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Is your brand ready for a new era of hybrid shoppers?

Personalisation is the number one driver of Customer Experience or CX, and in 2022 how well you plan and execute your persona across all distribution channels to reach the new hybrid consumers, has become what matters most.

In the online space, achieving personalisation is not easy and can seem to evolve constantly. We have seen websites include photos of staff and contact us pages to generate a more personalised presence in the digital space, but results are largely attached to individual customers ability to navigate and find information for themselves. Websites acting as a digital brochure for after hours access, so to speak. We know that in a customer service equation, just handing potential customers a brochure, does not achieve ideal outcomes.

In our stores and offices, we have employees whose role is simply to greet and assist our visitors in person, via email and over the phone, because we recognise how vital a customer service presence is to our business success. Online chat saw our digital brands start evolving to achieve a more personalised interactive type of service, but the AI based automated responses often led to online visitor frustration.

The missing link is the personalisation of the digital service-scape.  Over the past decade we have seen shoppers choosing either traditional or online services depending upon generation, leading most of us to assume that an evolution between brick and mortar and the digital space would happen quite slowly accordingly.

“Digitalism has had several eras. In the first era of digitalism in the 1990s, we digitized information. The second era was in the mid-2000s, where we digitized social relations. Now, we are going into the third era of digital transformation, where we will be digitizing experiences.”

—Dr, Behice Ilhan, SENIOR TREND STRATEGIST & BRAND FUTURIST AT MINTEL

Gen X, Baby Boomers and older customer groups had been hesitant to commit to including online with their traditional tried and true methods. Fear of having a profile with linked credit details online is a large barrier of resistance for these generations.  Younger Gen X’s through to Millennials shop online and instore to meet their convenience needs, effectively surfing the best of both worlds. While the youngest generations and generations to come just assume everything is purchased online and will be 100% fluid in the digital space, only visiting in store to purchase if there is a reason such as a discovery moment benefit, with face-to-face consulting conducted through mobile devices and computers.

Digital evolution was attached to large industry players and government investment driving the change and the rate of adoption across consumers at a steady pace, matched to economic growth. Then in 2019 the world suddenly had to get online fast to continue to operate safely. The effect termed ‘The Quickening’ has seen the evolution timeline which had been predicted previously to be mainly determined by the generations, suddenly change because of this mass global learning. Schools and businesses along with government departments have effectively helped society adapt as quickly as possible to this transition. A better understanding of technology, reducing the fear factors has meant generations have largely changed their perspective around the safety of the online environment and through practise and regular use, our customers of many varied demographics have now evolved across the board, into hybrid shoppers.

Image: Meta 2021  

 

“Omnichannel is no longer just about having many different channels; it’s really about having an interconnected experience across all channels. Now, the shift is to offer the same products and quality online as in-store. Online web and app experiences are starting to merge with offline to offer the same selection, promotions and experience.”

—Methit Mukdasiri, HEAD OF INDUSTRY FOR RETAIL IN THAILAND AT META

 

Customers are not just looking for safety, simplicity, and ease of purchase, but also the psychological satisfaction of a human connection as they explore and discover. They want to deal with brands who show they care and have individual solutions to their specific needs and problems. Remembering it’s not what you do but how you do it that matters most. (KPMG)

But what does this mean for business? Well let’s think about how you yourself have changed the way that you purchase over these last couple of years.

Do you like to have the option to live chat with a person when you are researching purchases? Do you contact a company online now with an issue or question? Do you expect to receive an instant reply or to be able to source this information yourself at any time on your phone? Do you price check online before deciding to purchase? Find it easier to send presents for family direct to them by shopping online?

If you answered yes to any or all these questions, then you can also assume that your customers are behaving in similar ways too. We have all adjusted to an almost paperless environment because the ease of using the digital space and necessity due to the pandemic.

Did You Know?
  • 66% of shoppers surveyed across all markets conduct research online before going in-store- Meta
  • 84% of shoppers made a purchase in-store after finding or discovering the item on social media.- Meta
  • Businesses use both their website and social media channels 80% of the time to reach customers- Hubspot
  • 97% of global consumers say customer service is important in their choice of a brand- Customer Think
  • 40% of CEOs said their CIO or tech leader will be the key driver of business strategy—more than the CFO, COO, and CMO combined. – Deloittes

More than half of growing SMBs accelerated investments in sales and customer service technology over the past year. (SalesForce) Which is a trend that is predicted to continue rising, with an annual investment made by brands to continually improve connection through the transitions, to create a seamless digital online and in-store or office customer service experience that is designed to cater to the new era of hybrid shoppers.

 

Image: SalesForce 2021

As an alternative having online chat on your website and across social media platforms forms a foundational solution for your brands online personalisation. Your visitors are greeted as warmly online as they are in-store. ‘Chatters’ spend on average 60% more per transaction than ‘non-chatters’. (Invesp) There is also an 10.3% increase in overall customers satisfaction which can be directly attributed to online chat solutions offering personalisation online with over 20 chat operators to service client’s needs. (Comm100)

However, most businesses would struggle to offer this level of service 24 hours a day 7 days a week with only their internal staff and would require regular AI and automated response assistance.

As we mentioned earlier in the article, this can lead to less than ideal outcomes like higher expense, double handling of information and client frustration at automated responses. 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person during an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer. (Source: Inc.)

An online concierge team of professionally trained online chat operators who are there in-the-moment can assist to create the seamless online and in-store outcomes desired.

Image: Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2021

 

The goal in 2022 for all businesses is to adapt with an emphasis on personalisation in the online space. Delivering an online customer experience that satisfies customers’ evolving expectations and integrates seamlessly into the in-store service delivery processes. Interactive discovery experiences in-store and online personalised customer experience alternative capabilities are the two new areas of primary focus for companies in Hybrid shopper planning and to achieve optimised customer experience results.

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Media Release – COVID19 crisis we can help

 

An online Australian business is offering a lifeline to businesses during this crisis of the Covid19, particularly those who are transitioning to an online platform.  Chat2 is offering any business – 3 Months Online Engagement Service at no cost.

Chief Operating Officer Karen Lloyd-Collins states:

“The conversations that we are currently having online are heartbreaking, particularly within the Tourism, Hospitality, Sporting Club industries, that we seriously want to help businesses get through this by supporting them online.  Even through this time of crisis, businesses still need to retain connection with customers. We are offering an easy solution to do this.” 

Chat2Concierge is assisting all businesses, small or big through this time of crisis.  We have innovative software and a professional highly trained team who is online 24/7 reassuring online visitors, answering online enquiries and most importantly encouraging future online bookings, sales and preventing cancellations wherever possible.

Marketing Manager, Di Wilcocks, Brothers Leagues Club in Cairns summed it up perfectly stating:

Chat2 is providing our club with consistency of message (particularly during these difficult times with the Covid 19 virus).  With a number of different staff running our reception the customer experience can vary. Concierge provides a consistent level of customer service and ‘tone of voice’.

More and more businesses are now going online in these difficult times, with businesses having to close, staff having to self isolate and towns going into lockdown. It’s important to have a system where you can easily connect and communicate with your customers.

“We are currently talking to many businesses, who are feeling over-whelmed and struggling to keep up in this fluctuating environment with the daily changes in government policy, directly affecting them.  We are fortunate enough to have a business model where we are operating “business as usual”. We want to seriously help businesses struggling through these tough times, so we are offering 3 months of our online engagement service for free.  This means having professional staff online 24/7 responding to your customer enquiries, reassuring your visitors and assisting with sales and future bookings”. Karen Lloyd-Collins (COO Chat2) 

If you would like to know more about this offer, email Chat2 at support@chat2.com or to register go to

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A technological solution for the economic crisis facing the tourism industry

A Far North Queensland tourism company is standing strong in the face of adversity utilising technology as a solution to the current economic crisis. The Covid 19 virus and the mixed messages that “Australia was on fire” early in 2020 has made this a challenging year for the Australian Tourism industry.  

At the recent Cairns Post Future Tourism event in February 2020 attended by Kate Jones, Minister for Innovation and Tourism Development and Mark Olsen, CEO Tourism Tropical North Queensland, it was clear that the tourism and hospitality sector are facing some dark times without doing something different to retain and grow the tourism market.  

A local tourism company in Cairns has just seen one of their strongest December and January months in their online enquiries.  This was all due to a clever decision in 2017 to do something different, be innovative and align their customer communications with the changing demands of their online clients. 

Passions of Paradise has been utilising the services of a Cairns based technology company Chat2Concierge for the last 3 years.  The company offers a unique, innovative, online engagement service 24/7. Through innovation and doing something different, Passions is gaining growth and momentum with its online presence.

Passions engaged the technological service, Chat2Concierge, to attract more online bookings, more leads, more conversions through their website and social media.  Chat2Concierge’s highly trained online engagement team of real people respond fast (on average 19 seconds) to Passions online visitors with accurate answers. The team highly supported by some smart artificial intelligence (ai),  engage the visitor in the moment they are looking to book. There are also some unique features that track the online visitor to attract them back to the website, without the customer actually being on the Passions website. In December 2019, Passions experienced over 100% growth in online enquiries compared to 2017 and 2018 and even through the dire January 2020, were still recording growth figures of 30% compared to both 2018 and 2019.

During the Cairns Post Future Tourism event there was a strong message to do something different to maintain and grow the tourism industry in Far North Queensland and Chat2Concierge technology is certainly proving to be a great alternative solution for Tourism and Hospitality, not only locally but worldwide.

