29 Nov Will Live Chat help my business?
For the past 5 years or so, the business website has become the cornerstone of any marketing strategy as it plays the vital role of being the reference point between customer and final contact with the business.
Now through necessity, businesses have a multi pronged approach to driving people to their site and this often includes a number of different advertising mediums ranging from TV, radio, press, signage, digital advertising, social media, electronic newsletters and the list goes on.
The question business owners then ask themselves is how you then convert that traffic… into a lead?
Well, depending on the type of business; whether it’s;
- a bricks and mortar business,
- or a business that is trading purely online,
some of the key features in the sites design are firstly having several easy contact points available and visible to the person browsing the site.
At a bare minimum, if you are bricks and mortar business that serves customers at your location, it is best practice to;
- Display your business address in the footer (but sometimes in the header too)
- Have several contact forms on key pages littered throughout the site
- Showcase a business phone number that is top and bottom of screen, and on all pages.
- Have emails that are directed to the relevant departments sales@business.com.au Service@business.com.au support@business.com.au etc etc.
Moreover, industry specific websites may also like to include;
- Product Test Drive Request forms ie Auto industry
- Value my Trade in Form : Auto/ Marine industry
- Request Finance Form
- Stock/ Product Make an Enquiry Form
- Hire Request Form
- Service Booking Forms
- Product ‘Send to a Friend’
- ‘SMS me’ the link or more info and the list goes on.
If you are running an e commerce business, (and depending on it’s size ) you might do away with the ‘visible’ business address, but have a variety of different contact form mechanisms such as;
- General Enquiry
- Short Quick contact forms within products giving the visitor the option of a call back,
- Newsletter/ Receive Specials sign up,
- Request a product sample
- ‘Send to a friend’
- Shopping cart breadcrumbs which funnel people down the purchase path,
- Related products and discounts on multiple item purchases,
- Shopping cart abandonment emails which probe your recent visitors into returning to make their purchase etc etc
AND above all, another great website traffic conversion strategy is to include Live chat !
Live chat can work in both instances but the product is slightly different.
For the E-commerce Chat service it is evident that to be helpful at driving that visitor into making a purchase (and not just be a nuisance), the chat agent has to have ;
1) in-house, product and industry specific knowledge to assist that visitor in real time into making a decision and,
2) have access to any returning customers account and order information to be able to liaise directly with the user to manage, edit or change their product orders,
It is for this reason, that these chat services are often run on extremely large e-commerce sites such as Kogan, Harvey Norman etc as they have the resources, product inventory and revenue to pay for it.
I have had however experience running a live chat agent on e-commerce sites for smaller businesses where we have used an outsourced Chat team and worked really hard on the scripts to ensure the chat log communication is broad enough to capture the users details and have them feeling comfortable enough to leave their details for a call back from the business owner and an offline conversion the next day.
Typically the business owner works with the Chat team to produce such a script.
But will Chat help my business and produce Leads?!!!
What is similar between the two services, is that the Chat agent is there to engage visitors to your site in real time…..and this can occur when your business is open….. and more importantly when it is not.
A lot of online research is conducted in the evening hours, and the chat agent acts as a 3rd or 4th way for that visitor to contact the business. Moreover, you have invested money and effort to generate that visitor to your site, so it’s absolutely critical to offer as many options as possible for that visitor to make contact with your business without them bouncing out and never to return.
The chat leads aren’t very good?
I’ve seen mixed results on the quality of lead that is being generated and I sometimes hear that the ‘leads aren’t very good’, but what is certain , is that sites WITH a chat agent do have a higher level of site engagement from their web traffic than sites that don’t.
The quality will depend on a variety of factors but compared to the ongoing price of the chat service, when I look at the number of leads with my clients, over a given period of time, we often conclude that the service is worth it’s money.
The Chat agent is simply ANOTHER way for a visitor to get in touch with you.
Sure, that visitor can call, but typically someone that calls, is a little further along the buying journey than someone that opts to complete a form. The ‘caller’ nowadays, is generally more informed and is ready to use your services and make a time for you to supply these to them.
The Chat agent is a live help service that assists people that could be short of time, but are MORE importantly between consideration and purchase and may require a little more info and since they have engaged in the process with your site’s chat agent are more welcome to a phone call as they know they have had some dialogue with your business.
So some of the key overall benefits are;
- Live Chat is an online virtual shop assistant for your business,
- The service is provided 24/7 so it can capture enquiries when you cant
- It keeps people on your site longer
- It’s relatively inexpensive. Packages depend on site traffic and how many leads you’d like delivered. Packages equate to roughly $6 – $10 per meaningful enquiry.
- You have input into the scripting and also have access to every chat log in order for you to customise things further. This is also to ensure you’re giving the best possible experience to that visitor.
The Negatives;
- Chat agents are not subject matter experts
- Chat agents aren’t native to your country so whilst most have a high english literacy, at times there are errors in comprehension. (Quickly ironed out with your feedback)
- Not all Leads are ‘meat on the bone’ …..;ready to buy’ leads.
- If you work in industries such as hospitality or healthcare. they cant take reservations or bookings for you
So with all of the above in mind, if you’d like to know if Live Chat would suit your business, feel free to get it touch to discuss further.