Does this sound familiar to you? Over the past few decades the way we conduct business has changed substantially. Websites, email, social media, mobile sites, instant messaging, B2B marketing, SEO etc etc etc… We’ve all had to embrace these rapid technological shifts and many business tell me it’s one of their biggest challenges is keeping up with technology.
So what next? Right now we are on the cusp of the next BIG tech change in the way we communicate with our prospects and customers.
On a daily basis I am finding that businesses still hesitate to take that leap and offer live chat to their customers – who are ready, willing AND waiting to talk online! Why? Let’s explore the top 4 reasons given by companies as to why its not the right time to implement chat.
At Chat2 we have discovered if you wait too long, it’s your competitor who embraces the chat channel and begins to attract all your online sales as well as their own. So it’s better if you can beat them to the post! In this age of technology where greater information power is with the online consumer, business should not wait to provide what online customers are demanding – instant communication!
When offering business this instant line of communication for their online clients – we hear so many reasons as to why it is not the right time to introduce a live chat channel. So we may say:
“Hey – we’re offering you the tools and the service to talk with your customers when they are at the door of your business. They are in your website and you can talk to them while they are there, right in that moment of real time. You can ask them directly, ‘Can I help find you something?’ or ‘May I ask what you are looking for?’ How does that sound?”
The response we receive from the business is commonly:
“Oh no – My customers will phone me, or use the contact form or email”; or
“I am too busy at the moment to implement live chat”; or
“My website provides enough information to customers, so I don’t need chat; or
“The questions people ask on live chat is on my website – so they just need to read!”; or
“Oh – my website needs to be updated so live chat wouldn’t work for us”.
Can you relate to any of these? If you do then you are certainly not alone, as it is what we hear everyday. I must admit chat is certainly a change to the way we are use to doing business. We have never had the opportunity before to give our customers the opportunity to engage immediately with us in real time through our website. This has never been possible before. A website has always just been a billboard for business, with a humongous amount of information for the visitor to trawl through. Though the problem is visitors are not keen to do this anymore, particularly once they have experienced conversing in the live chat channel. Wouldn’t you be more likely to make the sale if you could talk with them while they are on your website?
Of course, you can choose to keep that online virtual door tightly slammed shut to your online consumers. Though if your competitor has chat and you don’t – which business (as a consumer) would you prefer to deal with?
Let’s look at the top 4 excuses reasons we hear every day and how they can be solved so your business won’t miss out on sales.
Reason One
“I prefer to get a customer on the phone as it is so much easier to convert.”
The phone and email is certainly the channels most businesses are most comfortable working with, as it has been the main tools available. Though with advances in online technology and more power being given to the consumer in obtaining information so readily, businesses need to move quickly to grow online into the future.
Tools and technology are now available to meet high customer expectations for speed of information. Business should investigate and trial methods like chat to see the difference to their business. Consumers are becoming wary of being on hold on the phone or waiting hours for an email answer. Live chat is a huge growth channel and businesses need to be onboard for the ride. According to Gartner – it is expected the chat channel will grow by 400% as a preferred customer digital engagement channel from 2015 – 2018. With the predicted growth of this channel and the significant benefits it provides to businesses as well as customers, the chat channel should be embraced sooner rather than later!
Reason Two
“I am too busy at the moment to implement live chat.”
It’s so easy to implement! The code takes 10 minutes to paste. If you don’t have the staff to answer chats, the Chat2 Concierge team are here to get you started. We assist businesses to transition to chat by setting up chat, creating Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQ’s), answering chats, transferring chats, providing training to staff and doing anything we can to ensure you are successful in your implementation. We know what works and what doesn’t. You give up 20 minutes of your time to guide us in the setup and our team at Chat2 do the rest. We are an experienced team of professional chat operators and software developers. In no time you will be seeing more leads and sales coming through your website utilising the Chat2 channel.
“Chat2 paid for itself after only one day. I had 3 chats in the first 10 minutes and one was a fabulous sale!”
Brenda – FNQ Apartments
Reason Three
“My website provides enough information to customers”
Or
“The answers to the questions people ask on chat are on the website – they just need to read!”
Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly online and gone are the days where a visitor will sit there and read pages on your website searching for information. If it is not clear to them at a quick glance of the first page or two – then they are likely to seek out a competitor. So you may have a beautiful website with all the right information but customers want information now and easily accessed! Chat provides businesses with the tool to provide the relevant information fast and meet the customer expectations. I say “Wow with the Now!”
Reason Four
“Oh – my website needs to be updated so live chat wouldn’t work for us”
Or
“We are going to implement a new website soon so we’ll put chat on then”
I ask you – “Will your website ever be completely up to date?” Our clients love chat as they know their online customers are receiving correct up-to-date information through chat daily. Visitors are regularly asking for clarification of information on websites and they will even pick up errors and bring those into chat. Hey we are all human – right! Website visitors are now fine tuning our client’s websites for them. They are giving the business insight into what they want from the website and the information they are seeking. What great knowledge to obtain from your own prospects! Businesses can ensure this information is front and centre on their website.
Recently, we have introduced a new product called Chatsites – which is a one page website – fully interactive! On the Chatsite you have the basic company information about what you do and the chat box. The chat software can be teamed with our Chat2 concierge service and/or Chatbot. So having an antiquated website is no longer an excuse not to have chat!
Chat2 has also assisted clients transition from an old website to a new website. One of our clients had massive traffic with over 3000 visitors a day and when the new website went live our Chat2 team were there to virtually hold the hand of each visitor who experienced any sales, login or information issues. The transition went exceptionally smoothly, it was the busiest month ever in chat and most importantly though no sales were lost and every enquiry was attended to in the Now!
Don’t miss out on those website visitors banging on your website door wanting answers now!
Can we help to transition your business into chat? We are experienced in chatting with online visitors over various industries from online retail, tourism, real estate, hotels through to diving, financial, recruitment and printing businesses.
We do all the set up for you, we can chat for you, provide you with the leads, we can fully customise the look of chat, create chatbots on Facebook and/or for your website, create a chatsite, integrate with google analytics or other software. Just ask our team – visit www.chat2.com and have a chat with the team or get started straight away on the link below with Chat2 Concierge.
If you would like to learn more about our Chat2 Concierge team and what we do – there is a short video here. Who is the Chat2 Concierge Team