Karen LLoyd-Collins (Chat2Concierge Chief Operating Officer) was asked how is it Chat2Concierge can make such a difference to a business like Passions who is facing such challenging times within a threatened industry?  

“We have been working with Passions for the last three years, so with our service and unique tools,  we have been able to grow their online customer base, encourage people to book in the moment and as people spend longer on the website utilising our service, Passions have  improved their online presence which has resulted in this significant growth. Online visitors for Passions now know if they reach out to the online service, they are going to get fast, relevant and accurate responses that answer their questions, rather than having to wait on the phone or for  an email response. So our team engage them in the moment and more often than not convert them to a booking.” 

So why is this channel seeing such growth?  Karen advises that, “Online visitors are a little different, they are impatient, can tend to be a little abrupt and want answers NOW. Technology has disrupted the behaviour of our online customer.  They are use to getting information fast, so demand from businesses, fast instant and relevant answers. This is a real challenge for modern business, so we are a solution to this growing issue. We are also attracting customers back to our client’s websites through our service.” 

So why did Passions consider adopting a unique technological service like Chat2Concierge?  Scotty Garden, Passions CEO advised they were looking for a solution to improve their online presence, to gain more bookings and more online conversions.  But one of the biggest benefits of the service stated Scotty, is that it has saved their own staff so much time on the phones and on emails. The service answers the constant repetitive questions that use to take up alot of time on the phones and responding to emails, questions like “what do I bring for the trip?” or “Where do I check in?”.  Chat2 has alleviated alot of this pressure on our own team, as we work closely with the Chat2 team to ensure the online responses are always up to date and accurate. We have found if the questions are answered online, in the moment people are looking, then it is so much easier to get the booking, in that moment. Chat2 is converting over 90% of our online conversations so we are seeing that growth in our online activity.  This service is also reaching more of our international clientele, which is attracting more online bookings internationally. 

In these times of crisis, this unique local service to Cairns, has been assisting tourism businesses worldwide, particularly in the face of the Covid 19 virus.  Karen advised “In the early days of the Convid 19 virus, we started to get questions like “What is your hotel doing to protect guests?”. It quickly became apparent that there was a potential threat of panic which could lead to people cancelling bookings and trips worldwide.  We instantly prepared responses that we shared with our clients for approval and uploaded them into our software to be ready to manage this threat. We are well prepared to assist our clients to save future bookings if this threat evolves.”  

Though according to Karen, these situations arise frequently for their local clients, for example whenever there is an impending cyclone, it is easy to reassure online guests how the region is affected and what trips have been cancelled or not cancelled, many times saving loads of bookings. Karen states that “With our knowledge base and decentralised customer service, we are able to ensure the right and consistent message gets out quickly to customers when faced with unstable situations.”

In this dire dynamic economic environment facing the hospitality and tourism industry, there was a clear message from the Cairns Post Future Tourism event, that tourism businesses need to be doing something different for tourism in the Far North to survive and to grow.  Technology should be considered as an alternative solution to the current challenge facing this industry. Passions has experienced this first hand, seeing incredible online growth while being faced with adversity. 

If you are interested in a trial or free consultation – just go to www.chat2concierge.com – chat with the team and request a consult with Karen. If you mention this article, you will be eligible for a one month free trial of our 24/7 service so you can see the results first hand.

Clipping published by News Corp in the Cairns Post 29th February 2020 pg 32/33

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Chat Blog Uncategorized

Tourism – Strength to Strength

Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the Tourism industry, we would love to share a fabulous win for one of our tourism clients!

We are in the process of reviewing annual data to see where all our customers start 2020. We are excited to see considerable growth in the live conversation channel we offer to our clients, though a special mention for our Tourism clients who are managing some significant challenges to begin 2020. With travel restrictions worldwide and the impact of the Australian bushfires locally, we are grateful to be a part of their journey, assisting them to move forward and grow.

As shown by the graph above, this particular tour company is picking up more leads and bookings every year since 2017. It is going from strength to strength with records being broken year to year through engaging with online visitors in the moment they are online and ready to book!

Get a free demo here.

#chat2concierge #supporting #engagementspecialists #tourismaustralia #travel #tourismindustry #bookdirect #leads #onlineconversion #targetedremarketing

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No more direct bookings for Trivago?

Look who was caught red-handed! 
After working with the hospitality industry for a few years assisting hotels to combat the lies and deception promoted online by the large international Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s), it comes as no surprise that their treachery has now been discovered!

According to the Australian Federal Court, Trivago, the Netherlands-incorporated giant has been caught in its deception of promoting hotels that provided the most revenue to them through advertising.  Trivago has been promoting itself on TV screens every night during the Australian tennis season, as being impartial, objective and a transparent hotel price comparison website. Instead it was announced to the world last night by all the major Australian news feeds and papers, that Trivago is actually a conniving, hypocritical,  insincere trickster of the general public. The Guardian What a surprise!

For years hotels ha ve struggled to compete against these massive OTA’s, who have been extorting 15 -20% of their earnings.  It is difficult to compete with these giants who have bottomless pockets of marketing dollars. Hence our Chat2Concierge service has evolved to assist hotels and tourism to meet this challenge.  When a visitor arrives on a client website, our team of professional engagement specialists are there to engage, promote the business by sharing specials, answering questions (pre-approved responses) and placing the buying and booking link directly in front of the visitor to click and buy in the moment they are looking to buy!

Dick Smith alerted everyone to the treachery carried out by the OTA’s 18 months ago when he explained in a video of how millions of dollars were being extorted from businesses into the pockets of huge international conglomerations.   You can view this video at Dick Smith reveals OTA extortion

Trivago has been holding hotels for ransom, as Trivago’s contractual terms work under a “cost per click” (CPC) agreement, where hotels have to pay Trivago a fee, if a consumer clicks on the booking site’s offer through Trivago. The CPC was payable by the hotel whether the consumer made a booking or not! Trivago fined as ACCC wins case in federal court over misleading conduct

The company was also found guilty of providing false and misleading price comparisons as they compared a standard room rate with a luxury room at the same hotel, saying they were providing a cheaper price when they were just offering the normal priced standard room in comparison to a luxury suite. 

Working with our hotel clients and conversing with their online visitors, we regularly receive questions regarding price comparison with OTA’s.  Questions come in the form of: 

“I was just on agoda.com or booking.com etc etc  and they are offering $150 for the deluxe room, but on your website it is more expensive.  So why should I book direct?”

We educate these visitors on the importance and benefits of booking direct on the hotel website. Benefits like no booking fees, no cancellation fees, easy to add to and amend booking, supporting the local economy and many hotels offer incentives for booking directly like upgrades, cheaper breakfast, vouchers to use in the hotel or a discount on the displayed price through free memberships.

Even yesterday, a visitor from the Agoda website arrived on our client’s hotel website and asked:

“Hey, Agoda are offering $30 breakfast – what is included?”

We reply along the lines:

“I am so sorry, we don’t know what Agoda offers, though we offer a $19 full buffet breakfast when you book direct with us!”

In this instance, the visitor replied with: “Great, I will book direct in that case.”

By encouraging direct bookings with hotels, our clients get to pay less commission to the OTA’s and keep more revenue in-house for spending in the local economy either through employment, refurbishing using local trades or even sponsoring the local footy club!

Now the deception of the OTA’s has been revealed publicly through the Australian courts, it is likely more and more visitors will now be visiting hotel websites directly to ask the question.  It’s important for you to be there when this influx of visitor traffic arrives through this current news story and your vistior is looking to book! So be there in that moment your online guests can be guided around your website, have their questions answered, promotions shared and most importantly quick access to the direct hotel booking link.

We have 2 upcoming free live sessions online to share with you the results our hotels are seeing online with an increase in direct bookings.  If you are interested in attending any of these four sessions just click on a link below and we look forward to meeting you online. We have a special offer in these sessions for January only and if you are in any of the fire affected areas in NSW, QLD or  S.A. currently we are offering our services at no cost for 2 months.

Click to book Tuesday, January 28th 10.30am – Hospitality/Tourism live session

Click to book Thursday, January 28th 6.30pm – Hospitality/Tourism live session

With Trivago, the court is still out on the fine to be paid but it looks potentially in the realms of only $1  million, despite this extortion has been going on for years! Thoughts?

 

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How to drive more direct sales to local business!

The hospitality and tourism industry are being extorted by two large American companies – in this video DickSmith explains how – he likens it to the 1950’s when the small family business had to pay protection money to crime gangs to prevent their business from being burnt down – but its legalised!

We love the passion Dick Smith tells this story and it’s still true – we still have that annoying woman on our TV every night in Australia telling everyone to book online and hand over millions of dollars to these 2 large millionaires in the United States. Chat2Concierge is assisting our hotels and tourism businesses to stand up against these 2 large online conglomerates.

Our team of online engagement specialists promote the business directly through the website to the visitor. We are introducing remarketing technology that will promote the business in the web browser after a website visit without the visitor being on the website. We are taking the fight to the OTA’s on behalf of our customers.

If more dollars are being kept within the business, the more likely they are to spend it within the local community, either through offering employment, undertaking activities requiring local tradespeople or even being more likely to donate to the local sporting clubs!

This is not only a challenge for Australian business as I have spoken to customers in New Zealand, Fiji , UK and the States who all share this struggle. As Dick Smith says “This is extreme greed capitalism at its best!” Always book direct and save our tourism industry.

If you would like to know more we have several free live 10 minute live sessions coming up on Thursday 23rd Jan at 10am or Thursday 23rd Jan at 6pm (AEST) and Tuesday 28th Jan at 10.30am and 6.30pm – just click the times to register or reach out on chat and the team will share the links for you.

