5 ways in which a live chat is better than call support

 Today, we can’t imagine our lives without messaging. It enables us to have real-time interaction with friends, family, and facilitates us with the ability to multitask at the same time. This leads us to messenger as a business tool.

Holding various communication channels may turn out to be challenging for any business. People these days are well familiar with social media, emails, phone, and in-person communication. Especially if you have to interact with lots of clients on a day to day basis. This article will help you know why live chat is winning the customer support race.

Customers prefer Live chat over all the other customer support channels, it increases loyalty and conversions. There has been a lot about how live chat has been benefitting over the years. Reasons why you need Live chat can be understood even better when you know the strengths and weaknesses of it.

Here are some pros and cons of live chat vs phone support

Pros of live chat

Accessibility- Customers recognise live chat as an option that is always available, with someone waiting on the other end to assist them in real time.

Agent productivity- Agents can handle more than one chat at a time expanding their bandwidth to manage multiple client interactions.

Automated responses/bots- Chatbots can look for keywords and automatically send responses, and bots can address low-level, easy questions so a human interaction can be minimised.

Cost - Cost is lower due to agents and chatbots handling multiple chats. 

Offering real-time customer support with the assistance to address multiple queries at once saves time, labor, and ultimately the investment for your company.

Data analytics- Live chat isn't just about talking to customers; it's about understanding their needs. These tools are advanced, and when integrated with other tools, you can see what your customers purchase, where they get stuck on your site and evaluate their viewing habits and preferences. These inputs can enhance your overall process to provide a proactive, positive customer experience

Cons of live chat

Stress/burnout- While the strength of live chat is the ability for agents to be more productive by handling more than one chat, the increased volume can cause stress and burnout. In many centers, agents aren't only handling chat; they're also addressing emails and phone calls. .

Limitations- Due to legal, compliance and regulatory guidance, there may be times when an agent simply can't help a customer. This can frustrate both customers and agents. Businesses should make customers aware of the types of questions that can be handled through live chat, and this information should be documented in a master service-level agreement.

Pros of Phone support

Metrics and data- It can be easier to measure data and metrics through the telephone because it's a one-to-one interaction vs. multiple chats at one time that require systems to calculate advanced data.

Quality and service improvement- The customer's voice and emotion provides a richer input into quality and service improvement analysis.

Cons of Phone support

Cost- Since the telephone is an one-on-one channel which requires dedicated support and agents to handle one customer at a time. It increases costs and can reduce productivity overall. A call can cost up to two times as much as an electronic interaction.

Time- The most-hated aspects of phone support for customers is wait time and the time spent navigating through the interactive voice response system.

Documentation- Much of a conversation could be missing unless quality practices are implemented and routinely monitored and documented.

Live chat is one of the best tools that many companies are utilizing on their websites.

Here are the 5 ways live chat improves your customer support

• Optimize conversions

A major reason why so many companies are adapting live chat is that it is significantly boosting their sales. 

Live chat is the only channel that is available both on-site and real-time. This unique combo guides visitors on your website and resolves queries crucial for buying directly, before they put customers off the purchase.

• Reduce service costs and boost efficiency

Conversion rate is a crucial business KPI , but to be profitable, you need to be efficient as well.

Live chat suits this factor because it not only brings more money but it also saves you a lot.

• Prevent cart abandonment

Cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges online businesses are facing. This lets you target customers according to the interests and stage in the funnel. By adding live chat to your website, you are available to aid your customers to answer questions that may arise in the checkout process. 

• Increase Customer satisfaction

Live chat improves your customer experience because it provides you with a seamless, hassle-free contact channel to your website. It is 

Fast

Free

Anonymous

Inclusive

Multimedia friendly

Conversational

• Collect customer data

Data is the most desired commodity in the digital era. Live chat makes it efficient to gather relevant customer information such as their name, email address or location. 

This feedback is highly valuable because it helps you understand how your customers are thinking and ways to improve your product to increase their satisfaction.

• Track success

Live chat software is built-in with analytics that lets you track the KPIs that matter the most for every business, for example your agents’ first response time, the chat volume or customer satisfaction scores.

Benefits of live chat for customer service teams has been enormously helpful. Consumers seem to enjoy and prefer live chat support. It is evident why people hold tightly to live chat—it has the potential to be the quickest and easiest support channel.

That’s why nearly half of the customers we interacted with say they prefer live chat over every other support channel. And those consumers are more likely to buy from companies who offer live chat.

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