First impressions matter. Especially when selling online! Your possible customers can be quickly distracted by your competitors because it's so easy to scroll to somewhere else. A great first impression can be a big deal nowadays.
And when your customers take the time to message your shop? Just a little more and you've won the jackpot. They've already gone through the first step.
You can't mess up now. It's important to hit the right note when talking to them. And the two most often used methods are through live chat and chatbots.
I'm sure it's confusing which of the two is better. Have you worried about or asked these questions yourself?
- Won't people be turned off if they're talking to a robot?
- I don't have time to maintain live chat.
- Chatbots aren't going to understand my customers.
- I can't afford to hire a lot of people to have live chat.
The good news is that they are both winners. Live chat and chatbots are great when working together to make your customers happy.
Why?
Response Time Matters
People want answers fast. Especially these days. Especially online.
33% are only willing to wait 1 to 3 minutes for a response. 56% switch because they aren't happy with customer service.
This is where a chatbot really shines. It's on 24/7. It will be there when you sleep, watching over your message inbox and responding to anyone who comes to say something. It will be as quick and cheerful talking to your customer at Friday 6pm as it is on Tuesday 10am.
Also, most of the time, the questions customers ask can be routine questions: "hm sis", "what's your bestseller?", sizing information, or care instructions.
These are all questions that don't need an army of trained staff members. Just one chatbot that can answer quickly.
Live Chat Can Handle More Complicated Issues
But for all the other questions that aren't routine? That's what live chat and human staff are for.
Chatbots are great at delivering fast answers to routine questions that tend to get asked from your business. But there will always be those few questions and customers that need a little something extra.
For these situations, being able to reach out to a real human being via live chat is beneficial for your business. They're the ones who can sense the emotions and moods of the customer and give more directed and special help.
Money Doesn't Grow on Trees
We would all love to be able to give customers that specialized service that a real human can provide.
But as a business, can you afford to hire staff 24/7 to respond to chat windows? Can you make sure that they are as effective at 3am in the morning as it is at the middle of a workday?
If only money grew on trees.
Since it doesn't, a careful balance between chatbots (to handle routine and out-of-standard-working-hours questions) and live chat and staff should be put in place.
Your chatbot can free up some of the routine load your staff is taking care of, so they can focus their skills on the specialized cases that need extra care.
Chatbot vs Live Chat: Match Made in Heaven?
There shouldn't be a competition between chatbots and live chat. There are pros and cons for each. They need to work together to fulfill gaps in your customer service strategy.
A successful business should employ both to maximize savings but deliver the best service to their customers.
Chat with us today to find out how everybody wins.