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Why You Only Pay $1/hour!

Aloe Blacc performed at the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Sydney, Australia with one of his hit songs “I Need a Dollar”!  I had an amazing experience seeing Aloe Blacc perform in February this year, through a terribly dark time as my son was seriously ill in hospital with Ulcerative Colitis and he was potentially having to undergo life saving surgery.  I had booked the tickets several months ago and Aloe was performing only 10 minutes from the hospital, so my husband and I decided to attend. It was such a great night, a real stress relief and Aloe’s performance will stay with me for a long time to come. I loved this line “A dollar is what I need” as that is also what we charge many of our clients – $1/hour!

Why Consider Live Chat?

At Chat2, we are serious about businesses being able to access and afford technology like Chat2. Businesses can virtually grow overnight when they employ a live chat channel.  We are constantly asked “But How Can You Charge $1/hour?” There are four strategies we employ which are explained later in this post. We are serious about offering live chat so it is affordable with a great “return on investment” (ROI) for businesses.  We provide businesses with a voice to stand out in the noisy online space.

Managing a business is tough, especially when it comes to standing out online! Your competition is only a click away so you need to make your business different. But “how” is the question? You may say I am already spending so much on a website, on social media advertising, on lead generation services and the internet has so many businesses in our industry, how can I differentiate myself – is there an easier way? We believe there is…..

To stand out online you need to be providing your customers with answers to what they are looking for fast and effectively. Online visitors no longer have the patience to wade through multiple pages on your website, if they don’t see what they are looking for in the first 60 seconds, they are more than likely to click away from your business. Online visitors are impatient and different to those who pick up the phone or send you an email, those customers have already committed to you.  The online visitor is still in the early stages of the sales funnel, but with live chat you can move them through that funnel very quickly.

If you are there in the moment, when the online visitor is looking and preparing to buy and in that moment you reach out with a friendly   “Hi – we are online – how can we help you today?” They ask a question and receive an answer immediately from a real person, who do you think they are more likely to buy from?  From our experience we are finding that its “you”! You are standing out from your competition in that moment, you are answering their questions in the moment, there is no need for them to go anywhere else or seek out your competitor!

Chat2 also gives you the  opportunity to capture new prospects/leads when they first start to investigate the products/services you are offering.  So no longer will you have to engage the costly lead generator services that provide you leads that are mostly worthless or not relevant as the leads you get from Chat2 are direct from your own website – so very relevant.  We know what it feels like paying out hundreds of dollars for worthless leads, so why not get your own website working for you? After all the investment you have poured into it, isn’t it time to get something back?

Why Businesses Fail with Live Chat

Many businesses fail with introducing chat for several reasons:

  1. They are too slow to answer chats;
  2. They don’t have the resources to answer chats;
  3. They miss chats;
  4. They don’t have an effective knowledge base set up and linked to chat to provide immediate responses and replies.
  5. Ineffective chat techniques;
  6. They don’t take the customer through the 4 stages of a successful chat.

Constantly manning a chat with your own resources is tough and expensive, particularly if that employee is costing you $30/hour or more!

One of our manufacturing clients was using first year engineers as their first tier of technical service, costing them an absolute fortune.  They also struggled with high staff turnover as these new recruits became bored answering the same technical questions over and over again. With low staff retention, the recruitment and training process would start all over again.  Now that is an expensive exercise!

Of course we have many clients who manage chat well, as it has been set up effectively.  They have a comprehensive and solid knowledge base (we help with this), they may roster people on chat or they have people constantly in front of a screen as a part of an admin role.  But not all businesses are set up like this and can afford to have someone dedicated to a screen all day

It’s really important that you do answer chats immediately when they arrive as chatters just don’t wait around. They are seeking immediate answers.  If they don’t get an answer at your website they will just find one that will provide them with immediate responses!

We solve this problem for businesses by setting up your chat effectively and answering chats for as little as $1/hour! How?

Why We Can Answer Chats For Only $1/hour!

We have a team of professional chat operators who answer chats for a wide variety of businesses.  Due to our technology, efficiency, experience and structure we can offer this service at a seriously affordable rate for most businesses.  

Here’s how we can charge $1/hour….

  1. Our Concierge team operate from a Global Dashboard that links hundreds of websites to the one working dashboard.  At a single glance our operators can answer the chats in the order they arrive from hundreds of businesses. As they are operating from a single screen, they can answer chats fast and effectively.
  1. Highly trained professional chat operators can answer up to 7 – 8 chats at a time!
  1. The comprehensive knowledge base we create as part of our service is linked into our artificial intelligence (AI) chat technology.  An answer can be obtained, personalised and sent in a matter of seconds in response to a question.
  1. Chat operators are grouped into industry teams.  They become highly experienced answering chats for that particular industry which means fast effective and knowledgeable operators!

So with the assistance of AI technology, our operators can answer chats efficiently and provide the right answers consistently.  We are experienced across a range of industries and can chat for more than one business at the same time with a single operator, which means we are saving you money.

The Chat2 team have been answering chats since 2016 and we are serious about keeping costs down for businesses and making live chat technology and service affordable and easy to implement.

If you want your business to Save Time, Save Money and generate more Sales, try out our Chat2 Concierge Service.  It’s great value for money with an excellent return on investment.

Try out 100 hours of our service for only $50! That will have us answering chats for you for 2 weeks!  You can sit back and relax and we will answer all online enquiries with a specific knowledge base crafted to your business; highly advanced software; and friendly, professional experienced chat operators.

Interested in giving it a go? It’s so easy! Find out more here!

And “A dollar is all you need!”  for 1 hour of having a professional live chat team answer all your online enquiries in the moment your online visitors are ready to buy.  So you won’t miss out on any more sales, leads or the opportunity to provide world class customer service online.

Just go to chat2.com/100hrs-50off to ensure your business stands out today!

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Facebook and Chat Software – New Directions for Business

 

Facebook is on the verge of making rapid, radical changes.  The social media giant has been big news in 2018. First with the announcement of the change of direction for the company and now facing significant security breaches. Last Sunday, Facebook took out full page ads in seven British newspapers and three American ones apologising for the privacy scandal.  It certainly raises concerns for businesses being on the social platform and to consider other options to connect with customers online.

In January, Mark Zuckerberg announced the purpose of Facebook was undergoing a major change.  Feedback from users was that posts from businesses, brands and media were crowding out personal moments.  Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the goal of Facebook will change from helping users find relevant content to helping users have more meaningful social interactions.  For businesses this means that less priority will be placed on business posts in Facebook so there will be less exposure in news feeds for businesses. Greater priority will be given to content that promotes more meaningful interactions between users.  

Businesses will have to revamp their Facebook strategy to keep apace with this announcement.  Businesses will now receive less exposure and traction on their Facebook posts into newsfeeds of potential customers.  This article will make some recommendations on what businesses can do in response to these major events affecting Facebook.  Even if you don’t have a Facebook page the recommendations provide an alternative to business publishing online promotions at minimal cost.

How will the recent Facebook changes affect businesses?

The eight (8) major changes affecting businesses on the Facebook platform include:

  • Preference will be given to posts that create interactions between people not between pages and people.
  • Posts with long comments of more than a sentence will be given priority viewing in newsfeeds, as they encourage interaction between users.  Businesses could experiment with commenting from their personal profile rather than from the business page as Facebook may consider this to be an interaction between users.
  • Live videos will be given preference as it stimulates conversations.
  • These changes will apply to all Facebook pages personal, business and group pages.
  • Pages that post frequently, like 2 -3 times a day, are less likely to obtain traction. Marketing Specialists are advising businesses to post less frequently with quality content maybe only once a week.
  • Images with quotes, Gif’s and competition posts will not be displayed on news feeds.
  • Links to pages outside Facebook like blogs are also unlikely to be seen.
  • Any posts with engagement bait ie. competitions or inviting people to comment are likely to be removed by Facebook and not given any exposure.

How can Business promote through Facebook?

Facebook has advised that the paid advertising portal will not change.  This is one of the last avenues left for businesses to get traction in Facebook – what a surprise!  So Facebook want businesses to pay for getting any exposure. The organic reach option will no longer be readily available for businesses. The push is to move businesses towards paid advertising.  

It will be important for businesses to ensure the advertising content published on Facebook is of high quality to obtain strong exposure, particularly as they are now paying for it.  This is in line with Facebook goals, as they want content to be more meaningful to their users. So if businesses are now re-directed towards paid advertising obviously Facebook is going to experience a surge in this income stream.  Many marketing analysts are stating that it is likely that the cost of advertising will also increase with the demand, as Facebook won’t want their platform flooded with advertising.

Businesses can consider an Alternative

One of the most under-utilised platforms for businesses is the use of instant messaging applications.  Consider how you now communicate with your loved ones and friends, even business associates. Are you using more messaging apps?  Apps like Messages, Facebook Messenger, What’s App, Skype, Snapchat, Chat2 etc. In 2016, 1.58 billion mobile users accessed the top messaging apps to communicate.  This figure is projected to escalate to 2.48 billion users in 2021 as shown in the graphic below.

In 2016, more than 1 billion people used Facebook Messenger each month (Facebook internal data), that is a staggering statistic and demonstrates Facebook Messenger has been leading the way as an instant messaging application.  Though the effect of the “Delete Facebook campaign” is yet to be seen for the social media giant.

