You need to excel communication with your clients via chat – today, we're showing you how to do it, why you have to do it, and how to tackle this customer service challenge.
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Indeed you have more than once wondered how to keep customer service at the highest level. After all, you care about meeting users’ expectations and helping them whenever they want. But the main goal of efficient customer care is not only to solve the problem but also to act quickly. And talking to customers via chat can help with this.
How does such a chat work? Is it worth trusting chatbots, or is it better to rely on human help? What are the advantages of using a chat in customer service? About this and more in today’s article.
Using chat customer service
You can communicate with your customers through many channels when you run a business. To provide effective customer support, you need to share information about your company and provide details about your products. You also may want to care about professional customer service and positive relationships with your audience. There is no need to worry about this if you have a chat.
The use of chat customer service is a popular and effective solution. It’s a common method of providing assistance or support that offers help to customers through messaging apps, mobile devices, online chatbots, or live chat. Delivered by real agents or using artificial intelligence (AI), chat support complements more traditional customer service channels such as phone calls, traditional mail, or email.
The chat customer service takes the form of a widget or a window in a selected place on the site. It is easy to locate, and you only need to click on it to start a conversation with a consultant or bot. But increasingly, the chat itself intervenes in the conversation by sending you a message. This makes it even easier to get in touch. With this way of communicating, you have the opportunity to have an interactive and personalized conversation, which usually takes place in real-time through the website.
Not surprisingly, customers frequently contact the company via chat, which is a very convenient and flexible communication tool. This tool gives the opportunity to get a quick and accurate answer to the question asked, is seen as a less generous form of contact, and is definitely more anonymous, which gives a sense of comfort to the person writing.
Bots vs. real agents in chat customer service
To use chat, you have two choices: you can either use a bot or hire consultants to do it. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions?
An agent who is asked a question can satisfactorily resolve the problem through a live chat with the customer. During the conversation, they can go back over previous arrangements, verify whether a message from the customer was sent to the company through another channel, and consult any queries with colleagues. Consultants can also use a number of response templates to speed up responses to routine questions. Such pre-prepared answers relating to the most common issues contain full information, which speeds up the service process.
What makes it difficult is that humans have many limitations: they usually work at set working hours, have time off on holidays, feel stress and fatigue, etc. A chatbot does not face such challenges.
Bots can do much more. For example, a chatbot automatically searches its resources, such as knowledge bases or previous requests, and is able to solve the user’s problem based on quickly. These bots can be simple and provide answers to straightforward questions or advanced and solve complex tasks. Such digital assistants are learning and evolving to provide higher and higher levels of personalization as information is gathered and processed.
Although chatbots can’t always handle all situations, such as very difficult issues, their use is very popular, and an unsolved problem can be efficiently pushed to a consultant. They are based on artificial intelligence, automated rules, natural language processing mechanisms, and machine learning.
Benefits of customer service chat communication
#1 A fast way to give a support
Chat is one of the fastest ways to support your customers, who shouldn’t wait to get help. They do not want to wait for hours and waste their time. One of the best ways to eliminate their dissatisfaction is to start chat support as soon as you receive a message. The user is not always motivated enough to seek additional information from other sources, so it’s simply easier for them to use the chat. That’s what you can take advantage of by offering help here and now.
It can help you solve problems as soon as they arise without unnecessary emails or contacting third parties. For example, when a customer asks you a question, you can answer them in just a few seconds. Such real-time assistance through live chat creates a very efficient customer service experience. What’s more, by using bots, you can save even more time, so other channels, such as hotlines and phone calls, will no longer be so attractive to customers.
#2 Facilitates contact
Chat communication is easy for both parties and facilitates contact between parties. The widget is located in a prominent place, and the chat itself sends notifications with a proactive invitation to talk to all visitors. These messages can’t be missed, as they typically cover the entire site. But, if necessary, you can easily remove them if you don’t need help and find a widget later.
Both consultants and chatbots allow companies to interact with customers individually. The difference is that a bot can handle an unlimited number of customers and can be scaled up or down according to business demand and needs. In addition, its use makes communication even more accessible. Consultants, for their part, are able to handle one customer at a time, but this is also not a difficult task, as long as agents know what they are doing.
#3 Solve most cases
Chat customer service allows companies to easily resolve many types of customer inquiries and problems while reducing the need for human interaction. They are not bots that are wrong or unable to provide answers at all. Many advanced platforms offer chats that can handle almost any task without a consultant interfering in the process. But after all, there are still many customer questions or issues that are very easy, for example, about:
- payment options,
- refund status,
- shipping services,
- or whether delivery during federal holidays is available.
In that case, giving the correct answer given by a bot is, in effect, just a matter of course.
In addition, current chats provide a high level of service and convenience and boost customer experiences. This means that, in many cases, they surpass what other channels can provide.
What to take into account when choosing the proper chat for customer service?
#1 Feature set
When choosing the right chat service provider, you need to consider many things. After all, you don’t want your investment to turn out to be misguided.
