Hello, We're Here To Help You Get On Top Of Live-Chat On Your Website

Given that you’re selling goods online, it’s likely you browse competitor’s sites often. How better to get an idea of what you’re up against? During such research, you’ve probably come across a few websites which offer live chats. You know the ones. You’ve been on the site for a while and a chat pings from the corner, saying ‘Hello, I’m Sam, and I’m here to help.’.

In truth, this is something you’ll now find from most internet based businesses. And, it’s nothing new. This is a 21st-century version of a staff member asking if there’s anything they can help with. It’s a tried and tested method which shows customers you care. As such, it’s worth incorporating this into your online store. But, before you do, ask yourself these questions to make sure you get it right.

Is your internet up to the task?

First, consider whether your internet is up to the job. The only thing worse than not offering online chat is providing one which loses connection. If your internet drops when a customer reaches out, that’s a lost sale. If this happens a few times, you can kiss goodbye to seeing any benefit here. As such, you should consider working with an IT Consultant like eSudo who can help you get a better connection for your money. Plus, such services offer ongoing support if you do run into glitches. As such, your chat should never be out of service for long. Then, you can sit back and start reaping the rewards of this extra mile.

How long should you wait until advertising live chat?

No customer likes to be bombarded the moment they click on your page. They don’t know whether they need help at this stage. As such, an immediate popup will only put people off. Instead, it’s worth delaying your live-chat. But, how long should you wait? Leave it too long and you may lose the sale. Get it too early, and you’ll annoy people. How you work this may be a case of trial and error. Consider, on average, how long people stay on your site, and how long it takes them to find what they want. Often, 30 seconds or so should be long enough. It’s time for visitors to get acquainted with what you do, and whether they might want your services.

How many people should you dedicate to this task?

It’s also worth asking yourself how many staff members you should set to this task. The thing to remember here is that no one person needs to focus solely on this. Live-chat won’t be going off at every moment of the day. As such, this can become a background task. But, you may want to put this in the background of more than one staff members’ workday. That way, there won’t ever be a time when a chat query goes unanswered. As a rule, then, you want to dedicate as many staff members to this as you can without compromising on workload.