Connecting with customers through Facebook messenger opens up a whole new opportunity.  Why is this? Facebook messenger is an exceptionally powerful tool in that as soon as a customer interacts with Facebook messenger, they have immediately given the business the permission to contact them again in the future.  You can add them to your contact lists and grow your business.

Another instant message application businesses can consider if you don’t want all business conversations known to Facebook or don’t have a Facebook page is Chat Software.  So maybe consider getting your prospective customers off the Facebook platform and onto your own communication channel. This removes the Facebook control and puts you back in command of your data and information.

Chat software is a simple piece of code added to the business website from which the business can start chatting with online customers directly.  Most live chats are started with an invite into chat that pops up on the website. Some live chat software have an option to link directly into Facebook Messenger where a copy of the messages are taken from messenger into the live chat software, like Chat2.  So you can see the exact conversation in messenger and the live chat software.

How Can Businesses Get Website Browsers into Messenger or Chat?

If you are using live chat software – you can easily grab the attention of your website visitor by setting up auto chat invitations that prompt a visitor into chat.  Research has shown with this invitation – visitors are 3 times more likely to chat. At Chat2 we set up auto chat invitations for our new customers to make the transition into chatting as smooth as possible.  

Businesses can also run Facebook advertisements with a direct link into Facebook Messenger or live chat, they can offer discounts/ specials/ enticements if a customer connects through a chat application on their own web or Facebook page. Facebook also offers local awareness advertisements to reach as many people around a business location, so the advertisement appears to a person in close proximity to your business.  The link in the advertisement can direct them into the chat software.

How does Instant Messaging Apps Grow a Business?

When an online visitor uses the chat or an instant messenger interface, the business can obtain the person’s name and location, and with Facebook messenger their gender, profile photo and email.  If the chat software is integrated into Facebook messenger, then a list starts to generate from all visitors that have interacted with the business and is captured within the chat software. Automatically this is growing business by building the contact list.  

Once a client interacts in Facebook messenger, a business has immediately been given permission to contact that client again in the future. This is exceptionally powerful as it gives permission to the business to contact that client again within a 24 hour window offering other promotions, specials and discounts from your business.  At the time of writing, the cost to access this advertising channel is $0. Though I am sure it won’t be long before Facebook charge for this opportunity, so I advise to embrace it while there is such a great return on investment.

There is one concern when directing customers into Facebook messenger and that is the Facebook giant has access to your business conversations and information contained in a chat.  It is a valid concern, particularly in light of recent news. One way around this is to redirect your visitor back to your website where they can chat with the business directly through live chat software. Many businesses have chosen the live chat software option to avoid sharing business conversations with Facebook. Though there are still many who are sacrificing this confidentiality in order to have access to the powerful Facebook messenger.

 

How can Chatbots help business growth?

Just last year Facebook also allowed for chatbots to be added into messenger.  For those who are not familiar with chatbots – it’s a software application that attempts to act like a human answering questions on your website in a pop up box. At this stage, bots are primarily used to answer simple questions and share basic information. Though this technology is improving at rapid speed and eventually visitors will only be conversing with chat bots.  

Some live chat software have incorporated Chatbots as an option.  So the chatbot can be developed to greet customers initially into the instant messaging application albeit messenger or a live chat software,  but when the questions are too hard or too technical, they have the option to chat with a real person. The purpose of a chatbot is to provide answers quickly, though sometimes they are not the answers the customer is looking for, as the technology still has some way to go before it can determine the intent of the visitor chatting.

I would like to ask the question – how comfortable are you to have your questions answered by a robot?  Or do you prefer to have a real person attending to your enquiries?

At Chat2 we are finding that consumers of this generation are still not quite ready for long conversations with Chatbots.  They still want to be able to speak with a real person. They don’t want to go through menus and menus of items before finding the answer they are looking for, they want personal assistance immediately, they want their questions answered now.  That was the whole reason for going into the messenger or chat app.

It was this demand for the human element still within an instant messaging application that the Chat2 concierge team evolved. At Chat2 our clients have the option to use real people, chat bots or a combination of both.  Businesses can answer their own chats if they prefer, or if they are too busy they can use the professional Chat2 Concierge team to answer chats. The Chat2 Concierge team are a team of real people answering chats for many businesses around the world achieving 70 – 80% conversion rates in chat. An option that is gaining in popularity is the Chat2 Hybrid with chatbots and Concierge being offered to the website visitor at the initial start of a chat.

I am expecting when our generation of teenagers form the majority of consumers with purchasing power, there won’t be any hesitation  with interacting with robots. The generational shift will happen and as the technology develops further, we will eventually see intelligent robots serving customers online – but surely there will still be the need for a little human touch.

I welcome you to experience the Chat2 Chatbot to gain insights into the power of this tool for your business. Click here to start a chat with our Chat2 Chatbot.  Have a chat and tell us what you think!

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How to Boost Sales with Less Emails and Fewer Phone Calls!

Wouldn’t that be a dream come true for business owners! How much time do your staff spend on emails or on the phone communicating with customers?  What if you could reduce the time spent on these tasks and make more sales!

Emails occupy 23% of the average employee’s workday (Forbes report) and the average employee checks their emails 36 times an hour.  Email isn’t a great tool for staying productive with 59.56% of email traffic worldwide being reported as spam. The phone adds a personal touch, though you can only speak with one customer at a time and sometimes it’s hard to keep the phone call focused to achieve the desired outcome.

Think about how you talk to the people close to you.  Rarely by email, sure sometimes by phone, but many of us are now resorting to using instant messenger apps like Facebook Messenger, Messages, What’s App, Instagram and Snapchat.  It’s expected that there will be 2.48 billion users of mobile messaging apps by 2021 according to Statista.  So it makes sense that businesses should also embrace this communication channel.

 

“How?” You may ask? “I don’t want my staff on Facebook all day – they’ll never get any work done!”

Your staff don’t need to be on Facebook to answer Facebook messenger chats!  Let me show you how.

Firstly, businesses need to recognise that the majority of their customers are on these instant messaging channels and they need to be there too!  And this is where chat software becomes invaluable to the business.

It’s so easy for a business to reach out online while the customer is there, with a quick,

“Hi – how is your day going?”

“Hi – can we help you with that product?”

“Would you like to know what colours are available?”

“Oh we have a promotion on that very item today.”  

Chatting directly to your clients, engaging them, providing them with answers quickly and easily on their preferred communication channel, is the equivalent of a customer visiting a bricks and mortar store. It builds trust.

It’s the norm now to have a business website and a Facebook page, and sure, you can use Facebook Messenger directly.  But it’s time-consuming, distracting, and has limited reporting or data analysis… Instead, businesses can install chat software on their website and link it directly to Facebook Messenger!  So as they say, you can “have your cake and eat it too”.

Your staff can chat with many customers from Facebook and the website at the same time! What a great time saver and how productive your staff will be making multiple sales simultaneously!  It’s like having multiple phone lines coming into your business, with one staff member answering all the calls at the same time! How effective is that? 

What is Chat Software?

Chat software gives businesses the opportunity to chat directly with their customers from the website or Facebook page using an instant messaging platform.  It’s a software application and easily installed on your website by pasting a few simple lines of code. The code creates a widget (pop up box) that allows your customers to chat with a real person in your business. Giving your customer an opportunity to ask questions about your products and services on the same communication channel they are using. They don’t have to pick up the phone, they can ask the question right there and then.

You may now be thinking: 

“What if I don’t have the staff to answer chats?”

“What are the real benefits of installing chat software?”  

Well, let’s explore those questions!

Why Every Business Needs Live Chat?

1. It’s Cheaper

Can you speak with more than one customer on the phone? No… but you can with chat! Experienced operators can speak with, potentially, up to 10 clients at one time!  This is a huge saving in time and cost of phone calls. Providing your customers with access to instant messaging on your website, and giving them the option to chat with you directly, will reduce the number of phone calls and emails for your frequently asked questions!   Giving your customers immediate answers moves them further along the sales funnel towards a sale… and with more queries being answered at once by a team member (impossible with a phone or email), it will require less time and resources.

Virgin Atlantic has stated that using live chat is cheaper than answering phone calls from consumers or responding to emails—Virgin states that the average chat agent can cover the work done by 15 agents focused on emails.

2. More Sales and Conversions with higher order value

Website browsers have questions about your product and service and many times they are not ready to hand over any identifying information until they have answers to a few basic questions.  

Sunlover Reef Cruises enquiries often start with “What is included in the reef tour?” Website browsers are comparing what other tour operators are offering, but as Sunlover is online and ready to answer questions like this they more often than not make the sale.  This initial conversation builds trust with the customer, so they feel more confident in buying. The monthly number of chats has tripled for Sunlover since they started with Chat2 software in 2016.

Chat software gives you the chance to answer any immediate objections from the buyer.  We can all think of those main questions that any new prospect asks us and if we are there – online – at the time the buyer is ready to buy, to answer those simple objections, we are more likely to convert.

According to the American Marketing Association chat software can increase sales conversions by 20%. The Energy Hub Australia has experienced exactly this by being online and answering questions such as “How much is freight?”  or “Will this hot water system be suited to 2 bathrooms?”. The Managing Director has reported that sales have increased by over 50% for the online retail store due to live chat.

Chat software not only increases the number of sales – it also increases the average order value. Just by chatting with your prospective customers online you get to understand their needs, and are able to recommend other products by up-selling or cross-selling to increase the order value.  Virgin Airlines found that the average order values for consumers who use live chat are 15% higher than consumers who do not use the software.

