Live customer chat

5 ways live customer chat gives you a competitive advantage.

As a hot shot pilot in Top Gun, Tom Cruise’s character famously exclaimed, “I feel the need, the need for speed!” And that’s what your customers want when they reach out to your company for support. In fact, the NICE CX Transformation study found that the leading indicator of successful customer service is speed. So how do you deliver customer service at lightning speed? Enter live customer chat.

What is live customer chat?

Powered by software connected to your company’s website, chat allows customer service agents to connect with prospects and customers in real time. Live customer chat can be used to resolve customer service issues, answer questions, and even guide a buyer through the purchasing process. But most importantly, live customer chat is one of the fastest and most personal customer service channels available.

How Can Chat Give Your Company a Competitive Advantage?

There are many advantages to addressing your customer’s needs in real time.

Here are some of the most meaningful ways that offering live customer chat can benefit your organization.

1. Give the customer what he (or she) wants

Customers increasingly seek chat as a preferred channel over phone calls, emails, and social media communities. By offering live customer chat, you’re ensuring that your customers have the support option they want.

2. Increase sales

By answering questions in real time, you instantly remove any obstacles along the purchasing path. This allows your buyers to complete their purchase and get on with their lives.

3. Drive satisfaction and loyalty

Because live customer chat allows your customer to report an issue or ask a question that can be resolved immediately, studies have shown that customer satisfaction levels increase and customer loyalty rises.

4. Live customer chat is efficient

Through a real-time, two-way conversation, chat is an extremely efficient customer service channel when it comes to addressing your buyer’s questions and concerns. But in addition to that, one customer service representative can typically manage four or five different chat sessions at once which also improves your team efficiency.

5. Chat is less expensive

Businesses find that the cost per transaction is much lower with live customer chat than other communication channels like a call center or social media community.