Why Live Chat Integration is a Top Tool for Boosting Your Business in 2018
The internet is not the wide-open marketplace it once was and oversaturation is a real problem in many of its sub-sectors. Regardless of what you are selling online, there is likely a plethora of competitors that are looking for the same traffic and customers you want.
That being said, the internet is still likely the biggest marketplace available to most of us and it has created a way for anyone to sell globally. In 2018, to stand out a brand has to leverage all possible tools to ensure success, and one of the most powerful under utilized tools online is live chat.
Statistics on live chat point clearly to the fact that live chat can boost your brand exponentially for a variety of reasons. Here are a few of them.
Increased Sales & Conversion
For any business, increased sales, revenues and profits are likely at the top of goals. Additionally, when it comes to internet-based businesses, conversion rate is a key benchmark that helps to boost your viability and should be right there with the increased sales as a top goal.
The implementation of a live chat channel on your website helps work towards those goals and can have tremendous impact on your sales and conversion online.
51% of customers who visit a site are more likely to purchase when live chat is present.
Customers who chat prior to making a purchase spend on average 10% more when ordering.
A customer who chats via your live chat has a 40% higher conversion rate and converts 3 to 5 times more than those who don’t.
Increased Credibility & Retention
In a saturated marketplace, it is imperative to build a loyal client base and market credibility that retains customers for the long haul.
Adding a live chat channel to your website is known to put the customer at ease as it demonstrates that you are ready and available to answer any concerns and take care of their needs.
41% of online shoppers trust a brand when they see that live chat is available and 48% of customers are more likely to return to a website that has live chat compared to a site that doesn’t.
What demonstrates this point even more clearly is the fact that 29% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when the option to chat is available, even if they don’t use it. Adding live chat is a great way to instantly build your credibility and reputation by ensuring the customer knows you are available if necessary.
Improved Cost Effectiveness & Productivity
Though the sales and conversion funnels are important for your business’s profit, saving money and improving productivity can also have a big effect on your business success and finances.
Live chat is 400% less expensive than conventional phone support, and a chat agent can do the work of 15 email support employees. This means that by integrating live chat into your website, you not only reduce overhead by eliminating phone bills but can cut your staffing requirements as well.
Additionally, as live chat is internet based, it is very easy to implement a system that uses remote workers to staff your live chat taking advantage of cheaper labor costs from abroad. All these equate to big savings and better use of time and resources.
For all these reasons live chat is a great tool to leverage into boosting your business in 2018.
Though these benefits clearly demonstrate why live chat is a top tool to use, live chat is still deployed by a minority of businesses. This is likely one of the reasons why once you do implement a live chat, you’ll see such powerful boosts to credibility and retention.
Using live chat might just be the edge you need to gain market share over competitors. In a saturated marketplace, it can easily be the difference between success and failure.