3. Grow your Lead and Client database

When website browsers engage in chat it provides the opportunity for businesses to obtain contact details through the chat software from which a contact list can be generated for future promotions.  If the chatter comes via Facebook Messenger into chat, there is the added bonus where the business will obtain the person’s Facebook profile and allows the business to re-contact the prospect within 24 hours under the Facebook rules with further promotions and information.  Chat software provides businesses with a new online lead generation tool at a minimal cost.

The Nutritional supplement company “Happy Healthy You” is finding great success in this method of marketing utilising the integration of Chat2 software and Facebook Messenger and sending promotions and advice to their 120K strong Facebook following.

4. Get to Know your Customers

When a prospect chats with a business, it’s an opportunity to learn from the experience and get to know their browsers a little better.  They can find out what information is being researched about their business; what product or services buyers are currently looking for; and in the process, build trust with their customers through consistent and meaningful engagement.  

The business can then ensure their website is providing the information that is being sought by potential prospects. It also gives businesses an insight into new products or services they could be offering, particularly if they have prospects seeking out these products.   

5. Improve Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

According to eDigital customer service benchmark, live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73% compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone. 

The reason for this is due to the “efficiency and immediacy of the experience”, says Kirk Parson, a Senior Director at Market Research company, J.D. Power

Communicating with your customers through the channel they prefer will certainly keep your business “top of mind” when it comes time to purchase.  You will also retain more customers if you are easy to access with quick answers and levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty will significantly improve.

6. Consumers are demanding immediate information.

We are living in a fast-paced community and consumers are demanding more immediate answers to their questions.  The amount of time consumers are prepared to wait for an answer is shrinking, particularly those consumers connected online.

Eptica Research found that 44% of people said they wanted an answer on Facebook within 30 minutes and 62% on email within 2 hours. Consumers are wanting a fast, accurate, helpful response no matter what the time or the communication channel.

Shane Gooding (Manager) from Cartridge Mate supports this and states, “If we don’t respond to a chat quickly, we lose the opportunity to chat, they don’t wait around for very long on chat.”

Research shows that the average response time for customer service requests on social media is 10 hours, and emails 12 hours. This certainly doesn’t meet consumer expectations. Consumers don’t want to wait any longer for an email response or on hold in a phone queue.  

Consumers want information on demand, not when businesses decide to schedule an email. People no longer want to wait for information or search for an answer, they want the answer to come to them.  If you can’t respond with some immediacy to their questions, they will be gone in a click to the business where they can get answers quickly.

What if I can’t respond quickly to a chat?

As we now know it is the immediacy of the answer that is important to the online consumer and a key factor in making or breaking the sale. The implementation of a chat software can certainly give the business the opportunity to answer quickly, though response times need to be measured.

Our experience at Chat2 has been that if a chat is answered within 60 seconds, it is likely the customer will engage with the business.  Yes. It‘s not much time, though auto responders are set up to acknowledge the chatter immediately and they also provide some breathing time before answering a chat.  With the Chat2 software you can also see what your customer is typing before they send their question. This gives the operator more time to prepare a fast, accurate response.   

Many businesses are not yet set up to take on live chats – so Chat2 offers a transitioning service with Chat2 Concierge.  The Chat2 team set up all the FAQ’s for the business within the software and answer chats on behalf of the business. Chat2 concierge clients have chats answered within 30 seconds on average.  The team is very fast and is achieving high conversions rates within chats, ranging from 70 – 90%.

Chat2 offers Concierge as an ongoing service in the hours selected by the business, or the business can choose to answer the chats in-house once they have observed how chats are answered by a professional team of Chat Operators.

Implementing chat software for your business will certainly boost sales if implemented correctly.  Chat does relieve the pressure of phone calls and emails on frontline staff and hence reduce costs.  Though chats need to be answered with a sense of immediacy as there’s not much patience in the online world.   The next company offering your product or service is only a click away.

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How to Compete with Amazon – Interview with CEO Karen Lloyd-Collins of Chat2 – an Australian Live Chat Software company.

Good Evening Everyone – My name is Jay Robert from Shop Ferret E-Commerce News. My guest this evening is Karen Lloyd-Collins – CEO of the Australian live chat software company – Chat2.

 

Jay: Hi Karen – welcome and thanks for your time to talk to us at Shop Ferret News.

Karen: Thanks Jay – it’s nice to be here.

Jay: There is a major event occurring in the online retail Australian market at the moment with Amazon launching its online store.

Karen: Yes – it is a significant time for the Australian retail market.  An event we hope that most brick and mortar businesses have prepared for.  It’s going to be tough initially to compete against such a giant like Amazon.

Jay: The Amazon Australian launch is this Friday the 24th November, do you have any ideas as to this sudden announcement?

Karen: Actually Jay, a soft launch is expected on the 23rd November,  with some of the Australian companies that have signed up to be a part of the initial trial.  A major launch will occur on Friday, 24th November, the following day. I am sure this has been timed to correlate with Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales events!  So just in time for Christmas.

Jay: How do you think Australian retail businesses will cope with this major international player coming into the Australian market?

Karen: Australian Retailers have had many challenges from large international players over the years – some have been quite successful like Aldi’s, others like Starbucks have struggled in the Australian market.  So it is really up to the Australian Retailer and how they approach this event of Amazon entering their space.

Jay: How do you think they should approach this threat?

Karen: Well, the Australian retail business would already have a presence in the market.  If they are brick and mortar you would hope in this day and age, they have an online presence too.  It is up to the Australian business to enhance their customer experience and build a stronger loyalty to their product or service – no matter the price.  Also to promote that they are Australian, as consumers in Australia are very loyal to products made in Australia.

Everyday sadly I see many poor examples of customer service in Australia  – this is an area that needs major improvement. Just last Saturday morning I was needing a modem quite urgently.  I phoned the closest telco company– which is one of the largest in the region.  I phoned 3 times and there was no answer and not even a message service.  I was quite surprised and had to see for myself as to whether this company had closed its doors.

When I arrived at the front door, the shop was teaming with customers.  I lined up and after 25 minutes I was eventually served.  I just had to mention to the staff member behind the counter that I had phoned 3 times and no one had answered the phone to respond to a simple question. I needed to hear for myself why the phones had not been answered – I was expecting they would be horrified or shocked by my experience and immediately get someone to check the phones.  But do you know what their response was?

Jay: Well – I am sure they were surprised.

Karen: The staff member informed me: “Oh if we are too busy, we don’t answer the phone!”

Jay: You are kidding?

Karen: I wish I was. I actually could not believe I heard that response. I was dumbfounded that a telco company would actually think it’s ok not to answer the phone!  

Jay: Yes that is a very sad example of customer service.

Karen: Australian business need to do so much better, particularly with Amazon starting to court their customers.  Businesses need to pick up their game and compete on other facets not just price and there are ways this can be done.

Jay: So do you have any suggestions how Australian Businesses could compete against a giant like Amazon?

Karen: Yes – they need to bring the fight right back to Amazon – just like a David and Goliath.  Australian Retailers have done this before and they can do it again –  they just need to think more innovatively and ask themselves what can they do differently to keep current customers and attract more.  Especially in the online marketplace, as consumers have everything they need right at their fingertips.

Jay: Karen – tell me a little about Chat2 and how does Chat2 assist businesses.

Karen: Jay – Chat2 provides businesses with an opportunity to chat directly with their customers while they are online looking at the business website or facebook. It gives businesses the opportunity to find out directly, what their online customer is looking for and to provide immediate answers to their questions.  It has been proven that customers who have contacted a business through live chat are more likely to buy from that business and also will tend to buy more.

Jay: So are you saying that Chat2 provides a pop up window for the customer to chat with the business but they are really chatting with a robot?

Karen: No , not at all.  Our experience particularly in the Australian market is that online customers prefer a real person to chat with.  Live chat in Australia is still a relatively new concept and consumers are still learning about this alternative means of communicating with a business.  Consumers are a little hesitant at first to use this innovative technology, though we are seeing it is now gaining momentum and traction in the Australian market.  Chat2 software differentiates your business from your competitors, as there is someone there to talk to and answer questions easily and quickly right at the moment they are asking.

Jay: So do you mean business owners have to be on the computer all the time to answer questions from their customers?

Karen: Goodness – no – we all need a break from the online world.  You or your staff can certainly be online during the business hours answering questions on chat.  Though if you don’t have the resources to do so or you are just too busy – we offer our Chat2 Concierge service from $1/hour where we can do it for you.

Jay: That sounds very cheap.

Karen: Well our aim is to make Chat2 affordable for all businesses.  So having a tool like Chat2 allows you to answer chats from your website and facebook, it gives you an innovative edge over the large retail giants like Amazon, that have just started to try and find their place in the Australian market.  I am sure Amazon will mainly compete on price, though with a live chat software service, you can be in the online space when your customers are there looking to buy and ask them right away what are they looking for and advise them on how you can help.  

Chat2 provides amazing insight into your customers and what you may be able to do better to attract more customers.  These are things you may never have thought of before. You are hearing directly from your clients in the moment, finding out what they are seeking and you can advise them how you may help.  You may be able to provide a better price,  add additional products to attract the sale or even just being there to help can go a long way with consumers.  Chat2 is providing the businesses with a tool to engage new clients and build their trust and loyalty with the business. Clients will recall this experience and remember receiving such great customer service they are more likely to return.

Jay: With your Chat2 Concierge Service – how does your team know what to say to the online visitors of a business?

