The 7 Dos and Don’ts of Creating a Live Chat Experience for Potential Customers

Live chat can be one of the best tools a business has when it comes to converting browsers to customers. Anyone with a question or an interest in a product or service offered on your website can use the live chat function in order to learn more and be convinced that signing up or making a purchase is the right move. In order for this to happen, of course, the live chat needs to be a success. Customer service personnel can benefit by learning these seven dos and dont’s for creating a live chat with potential customers.

1. Do: Be Polite

The most important rule of creating a live chat with a prospective or current customer is to be polite. No employee involved in a live chat with a user, browser or potential customer should ever be rude. On occasion, this may mean repeating an answer or even breaking down the basics of the website, but doing so should be par for the course for any professional customer service representative.

2. Don’t: Be Afraid to Make Transfers

The person who begins a live chat conversation with a potential customer may not be the best person to complete it. If it is clear that someone else could be a better job of helping a customer, feel free to make a transfer. However, make sure to let the customer know the transfer is about to take place.

3. Do: Provide Prompt Replies

Few things are worse for customers than having a live chat option but not offering prompt replies. If something is unclear, and customer service needs more time to respond, let the client know first to expect a short delay.

4. Don’t: Have Limited Live Chat Hours

Live chat will be most useful and effective if it is available all or most of the day. At minimum, offering the service for 10 to 12 hours daily for your target demographic is reasonable. Remember that time differences and unique schedules are to be considered as you select the time frame for the live chat function.

5. Do: Implement Set Replies

While live chat shouldn’t feel like a robotic process, using set replies is standard when creating a live chat with customers. Opening lines and answers to common questions can be offered faster thanks to a few choice set replies.

6. Don’t: Hide the Live Chat Function

If a business is spending money to create a live chat tool and is paying staff to respond to questions, make sure the function is easily visible. This could be through a pop-up window, next to the search function or close to the top of the page.

7. Do: Use a Typing Indicator

A typing indicator is a must for a pleasant live chat experience. If a customer can see that a representative is typing, they are far more likely to stick around to see the response.

Live chat can be an incredible versatile and useful tool when communicating with potential customers. By implementing these seven dos and don’ts, any company will be better prepared to enjoy successful live chat experiences in the future.