This document provides best practices and tactics for using live chat to grow a business. It recommends empathizing with customers, using positive language, asking clarifying questions, limiting the number of chats per agent, communicating status, providing transcripts, creating proactive greetings, gathering basic info from customers, responding quickly, showing agents messages before sending, having meaningful conversations, upselling and downselling appropriately, asking for social media engagement, leveraging historical chat data, extending chat hours, displaying agent photos, identifying site issues, engaging customers before cart abandonment, including chat in abandonment emails, supporting multiple languages, A/B testing, and using chat archives for insights. The document aims to help businesses maximize live chat for conversions and
3. But today, with the dawn of e-commerce, the same on-the-fence customers might
place items in their basket, get distracted or change their minds, and leave,
potentially never to be seen again.
The absence of human relationships in web-based transactions means that
identifying and engaging those customers who just need a gentle push
before they buy is far more difficult.
The solution?
understand how consumers behave online
implement systems that help identify when and which customers need to be
approached and given that 'gentle push'
How?
Live chat!
4. However, simply adding a live chat option to your website is not enough, you
should know how to use it best.
This presentation will help you with some practical tips and tactics for using
live chat.
6. 1. Empathize
It maybe difficult to handle
frustrated customers. But instead
of taking the customer’s attitude
personally, the agent should put
themselves in the customer's
position. They should
communicate the fact that they
understand the customer’s
problem, and that they’re going to
find a way to put things right.
7. 2. Use positive
language
While this is obvious, its difficult to
put it into practice. Support agents
should replace responses with
negative connotations like "I don't
know" or "We don't have this item
and it won't be available for two
weeks" with positive statements
like "Let me find that out for you"
and "This product will be
available within two weeks. I can
place your order as soon as the
stock is available"
8. 3. Ask questions
Agents avoid asking questions
because they think it would
frustrate customers. But avoiding
that small frustration for the
customer in the present could
cause a much bigger problem later
when the customer's expectations
aren't met. Encourage your
agents to request clarification
whenever they’re unsure what the
customer is asking, or what they
want.
9. 4. Don't handle
too many chats
at once
Your agents don’t have
superpowers. You can’t expect
them to cope with endless chats
simultaneously. After a certain
number of chats the level of service
an agent can offer customers is
going to drop and the chance of
making errors is going to increase.
The general rule for the industry
is five chats per agent.
10. 5. Communicate
Be honest. If you need time to
find something out, tell the
customer. Don’t keep them
waiting without telling them
what’s going on.
11. 6. Don't close a
chat
prematurely
Agents should close a chat only
when its purpose is fulfilled ie. :
the customer is happy with
the outcome of their initial
query
the customer doesn't have
any more questions
12. 7. Provide a
transcript
Live chat makes keeping
record of conversations very
easy. If this is offered to
customers, they can always
refer to it in the future and they
will not have to contact the
support team again for the
same issue. It saves time for
everyone. If you offer it, do.
14. 1. Create
proactive
greetings
Send proactive automated
greeting messages that can be
personalized according to how
a customer landed on your site
or their activity on the site.
Timing is everything.
15. > Time on site : greeting pops up after a specified time is spent on the site. Set this trigger
equal to or greater than average time to completion of CTA/form.
> Current URL : appears when a visitor lands on a particular page of the site.
> Returning visitor : appears when a previous visitor returns to the site. This greeting
could start with "Welcome back".
> Time on page : appears after a certain amount of inactivity on a particular page.
> Geolocation : appears only to visitors within a certain location. Promotions specific to a
location can be conveyed this way.
> Pageviews : appears when a visitor keeps returning to the same page, especially, a
decision making page like product, pricing or promotion page.
> Referrer : appears when someone arrives on your site via a particular referral link.
> Visited URLs : appears when a visitor lands on every URL in a group of related product
pages. This may signal that the customer is having problems choosing between them.
16. 2. Use simple
pre-chat forms
Pre-chat forms let you gather
important information about
the customer like their name
and email address. You can use
this information in the future to
nurture leads. The forms also
help prepare your agents for
the conversation ahead.
17. > Should be kept short and simple with three cells at most.
> May reduce the number of visitors initiating a chat but also ensures
that only serious customers initiate them.
> Information obtained will be useful later for creating mailing lists and
other for other efforts aimed at increasing conversions.
18. 3. Increase your
response time
30 seconds
is the ideal response time.
Customer satisfaction begins to
fall rapidly after this point.