Karen: Jay, you will be surprised at the number of times a business receives the same question over and over again.  For example for a reef tour company we are asked everyday – “what do I take to the reef”or “how much for a child ticket?” Sure the answer is right there in front of them on the website, but we are all busy, busy people so we don’t want to read through the pages and pages of a website, we want answers now.  These are simple questions and easily answered. We ask new clients for these FAQ’s initially and we build upon them as we start to answer chats for the business.

Jay: So your team must be pretty fast typists?

Karen: Actually we have several tools built into the software to ensure our operators are fast and answer questions easily and effectively. Chat2 has much ai (artificial intelligence) which assists the operator by suggesting possible answers to the frequently asked questions. So the operator only has to type in a relevant word and there are several answers suggested for them to select.  These answers have been previously set up by the Chat2 team. So even your new staff have a simple way of learning answers to the FAQ’s when they start with your business.  A knowledge base is created within Chat2 software specifically for you.  Also we have a voice to text function that allows operators to speak answers that are immediately converted to text, that makes us really fast in answering and responding within chat.

As a part of our fabulous service we set up the FAQ’s for you. Customer service is our number one priority and we want to make your experience with us memorable and exciting.

Jay: So are you saying that even if Amazon is arriving on Australian shores, Australian retail businesses need to think innovatively to develop a strategy on how to compete with Amazon?

Karen: Yes I believe Australian businesses have the passion and the talent to recognise they need to raise the bar to compete with online international giants like Amazon.  It’s companies like that Telco I mentioned that will go out of business, as they are not providing the customer service demanded by consumers.  If Australian retail businesses are responsive to their customers and provide the service that is being demanded from them, I think they will do just fine.

Jay: So you believe Chat2 can assist with this significant challenge being faced by Australian Retailers?

Karen: Absolutely – it is all about the customer experience with the business.  Gone are the days where the only experience customers have, is when they visit the brick and mortar premise to purchase items. The customer experience is now so much more and sooner Australian businesses realise that, the more likely they will survive and more successful they will become. The customer experience now is not just the face to face with your staff, but it also includes their online experience through your social media, email platforms and website. Websites were never interactive but now with Chat2 – they can enhance the overall customer experience, build loyalty with a wider range of clients, obtain a greater understanding of your customer’s need and provide a greatly improved customer service experience.

Jay: Thanks so much for your insight Karen.  It has been a pleasure speaking with you this evening about the future of Australian retail businesses in light of the online Amazon giant entering the Australian Retail Market.

Karen: My pleasure Jay.

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Chat wins more customers online……here’s how

You have thousands of customers on your website each month.  Have you ever said “hi” to them? Asked how they were?  Asked them – What are you looking for? Can I help you? No….

With Chat on your website – you now can! Chat will put you in the same space as your prospects and you can reach out and say

“Hi……can I help you?”

You have never been able to do this before.  You had to wait for your website visitor to make the first contact.  They had to click the contact us form, pick up the phone or send an email.  With Chat they can reach you – you have created a welcoming stress-free space for them to ask you questions about your product/service.  They won’t be concerned about getting the hard sell or having to commit to buying something they are not sure they want.  So they are more likely to engage, chat and buy. That’s what you want – right!

Chat gives you the opportunity to widen your sales funnel at the beginning of the sales funnel. You have never had the opportunity to reach and connect with customers in the first stage of their purchasing.  These customers are in the Attract stage  of the “Sales Funnel” as shown in the infographic below.  These customers would not normally contact you during this stage as they prefer to do their own research and investigation on the product/service they are interested in.

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With Chat there is now the opportunity for you to reach out and ask these prospects if you can assist them in the Attract stage or they can reach out to you and ask questions in a safer, stress free environment.  Creating this opportunity for clients is naturally going to widen the top of your sales funnel, where you will now capture more possible sales, leads, customers then you have before. You now have the opportunity to start a conversation, engage and build trust with a potential new client in the very initial stages of purchasing.  This widening of the sales funnel will have a positive effect all the way through the funnel, resulting in more sales online.

Chat visitors are quite different to your clients who reach out to you via phone or email.  When a client reaches out to you via these communication channels they have already moved further through the sales funnel and believe that you are a possible option for their purchase.  Offering chat on your website will give these clients another option to contact you where they can get quick, relevant answers to their questions.  They no longer have to listen to hold music on the phone and won’t have to wait for hours or days in getting an email response.  Chat is giving these customers an opportunity to assess your offer faster and if they are engaged with your business, they are more likely to purchase from you. According to Virgin Atlantic Airways, customers who chat convert at nearly 3.5 times the rate of those who don’t.

Chat provides you with more opportunity to do what you do best and sell your product/service to a prospect. And chat also gives your customers a more effective, quicker way to obtain the information they are looking for faster. It’s win/win!

Once you have won the client with a purchase, you can survey your customers through Chat2 and obtain relevant valid data directly from your online customers to ensure you will have them returning again and again.

Give chat a Go and type your website address into www.chat2.com for a free trial today…..Don’t wait any longer…….its easy to install and you will be chatting with your online customers in no time.

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Amazon in Oz! Do you need to compete? Here’s how……..

Online chat is finally starting to evolve in the Australian market. The Australian (May 15, 2017) recently reported that more retailers are starting to embrace the chat technology on their websites, particularly with the launch of Amazon in Australia imminent.

“To maintain growth, retailers continue to adjust their strategies to adapt to changing market conditions such as the pending arrival of Amazon,” Commonwealth Bank national retail industry manager Jerry Macey said. (The Australian)Amazon has confirmed that it will be rolling out its services in Australia over the next few years. Amazon has not confirmed a launch date, but speculation suggests it will be in September 2017 (Choice.com.au) In light of this news – Chat2 is offering free chat concierge hours where we answer the chats for you.

Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon advised the strategy will be to offer “low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery” to earn the business of Australian shoppers. In light of this news, more and more retailers are trialling new online retail strategies to ensure they can improve competitiveness when Amazon hits Australian shores.

Chat on websites is one strategy that is being employed to improve online competitiveness and customer service. For online chat to be effective, chats need to be answered within 60 seconds, otherwise customers tends to move on.

woman-work-computer-happy

Chat2 launched the Chat2 Concierge service in 2016, as many chat clients, particularly in Australia, were struggling to answer chats within the 60 second industry standard. This can be explained as chat is still a relatively new technology in the Australian market and despite being able to chat with 5 to 6 customers at one time, this is quite a change of work habit from only attending to one client at a time through phone or email.

The Chat2 concierge team are achieving incredible results answering chats for customers, obtaining 70 – 80% conversion rates and 90 – 100% satisfaction rates for response, friendliness and knowledge. As the Chat2 team work with the clients over longer periods, the satisfaction and conversion rates increase. The Chat2 concierge service is providing a great return on investment for many businesses at a cost of only $1/hour and chats can be answered 24/7.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology has been built into the Chat 2 software, so operators are presented with a list of relevant responses to a clients question to enable quick, relevant and effective replies. The Chat2 concierge team set up and maintain relevant canned messages to complement this AI feature as a part of the concierge service. The Chat2 software also includes a voice to text function to allow for faster responses particularly in a multiple chat environment.

The secret to implementing chat effectively to boost sales, conversions and customer service online is a fast response time in answering chats. This has been one of the biggest indicators to online success with Chat. The average response time for the Chat2 concierge team is currently 26.8 seconds!

Would you like to try our concierge service but already committed to another chat provider? We can still help, we have various clients in this situation for whom we answer chats for – still with amazing results!

Interested to try the Chat2 software or concierge service…………………

Would you like to see for yourself the effectiveness of Chat on your website…..

We would like to make a very generous offer to you, that goes over and above what we currently offer on the Chat2 website…………………..

Chat paves the way for new sales, leads and conversions. Customers tend to buy more after chatting. Your customers will love the new style of customer service and we will love watching your business grow and thrive online. Are you ready to embrace chat to connect with your customers online in real time – just do it! It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the staff to man it – because we do and we are achieving 70 – 80% conversions – we are professional chatters!!

We make this offer to encourage businesses who are still a little unsure, not quite understanding the technology, not quite sure how it is going to work, let me make the decision easy and hassle free, let us do it for you………

Register at www.chat2.com.au and then contact us at sales@chat2.com to obtain a 3 month free trial of the Chat2 software and 100 hours of Chat2 concierge. You need to advise in your email that you would like to accept the offer made in this article.

Don’t wait any longer………………

Get a head start on your competitors as chat technology is evolving and most businesses with a presence online will soon have chat. Act now and accept our generous offer – you only have everything to gain.

Email us at sales@chat2.com and receive 100 hours of Chat2 concierge complimentary.

We love seeing our clients businesses grow online with Chat2!

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Chat Blog Uncategorized

Who loves solar?

 

 

In the Chat world it is often raised that online chat can only assist with simple enquiries and nothing too technical or specific. The chat received this morning by the Chat2 Concierge team for our client NQ Solar (www.nqsolar.com.au) – was a specific, technical, in-depth enquiry and this is how it progressed………..

Visitor: Hi, I am looking into an off grid solar system.

Chat2: Hi, be with you in a moment.

Chat2: Hi – I am Cathy. Thanks for your enquiry – I can certainly help you. We have several variations of off-grid solar power systems, depending on your needs. One of our experts will be able to assist you in the selection of an Off-Grid Solar System.. May I ask your location please?

Visitor: 15km out of Innisfail

Chat2: Thank you. Our off grid systems are designed specifically for the clients needs/property and budget. Everyone’s needs are so different, so we are unable to provide a generic quote without further review of your property. Did you have a budget in mind or know the size of system you were hoping to achieve? ? I can get Chris contact you about our Off-Grid Solar System. May I ask your name please?

