responses are another useful technique that will save your support team plenty of time. With canned messages, you don’t have to type the entire answer over and over again. Simply enter a key tag, and a message will appear automatically on the chat window. While this approach is a real time-saver, you should use that carefully and in moderation. Canned messages can work great if you’re using them in response to general customer queries. But in case of unique queries, your live chat support team should try to engage a customer on a more personal level. 3. Use Pre-Chat Surveys The biggest advantage of using live chat software is that it enables you to customize pre-chat surveys. The purpose of these surveys is to gather basic customer information, including name and email address that you can use while retargeting them. 4. Personalize, Personalize, And Personalize
Did you know it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one bad customer experience? Live chat software has made it incredibly easy for store owners to provide exceptional customer service. Keep in mind, your customers have questions, and they’ll need you to answer them right away so that they can make a purchase decision. Personalization is key to impeccable customer service. Instead of giving robotic messages to your clients, make sure you train your team to offer personalized responses. Make sure your agent spends enough time on each conversation to help the buyer get through the process. 5. Track Your Live Chat Performance Just like any other tool, it is not enough to install and run the software. Once you have installed live chat software on your online store, you have to closely monitor its performance to identify areas that still need improvement. You can easily do this by collecting performance metrics that include information about response time, the number of requests per agent, the total number of messages per conversation, etc. Apart from that, you can also enable the rating feature on your chat software to let your customers rate their experience. 6. Target Your Returning Buyers Your returning buyers are those customers who have already made a purchase from your store previously. If they’re visiting again, your live chat support team should engage them on a more personal level. For instance, they can send personalized recommendations through chat by observing previous chat histories and buying preferences. In addition, you can also offer deals and discounts to help those returning buyers convert, and earn a loyal customer for life. Bonus Tips To Consider Fast Response Time Research suggests that more than 53% of customers abandon their carts just because they do not get a timely response from the support team. As a general rule, you should not let your customer wait for more than 15-seconds. Nobody likes to wait, and if your customer has to wait for a long time just to get answers to their basic queries, they’re more likely to switch to other options and never return to your e-store. Appreciate Them And Ask For A Suggestion The feedback you get from your customers is valuable. Also, when you try to ask your customers about their buying experience, it will make them feel special. It will make them feel that your brand values their money and is making efforts to provide superlative service. Asking your customers to rate their experience will also allow your brand to make improvements.
As a reputable brand, it is essential that you treat each website visitor equally. Even if they’re just here to visit your store and clear their doubts, make sure you give them proper attention. You can always retarget those visitors through email and text messages in the future. Again, collecting feedback isn’t enough. Make sure you take their feedback seriously and make improvements accordingly. Follow Up Follow-up is one of the most effective techniques that help online businesses achieve their selling targets without much effort. Sadly, 48% of sales personnel never follow up with a prospect, while only 10% of salespeople make more than three contacts. Interestingly, 80% of sales are made on the twelfth contact. Many times customers leave the buying process because they’re not fully convinced with your offer. With follow up reminders, you can encourage those buyers to make a purchase and complete a checkout process. Choose A Mobile-Friendly Chat Software
There are roughly 3.5 billion smartphone users in 2021. That is why it’s crucial that you invest in live chat software that is mobile-responsive. By doing so will also help you target those customers that are always on the go. Choose A Software That Offers Adequate Customization Features Make sure you choose software that offers a wide range of customization features. The live chat interface should complement your overall branding and website design. Apart from that, you must also be able to insert your logo and personalize icons and other buttons. Key Takeaways
There is no denying the fact that boosting conversions for an e-commerce store is a challenging task. But with the right communication and live chat strategies, you can increase engagement on your estore in no time. Live chat is a powerful customer service tool that, if used correctly, can make a huge difference to your overall performance and ROI. Take a hint from this post and implement all of the above-listed techniques carefully to help your online business grow and succeed in 2020 and beyond. Have questions? Drop them in the comments section below. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.