What is live chat support, why do I need it, and how do I support it on my website 24/7?

Let’s set the scene. Your customer is a busy person. They’ve got work, meetings, ferrying the kids to and from school and activities, and a big shop to get in before the weekend.

They’re so busy that they don’t have the time to call up your company and ask questions they have about a product or service they’ve seen on your website. Or if they’ve already purchased a product or service from you, and they’re experiencing an issue, they still don’t have the time to call, because they think they’ll be on the phone too long and they’ve got too much to do!

The unfortunate, and in many cases incorrect stigma surrounding calling a customer service helpline that makes our customers feel it’s incredibly time consuming, is created by issues such as:

• They’ll be on hold for over an hour, which is too long. • They’ll get cut off after half an hour of waiting and have to start all over again. • They’ll be charged a fortune for the call, unless they can find a free number on your site which is also free from a mobile.

And, when they finally do get to speak to someone:

• They're in another country. • They’ve come through to the wrong department, so they have to be put on hold again. • They can’t find the product, customer’s details or their purchase on the system, so your customer has to repeat and spell their name, address and customer number for the third time.

These unfortunate past experiences, or even just hearing about another person’s experience, are enough to make people give up on talking to your company, even if these issues were never experienced with your company!

So your customer, through no fault of your business, walks away from your company, feeling let down, unhappy and unsatisfied with your product or service. And you have no idea there is a problem in the first place.

So how do we fix it? How do you get through to your customers that your business is different? That your customer service is second to none and you’re there 24/7 to help them. You could talk about this excessively with every customer purchase, though this may be time-consuming or they’re quite likely to be buying online and that makes it even harder to overcome this rather large stigma.

Or, you could provide a different customer service option. Live Chat Support. Align with the notion that everyone is busy, on the move and not available to be stuck on hold – whether this would be the case or not, and everyone wants an instantaneous answer.

It’s time to offer your customers Live Chat Support, an online chat customer service that has a real time person answering within 3 minutes, records your conversation in the text so you can easily go back and double check details, and has your customer walking away happy, and satisfied with both purchase and service.

Sounds amazing right! But how do you get it and maintain it? Here at Pippa the PA we have the tools and support you need to offer great live chat support to your customers.

Live chat is a brilliant customer service tool that can be added to your company’s website, so no matter if a customer is at home or on the move, they can access the chat via the internet on their desktop, laptop, mobile or tablet. It can present itself in different ways, either popping up when a customer lands on your site with a ‘hello’ message, so they know straight away you have a live chat option. Or a simple icon that moves around the page and site with your customer, allowing them access to ask questions no matter where they are in the purchasing process. Amazing!

But hang on...it’s gone 8pm and your staff have all headed home for the night. We know a lot of consumers purchase and review in the evenings, after work or when the kids have gone to bed – who is going to answer the live chat support questions?

Fear not! It’s our star of the show Pippa the PA to the rescue. If you have the dream team during office hours, let Pippa take over the night shift. With flexible rates and a no tie-in contract to suit your business’ needs, the Pippa team can be your business when you can’t.

Not got the staff to maintain live chat support anytime of the day? Also not a problem. Pippa the PA is a highly skilled team working from a UK based call centre in Scotland. Offering the 24/7, 365 day support you need for your business to be customer service champions. And live chat support isn’t our only skill. We offer a wide range of customer service communication solutions to help your business provide great customer service, no matter what time or day.Find out more here.

Get in touch here to find out how Pippa the PA can help your business today.

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