Visitor: I tried an online calculator but I’m not sure if I completed it properly, it came up with a 16.5 kw system. iIt is going to cost around $40k to get the power connected to the property so anything under or around that is probably reasonable. Sorry my name is Dale.

Chat2: Oh I see – nice to meet you online Dale! I’ll take note of this information and pass it on to Chris who will get in touch with you. May I ask for your phone number so I can pass it on to him please.

Visitors: Thanks – its 04xxxxxxxx

Chat2: Thanks very much!! ?Chris will contact you tomorrow about your query. In the meantime, is there anything else I can assist you with today Dale?

Who said Chat can not assist with technical enquiries – NQ Solar were impressed with the chat! The Chat2 concierge team do not know about solar but do know how to use the tools within Chat2. This chat was easily managed through the use of canned messages – which are pretyped replies that operators can choose from easily. It is important to have a mix of natural conversation and canned messages. Can you spot the canned messages within this chat?

If your business is interested in trial our Chat2 concierge service to receive leads like this for only $1/hour – please email karen@chat2.com.Cooktown Photos

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How to generate more online sales in 2017!

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Start 2017 with a bang and induce your website visitors to buy from your website  this year! Avert them from clicking to that next website. How? Engage with your consumers online through your own website. Talk to them while they are on your website, say hello, engage and have a conversation in their time – in real time. Is this possible? Yes!

All Australian online consumers have used the internet to do some form of purchasing activity and around one in four purchase items online weekly (18th Nielsen Annual Australian Connected Consumers Report 2016). This trend is being seen globally with the Total Retail 2016 survey recording 54% of 23,000 shoppers in 25 countries purchasing online (www.pwc.com). With so much purchasing activity it is becoming essential for businesses to engage with their customers in the online space.  Installing Chat2 on your website will give you the opportunity to chat with your customers while perusing your website.

Australian online consumers are demanding more information when it comes to purchasing online according to the Nielsen report, what better way for them to obtain this information if you are there to greet them online and answer questions quickly and efficiently. Chat2 will convert your browsing visitors to paying customers by providing the information consumers are demanding.

Significant growth in online purchases is being seen in the areas of clothing/shoes, cosmetics/skincare, concerts/event tickets and food/grocery items as shown in the diagram below. If you are operating in these industries it is essential for to take advantage of these trends. Be innovative and do something different to engage your customers online.

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It is important to know your customer base so you can identify the essential times for you to be on chat.  Our team at Chat2 have observed that the busiest chat times for many of our clients are just after the close of business, so around 6pm – 11pm, during the lunch break from 11am – 2pm and at the start of the business day from 8am – 10am.

However, the age group of your target client base is also an important factor in identifying the peak times for Chat. According to the latest Nielsen Australian Connected Consumers Report 2016 (see graph below), it was found consumers 60+ are more likely to purchase in the morning hours and around midday.  The peak time for consumers aged 16 – 59 tends to be between 6pm and 10pm.  The Chat2 concierge team concur with these findings, though observe that midday is another peak time for consumers in the age group 16 – 59.

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Are you keen to engage your customers online in 2017 though too busy to answer chats? Our experienced Chat2 concierge team can do that for you for only $1/hour.  We greet your customers, engage, build their trust, clarify their query, assist where we can or obtain details for you to contact them and answer their question personally.  Our Chat2 team are obtaining great results and converting leads from 70 – 80% of the chats for clients.

Lead the way in your industry and install Chat2 to engage with your growing consumer base purchasing online.  The beginning of 2017 is a great time for many industries to install Chat2, particularly if it tends to be the quieter time for your industry.  Being in the online space to greet your customers will boost your sales and give you a great start to 2017.

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For a demonstration of Chat2 and its features go to www.chat2.com/learn. Or just install Chat2 entering your website address at www.chat2.com for a free trial.  Come and chat with us at chat2.com or email to sales@chat2.com.

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Media Release

chat2-1dollar

chat2-linkedin-logo

live chat software – customization – training – chat concierge

Media Release: 21st June 2016

 

ONLINE CHAT SERVICE FOR $1AUD/HOUR 24/7 FOR BUSINESS
Chat2 has launched an online assistance chat service – where website customers are greeted by experienced chat operators for a cost of only $1/hour to businesses!

Businesses are installing live chat software on their websites to allow customers to chat with them while searching the website. Chat2, an Australian live chat provider found businesses were struggling to answer chats when using a live chat service.

CEO of Chat2, Karen Lloyd-Collins states “Our customers were finding it difficult to be online to answer chats as they did not have the people to man their own live chat service during business hours. We were also being asked for an after hours service to answer chats.  So we have provided a quality, affordable solution by offering our chat answering service 24/7 for only $1/hour”.

“Our Chat2 operators have undergone extensive training on how to answer chats to obtain results. All operators have prior chat experience though we have fine tuned their chat skills with our own chat expertise,” advised Ms Lloyd-Collins.

“We are very excited to be able to offer this opportunity to our customers, as we believe it is a high quality and affordable service that enables businesses to greet their customers in the online space. It is opening a new virtual door to customers.”

The business decides the hours the Chat2 operators answer chats and how chats are answered. Information on the business is collected through an extensive online questionnaire.

“As of last week our operators are now answering chats for clients in the tourism, renewable energy, retail and information services industries and we are hoping the business community will embrace live chat as a channel to their online customers and allow us to assist with growing their business” stated Ms Lloyd-Collins.

If you would like to know more about this service please contact the CEO Karen Lloyd-Collins at Karen@chat2.com or visit www.chat2.com.

 

 

 

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Answering Chats – Inhouse or Outsource?

woman on chat2

You want to add Chat2 – a live chat service to add to your website to capture leads and boost sales directly from your website?  Many companies nowadays are implementing a live chat service on their websites to assist their customers with answers to questions ranging from customer support to sales enquiries. A skilled live chat operator can dramatically increase your conversion rates just by being available to answer questions without the delay of email or the hassle of a phone call.

But who will answer the chats?  The problem with a live chat operator is, well, it needs to be a live chat operator. You need a real person on the other end of the line, available to answer any questions that may come up and possibly 24/7, as the online world never sleeps.  You could utilise your own staff, though you may need to change work processes as there are not many businesses who have staff sitting around idle. Also most business don’t operate 24 hours so that makes it difficult to utilise your own staff.  So another option to consider is to carefully outsource your chat to an experienced chat service.

In- House

If you decide to provide coverage of Chat2 utilising your own staff, then it should be done for the whole time the business is open for business.  Chat2 opens a door to your customers in the online world and if they expect you are at work, you need to have this online door open at the same time.

The beauty of chat is that staff can attend to several customers at the same time unlike phone calls, so already there is an improvement in efficiency of time.  However, it can be difficult for staff to operate two live communication channels of chat and the phone. So possibly a dedicated roster system may be the answer, rostering staff with a variety of duties on a computer also to answer chats.  Roles that are utilised to answer chats are normally those who undertake duties on a computer during their working day.  They may include sales, administration, marketing and even accounting style of roles.

If staff answering chats are not normally involved in frontline customer service, canned messages within Chat2 need to be set up effectively and staff should be trained in how they are expected to answer chats.  Our experience has been that many of the answers to questions from Chat2 are found on the website. Its just that the website visitor does not have the time to seek out the answers through reviewing pages of website content.

If your staff are slow at typing that is not a problem with Chat2, as this live chat software offers a voice to text function, where your staff can speak their replies that are then converted to text.

To man Chat2 effectively it is likely you will need after hours coverage of chats as many customers normally do their research and surfing the web when they are not working.  It is not financially viable for most businesses to provide this out of hours cover.  So the solution is outsourcing of your Chat service

Out-Source

So why choose to outsource your chat service?  One reason we have already mentioned is to provide greater coverage of hours at a more effective cost.  Other great reasons of why to outsource chat are also the main reasons why you have chat in the first place.

  • Customers have said that having their questions answered mid-purchase made them feel more confident with their purchase and was one of the better features a website could offer in modern e-commerce.
  • Chat is immediate and more responsive than email, call centres or other forms of communication.
  • Chat2 is also cheaper than a dedicated business phone line.
  • One chat operator can manage multiple conversations at once, which isn’t possible with phone lines, though if multiple complex conversations are active, it can be challenging.
  • Chat2 helps people get immediate support if they encounter an error in the purchase process, which they would otherwise abandon their attempt and shop elsewhere.
  • Chat2 alerts companies to issues on their website ie links or buttons not working. In many instances companies don’t know of these problems but through chat they are made aware quickly and can rectify the issue to prevent loss of sales.
  • A live chat service is surprisingly still with a low adoption rate even today, so implementing it is very likely going to give you an edge over your competition.
  • At targeted places in the conversion process, with known pain points, live chat can ease the customer through these pain points through the support of a live chat operator.
  • Outsourcing gets you all of this cheaper than hiring in-house staff.

Successful Live Chats!

