When live chat emerged, many people called it a fad, a technology which will diminish as quickly as it surfaced. Fast forward a couple of years and turns out that not only has live chat become immensely popular today, but its popularity is likely to quadruple in the foreseeable future. Experts believe that by the year 2020, over three billion people worldwide would have a direct or indirect access to the internet, which means a bloom in ecommerce and an increase in the use of live support as means of customer communication.
Do not believe the experts? Here are some plausible reasons why live chat is likely to stay in the game for a very long time:
Live is convenient-period
One thing alone that ensures longevity of live support is that it is a highly convenient medium of communication; Far more convenient than telephones and emails. Not only does it prove convenient for the customers, the CSRs also find it very user friendly and easy to use. It has been proven through research and surveys that online customers who use live chat, find it a very useful mode of communication and after using it they are more likely to shop from that web store again. Why wouldn’t they? Wouldn’t you like it if someone approaches you and helps you while you are shopping online? Wouldn’t you enjoy using a medium which will instantly connect you with chat operators in case of emergency and complaints? Of course you would. So any technology which provides convenience to both, the user and operators is probably not going anywhere.
Online shopping trend is increasing rapidly
You do not need an expert opinion on this. We all know how rapidly the trend of online shopping is increasing. Look around you, how many people you know are shopping online? Even those who never shopped online earlier have started doing so, right? That is because online shopping is easy, fast and convenient. Since live chat is directly associated with online shopping, its usage will also escalate along with it. Operators on a live chat are just like salesmen on a retail store, and just like you need a salesman during shopping in real, you would need a live chat operator when shopping online.
It increases the credibility of a web store
Even though online shopping trend is increasing, some people are still a little apprehensive about shopping on a virtual medium as they doubt the credibility of various web stores. Live chat provides a real time conversation platform to customers which can prove the authenticity of their store. When shopping online, customers have so many questions to ask and live chat gives them a chance to ask straightaway. This fast and efficient service helps to further strengthen the reliability of the web store.
Live chat software reduces man power and costs of call centers
If the above mentioned arguments are not sound enough, this argument is sure to convince anyone who doubts the significance of online chat support. Live chat software serves as an all-in-one package, it analyzes web traffic, segments customers & routes them accordingly. It can be used on mobile devices, provides language customization options and has canned response system. Which means: it greatly reduces the work of operators, fewer employees are required by a call center and companies can cut their costs significantly. On a broad scale, live chat provides benefits to large companies and franchises. In short, it reduces cost and increases efficiency. So why wouldn’t companies use it?
Conclusion:
Live chat is: convenient, efficient, economically feasible and directly plays a part in the success of any business.