Live chat customer service in 2024

What is live chat customer service?

Live chat customer service is a real-time communication tool that allows businesses to engage with their customers directly on their website or app. By providing instant support, live chat enables customers to ask questions, resolve issues, and receive assistance without the delay associated with traditional email or phone support. This immediate interaction not only enhances customer satisfaction but also improves the overall user experience, leading to higher conversion rates and increased loyalty.

Whether it’s with human agents, chatbots, or both, live chat is an important part of a well-rounded customer service strategy.

Why is live chat customer service important?

In an age where people expect fast customer service response times, live chat is a necessary tool. In addition to quick responses, live chat provides an alternative option to speaking with representatives over the phone, which many customers prefer. For customers who still want to interact with a human agent, live chat can provide that, too. It doesn’t mean the end of traditional phone conversations—it means the start of more choices for customers.

Benefits of live chat customer service

So, what can you expect when you use live chat customer service? Let’s explore some key benefits.

Enhanced customer experience

Customers should never be left without support resources, no matter the time. With live chat, you can be there for them 24/7. An extension of self-service portals, live chat support is an available resource for when customers need to talk their issues through with an intelligent agent.

More efficient customer service

Live chat enables agents to handle multiple conversations at once. Unlike phone support, where an agent is limited to one call at a time, live chat is built for multitasking. It reduces wait times and improves response rates, which enhances the customer experience and maximizes your support team’s productivity.

Greater accessibility for customers

If you fail to provide easily accessible customer support, you may alienate a significant client base. Live chat caters to customers who prefer text-based communication and those who may not have the time or patience for phone calls. The accessibility provided by live chat ensures that all customers, regardless of their preferences, can easily reach out for help.

Live chat also makes customer service more accessible by providing support directly on the website or app. This eliminates the need for customers to search for contact details or waste time waiting on hold.

Proactive customer service

We know that live chat is there for customers seeking support. But what about support for people who are just visiting your page?

Live chat lets businesses offer proactive customer service by initiating conversations with visitors based on their behavior on the site. For instance, if a customer is lingering on a product page or seems to have trouble during checkout, a chat window can pop up offering assistance. If someone is revisiting your site, live chat software can recognize that and start a conversation based on their history. This proactive approach can help detect issues before they escalate and procure new customers, improving satisfaction and boosting sales.

Personalized service

The expectation of chatbots and text-based conversations is that they’ll be robotic and impersonal. With live chat customer service, that’s hardly the case.

Live chat allows for personalized customer service by integrating with customer relationship management (CRM) tools and accessing customer history and preferences. Both human agents and chatbots can tailor their responses and offer personalized recommendations based on the customer’s past interactions and purchases. Even when a customer switches channels or agents during a conversation, live chat keeps the context of their support needs. This level of personalization fosters stronger, more meaningful customer relationships.

Scalable to business needs

Whether your business is a small startup or a large enterprise, it’s bound to grow. In the event that your business expands or changes, your live chat software should evolve with it. Many solutions are built to accommodate a growing customer base without sacrificing performance. Scalable live chat software also enables you to use automation tools to manage an increasing volume of chat interactions.

Greater insight into customer needs

Although live chat is best known for its quick resolutions, it also provides valuable insights into customer needs and behavior through real-time feedback and data analytics. Businesses can analyze chat transcripts to identify common queries, preferences, and areas for improvement. As a result, live chat helps you refine your services based on real, relevant, and recent customer information.

Better productivity

By enabling agents to handle multiple chats at once and providing tools for quick responses, live chat does wonders for productivity. Automated features such as canned responses and chatbots can handle routine inquiries, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues. When live chat is integrated with other tools, admins can oversee the progression of customer conversations to ensure that they’re handled efficiently. This streamlined process helps customer service teams operate more efficiently and productively.

Better resource management

Effective resource management is crucial for financial longevity, especially for companies that seek to lower costs and maximize profits. Live chat helps businesses manage resources by reducing the need for extensive call center operations and lowering operational costs.