For example, pay attention to whether you have detailed statistics available, automatic messaging capabilities, chat history, or file sharing. What communication channels can you use? Do you have access to a chatbot? How many agents can take care of the chat? How many conversations are available per month? Can you download a mobile app and chat with customers on the go? For many companies, this is a necessity as they work hybrid. So even if you’re a travel agent from Panama City or Puerto Rico and you’re getting ready for your upcoming travel, you’ll be able to serve customers.
Also, see to it that you have the ability to customize the chatbot’s appearance, like changing colors or adding a photo of yourself to show customers that there’s a real person behind the service. Such options matter, so carefully analyze what your chosen software features.
#2 The intuitiveness of the software
Pay attention to whether the chat customer service you like is intuitive for consultants to use. Although it will have a lot of functions, it should not be complicated and certainly should not hinder their work. It’s important, as the process of resolving customer issues shouldn’t take a long time or involves multiple channels of communication.
For example, you can easily switch from emails and phone calls to live chat and handle even complex issues simultaneously. The program you use should lead to quick problem resolution, increase customer happiness and realistically bring help to customers when they need it most.
An intuitive chat is, above all, easy for customers to use on a daily basis. All functions for the user are visible at a glance, and they don’t have to click a lot of tabs to find what they need. They should be able to access all available options quickly. Otherwise, they may be discouraged from using the chat, no matter how attractive it looks. And the more intuitive the app is, the more users it will attract to it.
#3 Ease of installation
Another requirement is that the software should be easy to install and set up. This stage should pass quickly and smoothly as well. Whether it’s a standalone application or a service-as-a-software subscription, getting started using the platform shouldn’t be difficult.
Not everyone is a technology expert and just might have trouble downloading the program. That’s when support is needed and, as a result, you have to rely on someone else to help you. To avoid this, make sure that the software is not problematic to implement and that you manage to download it and set it up successfully.
The matter is also about frequent upgrades. Updates are also important, primarily to eliminate bugs, improve security and stability, and develop the application by adding new features.
#4 Integrations
The last point we suggest you pay attention to when choosing the right chat customer service is integrations. Software add-ons like integrations with external applications only make your chat service one of a kind. And that means it will meet your requirements even more precisely.
By using such integrations for e-commerce platforms and website maker, for example, you will be able to collect more information about your customers, automatically link your customers’ data to other important information, or even create your own integration that no one else has yet.
What’s more, with the right integrations, you’ll be able to manage valuable information, not just from chat. As a result, you’ll be able to draw the correct conclusions and make critical decisions for your business.
Smartsupp is for your disposal
Smartsupp is a cloud-based software that lets customer support teams communicate and help website visitors via chat.
The software offers live chat and chatbot solutions, so you can take advantage of both. Smartsupp is an excellent customer support option, regardless of your business type (SaaS, eCommerce, small startup, or big corporation). Additionally, Smartsupp provides features that make customer service a smooth process.
Features that make Smartsupp stand out from competitors
Here are the most crucial features.
File-sharing for streamlining communication
Sharing files would save you and your customers a lot of time. Instead of typing and describing the problem, agents or website visitors are able to send a screenshot or an invoice and clear the doubts fast.
There’re many file types that agents or customers can send, so you don’t have to worry that the file you want to send wouldn’t go.
Video recording for understanding visitors’ behavior
It is a great feature that would help you to understand customer behavior. You can choose the session and watch how visitors interact with your website. You can speed up and go straight to the moment of interaction, skipping over any wait time.
You can see users’ cursor movement, where they click, and where they hesitate. Thanks to the video recording feature, you can help your customers by finding the pain points and improving the UX of your site.
Many integrations for having your favorite tools connected
Smartsupp provides many integrations, so you can still use your CRM tool or AI website builder. For example:
- PrestaShop
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Google Analytics
and the list goes on! Check the list of integrations.
Statistics and reports for keeping track of the quality of chat communication
Keeping an eye on statistics is crucial when providing excellent communication via chat or live chat. With Smartsupp, you can check data easily in your Admin panel. It is a great tool that allows you to make sure your agents provide possibly the best service.
Easy setup that reduces effort and saves time
Implementing a Smartsupp chat is a breeze. You can do this in minutes, and in case of any trouble, there are many helpful articles. For example, this one explains how to set up a customer service chatbot in 5 easy steps.
Thanks to an intuitive, user-friendly interface and many integrations, a software installation process might be effortless even for those with no technology experience.
Additionally, a Smartsupp support team is always ready to help. Finally, you can always contact us using Smarty - it’s our chatbot. You might see it in the bottom right corner.
Over to you
The use of chat customer service in the real world is sometimes a necessity, which helps your company manage users’ problems and improves the quality of customer service. However, if you haven’t found the perfect chatbot or live chat yet, Smartsupp is here to help you.
Log in or create an account and enjoy great contact with your customers.