Having a live chat solution on your website is a great way to improve your online service. It makes it easier for customers to reach you and get answers to their questions. However, live chat can also be frustrating if it’s not set up properly. Here are 11 good practices to follow when implementing live chat in your business.
1. Choose the right live chat tool
There are a lot of live chat tools out there, and they all have different features and capabilities. When choosing a live chat tool, it’s important to consider your business’s needs, and how it will integrate with your other systems, such as software testing tools or customer support platformsFor example, if you have a small team, you’ll want a live chat tool that is easy to use and doesn’t require a lot of setup. If you have a larger team, you’ll want a tool that has more advanced features, like the ability to route chats to the right team member.
Some of the most popular live chat tools include Intercom, Drift, and Zendesk Chat. These tools all have different features and capabilities, so it’s important to do your research and find the one that is best for your business.
It’s also important to consider how the live chat tool will integrate with your other customer service channels. For example, if you use a help desk tool like Zendesk, you’ll want a live chat tool that integrates with it. This will allow you to keep all of your customer service and customer support data in one place and make it easier to manage.
2. Set up automated greetings and responses
In addition to creating canned responses, you can also add automated greetings and responses to your live chat tool. This will help you save time by automatically engaging with customers and answering their questions.
Automated greetings can be set up to appear when someone lands on your website. You can also set up greetings to appear after a certain amount of time has passed, or when a customer takes a specific action, such as adding a product to their shopping cart.
Automated responses can be set up to answer common questions, such as “What are your business hours?” or “Do you offer free shipping?” You can also set up automated responses to direct customers to the right department or team.
3. Personalize your live chat widget
The more your live chat widget stands out on the page, the more likely it is to be used. But, that doesn’t mean you should make it an eyesore.
Instead, consider the design of your website and your brand’s colors. Then, use the customization options in your live chat tool to create a widget that blends in with your website while still catching your visitors’ attention.
For example, you can change the color of your live chat widget’s background, text, and buttons to match your website. Or, if you’re feeling really creative, you can upload a custom background image or choose a different shape for your widget.
No matter what you choose, just make sure your live chat widget looks like it belongs on your website.
4. Make your live chat widget stand out
If you’re going to add live chat to your website, you need to make sure your customers know it’s there. The best way to do this is by making your live chat widget easily visible.
There are a few ways you can make your live chat widget stand out:
- Use a bright color for your chat button or widget
- Add a chat icon to your website’s navigation bar
- Use a widget that moves with the user as they scroll through your website
- Add a chat icon to your website’s header or footer
By making your live chat widget stand out, you can increase the chances that your customers will use it to get in touch with you.
- Simplify your live chat widget
As much as we love a good pop-up, we also know they can be annoying. And, if you’re not careful with your live chat widget, it can become a nuisance for your website visitors.
We recommend keeping it simple by placing it in the lower right-hand corner of your website. That way, it’s easy for visitors to find if they need it, but it won’t get in the way of your content.
You can also customize the look and feel of your widget to match your branding. And, if you want to get really fancy, you can even create different widgets for different pages of your website.
6. Set up your live chat widget on the right pages
If you’re chatting with a customer who has a product in their shopping cart, you don’t want to send them a link to your website’s “products” page. You want to send them a link to their shopping cart.
Similarly, you don’t want to have your live chat widget appear on pages where it’s irrelevant. Or, worse, you don’t want to have it appear on every single page on your website.
Instead, you should be strategic about where you place your live chat widget. For example, you might want to have it appear on your homepage, your product pages, your pricing page, and your checkout page.
You can use a live chat tool that allows you to customize where your widget appears, or you can use your website’s analytics to identify the pages on your website that get the most traffic and place your widget there.
7. Make your live chat widget accessible
The live chat widget is the most important part of your live chat service. It’s the first thing people see when they come to your website and it’s what they’ll use to start chatting with you.
Make sure your live chat widget is easily accessible and visible on your website. You don’t want people to have to hunt around for it. A good rule of thumb is to have your live chat widget on every page of your website.
You can also consider using a chat button that follows the user as they scroll down the page. This way, they’ll always have access to the chat widget, no matter where they are on your website.
- Set up your live chat widget for multiple languages
If you operate in an area with multiple languages, you’ll want to make sure your live chat widget is set up to handle multilingual conversations.
You can use the chat widget settings in your live chat software to allow customers to choose their preferred language before starting a chat. This will help ensure that your customers can communicate with your live chat agents in their preferred language.
9. Use live chat to qualify leads
In addition to providing customer service, you can also use live chat to qualify leads and bring in new business.
When a visitor comes to your website, you don’t know if they’re just browsing or if they’re ready to make a purchase. But with live chat, you can ask a few questions to determine their level of interest and whether or not they’re a good fit for your product or service.
If they are a good fit, you can then use live chat to answer any questions they have and help them take the next steps. This can be a great way to bring in new leads and increase your sales.
On the other hand, if they’re not a good fit, you can still use live chat to provide a positive experience and point them in the right direction.
- Use live chat to resolve customer issues
Live chat can be a great way to help customers find answers to their questions quickly, but it can also be used to resolve customer issues. This is especially true when it comes to technical support.
If a customer is having trouble with your product or service, they can use live chat to get in touch with a member of your support team. Your team can then work with the customer to identify the issue and find a solution.
Using live chat to resolve customer issues is a great way to provide personalized support and show customers that you care about their needs.
11. Train your team on how to use live chat
Live chat is a powerful tool, but it’s only as effective as the team using it. That’s why it’s so important to train your team on how to use live chat.
Make sure your team knows how to answer customer questions, how to use the live chat software, and what to do if they don’t know the answer to a question.
You should also train your team on how to use the live chat data that’s collected. This can help your team identify trends, improve their customer service skills, and more.
Conclusion
Live chat is an easy way to communicate with customers, but it takes some thought and strategy to get it right. By taking the time to set up your live chat program correctly, you can start having more meaningful conversations and learn more about your customers along the way.