Compared to traditional support methods, live chat requires fewer agents to handle the same volume of customer inquiries, which translates into cost savings. Additionally, the data collected from live chat interactions can be used to optimize staffing levels and improve resource allocation, further enhancing operational efficiency.

Live chat customer service best practices

Live chat customer service is an excellent tool on its own, but it becomes even more powerful when you implement some best practices.

Be strategic in placement

Live chat tools are most helpful when customers can find them easily. For strategic placement, consider the following questions:

• Where on my page can customers easily spot a live chat window?

• On which pages might customers benefit from live chat assistance?

It’s best to put chat windows in an obvious location that is easily accessible but doesn’t block any page content. You want to enhance customer experience, not prohibit easy navigation of your website. Additionally, only let your chat window pop up on certain pages. Some great spots are your homepage and FAQ sections, as these are areas where customers may have questions. On other pages, try having the widget appear at the bottom of the screen, only opening into a window when a customer clicks on it.

Seek to personalize customer interactions

Addressing customers by their names, referencing their past interactions, and tailoring responses to their specific needs are great ways to personalize interactions. By integrating your live chat with a CRM system, agents can access customer histories and preferences, enabling them to provide a customized support experience. These personal touches help foster more authentic conversations, thus building stronger customer relationships and loyalty.

Leverage video support

Face-to-face video interactions can provide excellent personalized assistance. If an agent wants to walk a customer through a process or a customer wants to show an agent exactly what issues they are having, video support can help. If something is too complex to explain over text, agents can seamlessly transition from text to video without losing the context of the customer’s concerns. Agents can also use screen sharing or co-browsing to help guide customers more directly.

Use canned responses

Canned responses are pre-written replies to common customer questions. They save time, ensure consistency in your messaging, and reduce room for human error. With canned responses, agents can quickly address FAQs without responding manually. It’s important to customize canned responses as necessary in order to maintain a personal touch and avoid making interactions sound too robotic.

Leverage data

Live chat customer service tools gather data to provide support agents with context from the very beginning of a conversation. For example, agents can see what pages a customer has previously visited, how much time they’ve spent on the site, and whether or not they’ve visited before. This provides the context necessary to inform an agent’s responses. When live chat software is used consistently over time, AI chatbots can learn customer traits and determine what type of assistance they may need.

Integrate with other tools

Integrating your live chat system with other customer service tools, such as CRM platforms, help desks, and email marketing software, can be highly beneficial. It streamlines your operations by using multiple tools made for different aspects of customer service, harnessing the power of all your operations in every interaction.

Integrations allow for a centralized view of customer interactions, enabling agents to access relevant information quickly and deliver more effective support. This connectivity also helps maintain consistent communication across multiple channels.

Gather customer feedback

Live chats can be programmed to offer instant feedback surveys at the end of conversations. With the interaction fresh in mind, customers can provide useful feedback that highlights the positive elements and drawbacks of their experience. This information can be used to improve future interactions and aid machine learning.

Choosing the best live chat customer service tools for your business

Every business has different needs, so it’s important to determine exactly what your company wants to get out of live chat software. Consider specific goals your business may have, and research live chat software options accordingly. If you’re operating under a budget, be sure to account for the long-term financial implications of live chat customer service tools and select a plan that makes financial sense.

When you begin your search for the best live chat customer service tools for your business, you’ll realize quickly that there are a lot of options. For some guidance, reference our blog on the 17 best live chat software of 2024.

Enhance your live chat customer service experience today with Freshchat!

For effective customer service, your business needs a cost-effective, scalable, AI-powered live chat platform that can handle customer queries with ease. For all this and more, look no further than Freshchat.

Freshchat is a powerful messaging platform with live chat customer service tools that help your business connect with customers and website visitors through multiple channels. It enables agents to provide fast, efficient, and personalized support while generating insightful data to inform your company’s future improvements. With proactive chat support, Freshchat can turn browsers into buyers and confused visitors into informed customers.