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Business planning

The Rise of Live Chat: Revolutionizing Customer Service and Boosting Sales

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

As I navigated the website of Printemps, a Parisian department store, I encountered a live web chat with a roller-skating operator, who promptly located a box of Meccano for me. That initial experience sparked a reevaluation of live chat, which I now consider a game-changer in customer service. With its ability to provide immediate assistance, live chat can do what email, phone calls, and FAQs often fail to accomplish: deliver a quality service. However, its success relies heavily on organization and not just technology.

Live chat systems allow users to type with a call center agent in real-time, providing a more efficient alternative to traditional communication methods. The benefits for customers include immediate responses and reduced time wasting. Agents can "push" relevant pages onto the user's screen, making the process seamless and user-friendly.

Companies are taking notice of live chat's potential as a sales tool, with some reporting significant increases in conversion rates. Flightcatchers.com, for instance, saw a remarkable jump from 6 or 7 percent to 45 percent, as revealed by Vic Cheema, Vytec's CEO. However, success in implementing live chat requires careful consideration of visitor profiling and value assessment before triggering conversations.

Key Takeaways:

  • Live chat is a customer service system that allows real-time typing conversations with call center agents.
  • Successful live chat implementation requires organization and training of agents to handle simultaneous conversations.
  • Companies like Flightcatchers.com and LivePerson have reported significant increases in conversion rates using live chat.
  • Refinement of visitor profiling and value assessment is crucial in triggering conversations.
  • Live chat has the potential to provide better service to customers and lower costs for companies.
  • However, it raises issues such as agent training, rules configuration, and potential privacy concerns.

Statistics:

  • 90% of visitors ignore live chat buttons (LivePerson)
  • 75% of interacted visitors are likely to be unwanted (LivePerson)
  • 45% conversion rate for Flightcatchers.com using live chat (Vic Cheema, Vytec's CEO)
  • 4-6 conversations handled simultaneously by trained agents (Iain Case, LivePerson)
  • 6 or 7 percent initial conversion rate for Flightcatchers.com (before live chat implementation)

Sources:

  • Bowen, David. "The Rise of Live Chat: Revolutionizing Customer Service and Boosting Sales."
  • Case, Iain. "What we have learned from 10,000 live chat sessions." LivePerson. [No Date Provided]
  • Cheema, Vic. CEO of Vytec. Interview regarding Flightcatchers.com live chat results.

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