You don’t have to be the CEO of the giant business empire in order to understand that quality and proactive customer service is a must-have business principle today. As one of the leverage is an ability to chat with your customers in real time as well as be available 24/7, we are going to talk about live chats today.
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Live chats definitely reduce your expenses and save time (for example, as your team can multitask and assist several visitors at once). Furthermore, according to various studies, live chat software increases sales and improves customer satisfaction.
While the benefits are clear, next step is to choose the most proper solution. To start with, it is worth to know the key points which have to be considered before purchase. That’s where these 5 questions listed below can be helpful.
DOES CHATS TALK WITH OTHER APPLICATIONS?
As we use plenty of systems (CRM, ticketing, content management, payments, etc.) every day, all the applications should work synchronously. Otherwise, the proper running of your e-commerce platform will be a mess.
Most of the live chat software can now be integrated into one seamless system by providing capabilities of data sharing. However, not all the tools are integrated so easily. So, we recommend you to take a look how conveniently the live chat tool talks with other apps you using on a daily basis.
IS IT USER-FRIENDLY AND ENGAGING?
Every tool is only effective if it’s easy to use. Okay, okay. Also if it’s sexy enough. Modern live chats are the tools with many nice features inside: branding possibility, customer recognition functionalities, bots, pop-up forms, and so on.
Moreover, as it is clear that mobile is a trend now, live chat software should be functional and visible with various mobile devices, for example, smartphones and tablets. To put it simply, today’s live chat should be where the customer is.
Usually, live chat systems are the tools used daily. So the fact that it has to be easy to use for your customers is unquestioned. However, the backend of your live chat has to be user-friendly, too. It has to be as good as your business stuff doesn’t need to spend too much time while managing software.
The best live chats service should have the frontend as well as backend administration panel which is intuitive and simple for both – the user and the operator.
DOES IT GIVES YOU ANALYTICAL DATA?
Every business looks for the various ways to get know its customers better. Getting specific insights enables company to build and strengthen the customer relationship. Also, it can be a fantastic source for marketing or business development.
Apart from the basic features (for example, proactive chats, co-browsing, etc.), the best live chat tools come with visitor analytics feature. The analytics feature provides the basic statistics into visitors to the website: how many times they visited, which pages were visited most, and so on. Basically, your live chat tool can display a series of the reports. For example, you can learn more how satisfied your customers are or how long your chats take.
All in all, by keeping track of chats and ticket metrics, you are enabled to see the needed changes and improvements within your business.
IS IT A RELIABLE TOOL?
Oh yes, we all know how difficult can be to select the best tool with so many live chats options over here. But don’t sign up for a service until you haven’t studied how reliable the chosen live chat looks like. In order to do that, it is necessary to ask your live chat vendor’s the several questions. According to us, it may include the following:
- SLA guarantee;
- 24/7 support;
- Information about ongoing incidents and maintenance.
Also, take a time to learn more in order to gain a full understanding. For example, did you know that the standard for the availability of live chat is no less than 99.9%?
IS TOOL’S PRICING FAIR?
Despite the fact, investments in your customer service are always worth, talking about live chats, this is a place where you can save. Many software solutions provide basic features for free while others are at quite low price.
However, when you decide to purchase live chat software, compare the prices and features list to choose the best cost-effective option. Also, make sure you are aware of any extra fees. For example, charges for software upgrades, backups, and maintenance. Finally, don’t hesitate to ask for the discount.