19. How to speed up responses?
> Use pre-written replies
> Limit the number of chats per
agent
> Transfer chats when necessary
> Train your agents properly
20. 4. Display unsent
messages to
agents
Your live chat agents should be
able to see what customers are
typing while they type it. It might
feel slightly sneaky to watch what
someone’s typing without their
knowledge, but it benefits you
both. This is another way of
speeding up response times as
agents have more time to think
about their replies, thus making it
more useful to customers and
also increasing conversion rates.
21. 5. Have
meaningful
conversations
While prompt responses could
mean wrapping up the
conversation soon, in some
cases, there could be a great
opportunity to build a
rapport with customers and
to increase their satisfaction.
22. > A long response time can be mitigated with a quality chat.
> Zendesk found a direct correlation between the number of messages in
a conversation and how satisfied customers were with the
conversation’s outcome. Twenty messages appears to be the sweet
spot.
> Some customers just want their problem to be dealt with as quickly as
possible. It is the agent's responsibility to judge what the customer
wants.
> If a customer acts uninterested in engaging beyond the bare essentials,
don’t push them.
23. 6. Boost profits
with upsells
Upselling is the process of
getting customers who are
ready to convert, or have
already converted, to spend
more. It’s a foolproof means of
boosting revenue because it’s
generally easier to get an
existing lead to spend more
than it is to get a new lead to
convert.
24. Relax the customer
Make the customer more comfortable in order
to build trust and make them more receptive to
your upselling efforts by:
> using the customer’s name
> using positive language (and avoiding
negative language)
> being attentive to the customer’s needs
> being genuinely helpful and providing
genuinely helpful advice (bonus points for
offering advice that is little-known)
> being honest
25. Learn about each customer's needs
> The more you know about your customer’s wants and needs, the better
you can match an appropriate upsell to the customer. You could ask
questions like:
o if they have ever done business with you before
o what similar products (if any) they’ve used, and what they liked/disliked about
them
o what those similar products were lacking and
o what specifically makes them interested in your product or service.
Identify appropriate upsells
> Make suggestions that fall within the needs and capacity of the
customer.
26. Point them towards offers or discounts
> Customers are more likely to be enticed by an upsell if they think
they’re getting a bargain. If you’ve got an offer going on that you think
might interest the customer, tell them about it. If you don’t, could you
create an offer just for them?
Avoid the hardsell
> Introduce the idea of an upsell casually, and focus on the positives:
how it will benefit the customer— not what they stand to lose without
it. If a customer says no, don’t push the issue or you risk losing the
customer altogether.
27. 7. Develop
relationships by
downselling
Downselling has the potential
to secure you a sale you might
have otherwise lost. This may
stand to reduce your
immediate revenue, but the
honesty and integrity you
show to the customer keeps
them coming back for more,
and it’ll pay for itself in the
long run (potentially many
times over).
28. 8. Ask customers
to engage with
you on social
media
When a customer goes away from
their Live Chat experience satisfied,
that’s a great opportunity to ask
them to share their experience on
social media. This would make
great publicity, but tread
carefully, you don’t want
customers to feel obligated or
pushed to do so. Not only does this
strengthen ties but it also provides
additional channels to market to
them in the future.
29. 9. Leverage your
historical data
Historical data from previous chats
can be leveraged while conversing
with repeat customers. It can help
agents:
o tailor their conversations
o build rapport
o upsell
Even better if live chat is integrated
with CRM, thus, giving agents
access to all other customer
history in addition to chat history.
30. 10. Extend your
live chat hours
If companies only want to be open
during traditional business hours;
most customers are going to be
working then, too. And how do you
help those customers in
significantly different time zones
who run into problems, or who
have questions, while you’re
sleeping?
24/7 support is thus a necessity
more often than not.
31. If 24/7 live chat support is not possible in-house, consider the following:
> Assess where your strongest markets lie and extend your live chat
coverage accordingly.
> Include details of live chat open times for different time zones on your
site (so customers don’t have to figure out for themselves when, in their
time zone, you will be available).
> Outsource for the hours you are not available.
32. 11. Display a
picture of the
agent
Being able to see a picture of
the agent customers are
talking to will help them relate
to that person and increase
the trust they have in them
and what they say. Ensure
usage real photos of your
agents. Eye-tracking studies
have shown that stock photos
are actively ignored.
