Maybe it’s happened to you – you’re browsing a website and have a question about a product or service, but the answer isn’t readily apparent. You don’t have time to wait for an email response, and you’ll be darned if you’re going to call the “800” number and play the voice prompt game . . .

Even if it hasn’t happened to you, you can certainly imagine how nice it would be to have a knowledgeable, friendly, human associate to talk to at a time like that. And that’s where “live chat” comes in.

Happy Visitors = Increased Conversions

Live chat is the helpful sales staff of the virtual world. When visitors enter a site that utilizes live chat, they will either see a “live chat” button they can click to request immediate assistance,  help, or a small window will appear that offers instant help from a customer service associate / sales rep.

On the other side of that window is a real person, capable of answering detailed questions and carrying on a real conversation, which greatly increases the chance of a visitor feeling well-served and becoming a customer.

In fact, one study found that people who used chat services were 40% more likely to make purchases at least once a week than those who had never chatted. Not only that, but 63% of respondents said they’d be more likely to return to a site that featured chat, and 38% credited a chat session with their decision to make a purchase.

Outsourced Chat

You can purchase and download live chat software that enables you and your staff to talk to website visitors in real time. But, if want the option to help people who visit your site after business hours and on weekends, you might want to look into a live chat outsourcing service like LiveChatSquad.

LiveChatSquad, and services like it, supply agents that have been specially trained to offer informed answers to questions about your business and its products, around the clock, 24/7. It also offers software that lets you and your staff handle live chats at your discretion.

Avoid Sounding Like a Bot

While it’s true that chatbot software is available and that it can be effective for simple questions, it should never be relied upon to perform all your live chats. People like talking to robots online as much as they do one the phone; that is to say, not at all.

When approaching visitors in a chat box, make sure your greetings and offers to help sound natural and relevant to the situation. Avoid using the same tired greetings over and over again, and do your best to speak to visitors as if you were in the same room, face to face.

Track Your Traffic

As always, it’s important to track the sources of all your website traffic in your reporting system (e.g. Google Analytics). Live chat visitors are no exception. Knowing which of your ad campaigns or platforms (e.g. search engines, social networks) are sending chatters your way is key to knowing which of your strategies are working and where you need to focus your targeting.

If you decide to research a live chat outsourcing service, make sure they offer analytics or easy integration with a reporting system (such as LiveChatSquad does with Google Analytics).

If you have any questions about live chat, live chat outsourcing, or how to track chats using Google Analytics, feel free to contact us any time. You can even chat us up right now by using our own live chat option — just use the chat window in the bottom right corner of this page.