Why live chat is a must-have for eCommerce websites

The eCommerce industry is continuously growing with a rapid pace over the past few years. The trend towards eCommerce is showing no sign of slowing down. In fact, Shopping has become one of the most popular activities over the internet. More than 1.66 trillion customers are buying goods and services online. As per prediction done by Statista, global retail eCommerce revenue will amount to $4.88 trillion by 2021.

While the numbers make the online business owners happy, this is still a competitive industry. In order to stay ahead of the competition, companies need to offer exceptional customer service to the customers. Customer service is the only key to eCommerce growth. Companies need to have the right tools in place in order to deliver the best customer experience. One of these customer support tools is live chat.

As per research report of an Aberdeen group, live chat was the most preferred method of communication for online shoppers compared to other communication channels. A study by the AMA states that customers are more likely to make a purchase from a website offering live chat service compared to those who don’t.

What is live chat?

Live chat is a communication platform that facilitates you to give support to the customers’ with visual engagement. You can address queries or to assist your website visitors in real-time. With the help of live chat software, customers’ queries can be solved within few minutes. 

Below are the top 5 reasons why live chat is a must tool for your eCommerce business and how it converts visitors to customers and boosts conversion rates and sales.

1. Response time

In this digital era, speed is king. Customers are looking for a quick and helpful response. They do not like to be put on hold not they like to wait too long to get a solution. With every late reply, you are creating a chance to lose a lead. Live chat is the best option to have real-time conversations with your customers anytime, anywhere.

Moreover, it also helps you drive a context oriented conversation by tracking their behavior - visitors browsing history, past conversations, pages viewed etc. An agent can proactively start the communication with the visitors and can suggest them the products based on the behavior analytics.

Most of the companies are implementing live chat software on their website to give quick, convenient support to the customers and improve their response times. 

2. Increase conversion and sale volume

According to a study, more than 70% of customers are satisfied with their live chat experience compared to all other channels including phone or email. This data proves that live chat is the best tool to boost conversion rates and sales. With the help of live chat, your customer service representatives will be able to address multiple customers conversations at a time. 

If the customers’ concerns are solved quickly, your brand will carry a good impression in his mind and thus will build a long-lasting relationship with the customers leading to better customer lifetime value and retention ratio.

3. Cost efficient

Businesses are always looking for a cost-effective customer service solution. Study shows that live chat is the best and low-cost communication channel. More and more companies are switching to live chat from phone or email support as they are too costly to maintain and setup. Also, Implementing a live chat feature to your website will generate more revenue compared to revenue generated by emails or phones.

Live chat reduces costs in several ways:

• Cost per interaction - It considerably decreases the cost of recruiting more service agents as one live chat agent can provide assistance to multiple customers simultaneously. Live chat offers real-time support to the customers and thus, it saves a great amount of time and money.
• Retention – Reports states that live chat can increase customer retention rate between 48 to 63%. Thus retaining old customers is far more cost effective than converting new customers.

4. Competitive advantage

There are businesses which do not offer live chat. This calls for a great opportunity. Why not step ahead and gain a competitive advantage by offering a live chat solution on your website.

By providing a live chat support and quality customer service, you can win the hearts of the customers. 

Post Affiliate Pro reported that they observed 23% of the increase in conversion rate after implementing live chat on their website. With the help of live chat, you can offer 24*7 support during the checkout process which will increase conversion rates and you will not lose anymore sales and customers.

5. Higher satisfaction, more loyalty

Live chat is the best way to build strong relationship with the customers. When customers feel that their concerns are solved, they will share positive experiences with your company. This will build trust and stronger relationship between the customer and the company. As a result this will result in higher satisfaction and more loyal customers. 

Live chat not only attracts new customers but when your existing customers see that they get top-notch customer support, they will pay you more and will stick to your brand. Over 50% of customers mentioned in a survey that they are more likely to deal with a company who provide seamless customer service.

Hence, if you manage to offer good support to the customers through live chat on their first visit, they will keep coming back for you.

Conclusion

If you are looking to quickly increase your eCommerce business revenues and build a long term relationship through great customer service, live chat is the solution. 

Whether you are planning to start an eCommerce business or already established one, live chat seems to be a smart choice. Using this tool you will be able to provide a “WOW” experience to your valuable clients and customers.

Thus, live chat considerably help in decreasing costs, increase average order value and sales. It is a perfect combination of efficient technology and human contact.

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