33. 12. Identify
problems with
your site
If a number of live chat
conversations are being initiated
from a particular page of your site,
there’s a good chance you have a
problem. For instance, if
customers are consistently asking
questions on your checkout page,
you have to ask why. Are your
delivery charges unclear? Is there
an issue with the total price
customers are given?
34. 13. Use before
cart
abandonment
Sources report that up to 75%
shoppers abandon their carts
(with products) without
purchasing. The most popular
way of dealing this is sending
abandonment emails. But only
around 4% convert after the
emails. And this doesn't help
identify why the customers
left in the first place.
35. > According to research by Hubspot, 41% of "abandoners" leave their cart because of
hidden shipping charges, and 42% leave because they need more information.
> Live chat provides the most appropriate medium for conversing with the customers
on the checkout page; finding out the problem they're facing and leading them to a
successful checkout.
> Triggers are timing play an important role here. The primary trigger for your live
chat could be when a customer has been inactive on a checkout page for about 30
seconds. Preferably use a custom greeting similar to the below image.
> However, it's not going to help save all of them and so do not abandon your
abandonment emails.
36. 14. Include live
chat in
abandonment
emails
If the customer has abandoned
their cart without utilizing your live
chat service, you can still add a live
chat button to your abandonment
email. The easier you make it for
your customers to communicate
with you, the greater the chance
they will speak up. So you get
another shot to save your sale.
You can also complete the sale on
their behalf using live chat.
37. Your abandonment email should ideally do the following:
> Ask the customer if they had a problem at checkout
> Tell the customer you’d love to have their business and that they can
complete their order by:
o Returning to the store (e.g. by clicking this big attractive call-to-action button)
o Calling your customer support team on 555-555-5555
o Speaking directly to your live chat agents by clicking here
o Contacting your customer support team using email by replying to the message
you’ve sent to them
> Make clear to the customer that their checkout will be saved for at least
a week (ideally a lot longer), and that they can return to complete their
checkout anytime.
38. 15. Offer live
chat in multiple
languages
If you do business internationally,
this is a no brainer. If a customer
can’t clearly communicate their
questions to your agents, you
could lose that sale. You may have
a limit on the number of languages
you can offer support in. In that
case, it makes sense to prioritize
the top languages your visitors
speak.
39. 16. A/B testing
Utilize A/B tests regularly to
guide changes that will help
you increase the number of
customers that use the live
chat function, and where they
are in the buying cycle when
they do.
40. Consider A/B tests for:
> Greetings
> Pre-chat forms
> Colour
> CTA
> Position
> Chat trigger variables
41. 17. Live chat for
growth hacking
The best marketers are not the
most experienced or the ones with
the most creative ideas. They are
the ones who take the time to
really learn about their customers.
The talking-to-your-customers
“hack” is about uncovering
priceless information and raw,
hard data that can help you create
campaigns that resonate more
deeply with your target
audience.
42. Help your customers become brand advocates
An advocate is a customer who has gone above and beyond loyalty.
They’re the customers who feel such a strong affiliation with your brand
that they actively encourage others to become customers, too.
They are not born, but made. You have to work for them, delight them.
Don’t just answer your customers’ questions or resolve issues to their
satisfaction. Take the service you provide to the next level.
Let’s see an example.
43.
44. Ask for referrals
> Although there are other ways to get referrals, the simplest way is ask
for them. You can use live chat to ask, so long as you
o know who to ask for a referral (and who not to)
o offer an incentive to sweeten the deal
You could try something like:
45. Look for trends in your chat archives
> Identify FAQs and create
automatic responses for them.
> Enhance your landing pages
and other content by including
keywords (as phrased by
customers while asking
questions).
> Make changes to your site so as
to address common customer
pain points.
47. Best practices for running a live chat:
1. Empathize
2. Use positive language
3. If in doubt, ask questions
4. Don’t handle too many chats at once
5. Communicate
6. Don’t close chats prematurely
7. Provide a transcript
48. Practical tactics to increase conversions:
1.Create proactive greetings
2.Use simple pre-chat forms
3.Increase your response time
4.Display unsent messages to agents
5.Have meaningful conversations
with customers
6.Boost profits with upsells
7.Develop relationships by
downselling
8.Ask customers to engage with you
on social media
9.Leverage your historical data
10.Extend your live chat hours
11.Display a picture of the agent
12.Identify problems with your site
13.Use before sending out an
abandonment email
14.Include live chat in abandonment
emails
15.Offer live chat in multiple languages
16.A/B test everything
17.Live chat for growth hacking
