Live Chat and Chatbot – a perfect match?

It’s safe to say that Chatbots are taking e-commerce by a storm, but it’s worth to look how they fit in the overall picture of the Customer Service.

Brands around the world are using many solutions to help customers in their online shopping and one tool looks particularly effective – a live chat software. Let’s look how it can be integrated with Chatbots.

Does your Customer Service offer live chat? Great.

Studies show, that shoppers using any service chat are over 3 times more likely to proceed with a purchase than those who haven’t spoken to a salesperson during their shopping. It would be also safe to assume that live chat software, as a mature service, has a significant impact on conversion rates in e-commerce businesses. Nothing surprising here – no wonder quick and convenient contact is valued by users around the world.

Getting a response in less than 30 seconds, compared to on-hold forever on the phone positively affects rates of quality of service.

Chatbots – a great opportunity for enriching a live chat.

Many of our customers are asking if Chatbots are a threat or an opportunity for web chat software. Our experiences with blending both applications are extremely positive and we’re happy to share some examples of benefits. The use of intelligent conversational technology, enabling an entirely virtual chat, can vastly help operators to serve chats more effectively and spend more time with more important shoppers.

Benefit #1: a faster way to assist shoppers.

Research shows that shoppers are extremely impatient with on-hold time. They expect a response time within 5, 10, maximally 15 seconds after clicking a chat widget. If they don’t get their answers in that timeframe, they frequently abandon a cart and quit to competition.

Chatbots are vastly helping in improving the response time, most of their responses are shown to customers in less than 1 second. What matters the most is this first, truly instant impression, that a customer’s question is not left alone, but virtual chat assistants are also truly precise with answers.

Benefit #2: a help chat available 24-7, even without a live agent.

Off–hours contacts with customer service assistants are often frustrating. Consumers are frequently interested in contacting a consultant in hours during which service is unavailable. Live Chat staff is usually available through working hours of phone customer support, from 9 to 5. Many purchases in various branches of e-commerce are made outside those hours.

That being said, Chatbots help in extending support hours to a full 24-7. They are always available to shoppers, moreover – no matter how high the traffic gets!

Benefit #3: more productive customer service agent.

A shortage of a skilled live agent is a rising issue known to e-shop owners. Additionally, the cost per one single chat is on the rise, reaching even a $3-4 per one, single chat!

Chatbots, used as customer service automation, can significantly help in leveraging the productivity of live operators. This software relieves operators from answering naughty, repetitive consumers’ questions, that do not add value (but must be handled), and allows them to spend more time with more important customers.

Find this article interesting? Contact our team.