  • Training in how to use the Chat software and how to answer chats is pertinent as to whether your chat service is going to be blazingly successful or die a slow death.
  • If you decide to retain in-house operators to operate Chat, ensure they are well trained in both these aspects as well as knowing your website, business and the canned messages within Chat2, exceptionally well.   Knowledge is a key quality to any successful chat operator.
  • If outsourcing, operators need to have a high level of competency in written English and in-depth information about your business should be requested including what you do and how you would like your chats answered. Even on how to answer the “I don’t know question” as you never say “I don’t know”, there are more helpful techniques to the business to manage this question.
  • Sound real! You are using real people as chat operators, so ensure they sound like a real person and not robotic. Customers online are quite hesitant and unsure of the chat technology as many websites are manned by robots, they want to know they are talking to a real person.  So encourage your operators to engage in normal conversation and don’t sound robotic.
  • Promote Chat. If you have a chat service on your website ensure it is clearly seen, let visitors know you are now available on Chat. Promote it under the Contact tab, on facebook, twitter and any other media channels. People need to know about it so it will be used.  When starting out with Chat sometimes it is good to run a competition through Chat, maybe the 100th chat visitor wins or a random chatter will be selected through using chat.

The Choice!

Providing a chat service on your website is certainly an innovative move forward for your business and the benefits as outlined here are numerous.  It is great if you can man the chat service in-house as that is where the knowledge and the experience of your business lies and you will certainly improve sales, customer service and loyalty to your website.  Though many businesses struggle to have the resources in-house so it also makes sense also to outsource Chat to experience chat agents.  The decision will be based on your internal resources, hours of chat coverage and cost effectiveness.

Chat2 is an Australian live chat provider with clients throughout the globe.  Chat2 provides the live chat software – Chat2 and offers direct training at your business or via skype. Training topics include How to Use Chat2 software, An in depth setup of Cha2, and How to be a Great Chat Operator. Chat2 also provides a chat concierge service where our experienced operators look after website chats for you, so you can feel assured that you are leaving your business in the hands of experienced, well trained chat operators available when you need them at a minimal cost.

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Do you ignore your online customers?

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Is Chatting with customers new? Of course not! Conversational ecommerce has existed in some form or other since the earliest days of online shopping. You called up the shop owner (whose website you were looking at) when you had a query or wanted to order something.

A few years later, as email was popular, you emailed the shop owner when you had a question before a sale. Or if you were hunting for a discount. Then, emails became contact forms. Easier.

Then, contact forms became live-chat plugins. Live chat is one of the easiest, quickest interfaces for a visitor to communicate with a site owner. It is a fast growing communication channel as more businesses become aware of the technology and it has a great return on investment after a significant price war occurred in the early months of 2016.

Price War within the Chat Industry

Early in 2016, some of the big U.S. companies in the Chat industry drastically reduced prices of their live chat products and this led to a domino effect within the industry.  Most chat providers dropped or reduced their prices as more and more competitors entered the industry.

Chat2 software is now only $USD10/month ($15 AUD) for an operator with all the perks a chat software program can offer.  If you obtained 10 leads from your website over a month that is only $1 per lead, you can’t get a cheaper lead generation tool than that!

Growth of Chat usage

According to the latest Customer Service Benchmark results from eDigitalResearch, of 2000 companies surveyed, 31% are currently using live chat and 73% of these companies rated their satisfaction with the chat channel as high.

Chat2 allows you to chat to a representative of the company in real time, without the long delays and having to listen to tiresome hold music. One third (37%) of those surveyed now expect to be able to contact a company through live chat – this is up from 30% in 2014. Given how easy it is for site visitors to reach out to contact a company representative quickly and for free, it is not surprising that more customers are expecting a chat service to be available.

Derek Eccleston, Global Commercial Officer at eDigitalResearch states “The latest Customer Service Benchmark results suggest that the easier a company makes it for a customer to contact them, the more satisfied they are likely to be. Brands who are managing their live chat well are making live chat easy to find on their website, clearly signalling to users when their customer service team are available and how long they may have to wait, as well as allowing them to talk openly and honestly about their issues, queries or complaints”.

Conversation and Conversions

Conversation helps increase conversions. It’s like going back to traditional shopping where you talk to the seller and have a feel of how good or bad he/she is and how helpful they may be in an ongoing retail relationship.

If you engage a website visitor into a friendly conversation, you will  quickly obtain trust and create a “feel good” sensation about your company and your products.  The visitor may keep researching online, but undoubtedly they are more likely to come back to your business where they can get their answers quickly, efficiently and at no cost.

Chat2 your customers

Today, most of us spend about half of our waking hours chatting and responding to messages. Social media and forthcoming online sellers who chat with their customers (and leads) over chat apps have blurred the lines between a market relationship and a social one. Today, the place you go to connect with friends as well as brands and businesses is same: online.

Customers won’t feel odd when businesses reach them via a chat app instead of email. In fact, they are expecting it because you don’t have to jump between various channels of communication.

The sooner you take to conversational ecommerce, the better your chances of growth through improvements in customer service.  Cost is no longer an issue with chat, it appears to mainly be the hesitation in adopting something new.  Be innovative and don’t be left behind. Contact us at sales@chat2.com or chat at www.chat2.com.

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Blowing Up Customer Service

Blowing up Customer Service!

 

Do you want to open a new door for customers to come flooding in? Do you want to talk with customers while they are looking at your website? Do you want to provide great customer service? That is why we are all in business isn’t it? To provide a great service to customers.  Customers provide us with income, growth and an opportunity to do bigger and better things.  They need to be our focus.

More customers prefer Chat2 as a communication channel

When I offer Chat2 to new clients, one of the first comments is – “but I don’t want to employ another person to operate chat”.  Who said anything about employing another person? Sure that might happen if Chat2 is the channel your customers are demanding you communicate through. We are seeing this change in many industries.  Businesses need to prepare for a different way of doing things as technology evolves or the technology will disrupt and overtake the business. The video industry had this unpleasant experience. Explosion-700x400

Be open to technology and innovation. Consider it, trial it, customer service is evolving with technology in the online space and business need to take heed or potentially become invisible.

Chat2 improves customer service and loyalty

Information is so easy to access online and this is educating our customers and empowering them to go elsewhere if they don’t like the customer experience.  That was what I did this morning. There was a technical glitch on the website where I always buy my coffee.  There was no Chat2 to fix the problem for me so I went and bought my coffee elsewhere.  If the first website had Chat2 – I could have immediately contacted them, advised them of the problem and they would probably have offered me a free coffee to keep me as a customer.  I would then become more loyal to them and continue to buy my coffee. Its all about customer service. If you don’t provide it online, your customers will go elsewhere.

Online is the new space for businesses and customers to meet –  so get use to connecting with your customers in this space.

 

Mike Milburn, senior vice president manager of the Salesforce Service Cloud stated

“Live, personalized service is revolutionizing how companies deliver customer care. Real-time, and on-screen guided assistance boost engagement and build rapport between the customer and the company. It also enables businesses to serve the right information at the right time. Advanced technologies like these are the future of customer support,” Milburn predicts.

 

Chat 2 is a technology that allows businesses to provide live, real time, personalized and on-screen guided assistance to their customers.

Who will operate Chat2

 So how do we initially embrace this technology and incorporate it into our businesses?   First you need to evaluate the current positions you have, who is doing what?  Could you add live chat to their role? A chat operator can chat with numerous customers compared to a traditional phone operator, so maybe roles need be redesigned. Chat2 can be allocated to various positions that use a computer for their role.  It could be admin, reception, marketing, accounting, human resources or purchasing duties.  The operation of Chat2 could be rostered through various positions or everyone can be online at one time to grab that chat.  You receive a sound notification and banner on your screen when a chat is received. Its just like having another phone line but through a computer, tablet or phone and you can speak to more than one customer at a time.

Chat operators are far less costly compared to the traditional phone operator according to a Forrester study, as the cost of phone call far out weighs that of a chat.  Also more clients can be assisted at one time in comparison to a chat operator which is a great time and cost saving.

If you find that Chat2 is really popular with your customers and that is their preference to communicate, then maybe you need to change how things are done. Maybe that is changing roles, employing chat agents or even employing contractor chat agents to answer calls and get leads. If you don’t you may become the next video store story.

 

Chat2 can be online and self-managed

Chat2 can send automatic messages to online customers if they start a chat.  Chat2 can ask automatically for them to leave their name and number and the business will phone them.  No one needs to have done anything.  There are many other automatic prompts that can be set up in this way.

Embrace Chat and ensure your online door is always open.  Chat2 should be online throughout business hours and answered by staff or with the automatic prompts. Being online during business hours every day will encourage your visitors to use Chat2 more frequently.

For Chat2 to be embraced by customers you need to let your clients know about the new communication channel or it won’t be used, so ensure you promote it on your website.

 

“The only thing that gives an organization a competitive edge…is what it knows, how it uses what it knows and how fast it can know something.”

Larry Prusak

 

Chats can be answered from Anywhere at Anytime

 

Chat2 is mobile so check out how you can Work from Anywhere, Anytime, Any Place.

 

Technology is changing the face of customer service

Technology is changing the way we do businesses with customers. Be prepared, get ready for the change, embrace new technology before your competitors. Don’t be left behind. Technology is blowing up the old ways of customer service!

 

Try Chat2 – it costs nothing to trial and gives you the power to know and make an informed decision about this innovative technology.

 

Visit www.chat2.com to trial today.

 

Be Innovative and grab the opportunity!

 

Karen Lloyd-Collins

CEO

Chat2

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Chat Blog Uncategorized Want to grow your business online? Here's how!

Want to grow your Business online? Here’s how!

What is Good Customer service?  Think about the last time you were served by a business – what did you like? What didn’t you like?

When I receive fabulous customer service I feel elated after the experience, it’s a great boost in my day.  Receiving great customer service is an experience in itself.  If you receive great customer service you are likely to become a customer, be an advertisement for that business, be a return customer and generally feel good when you deal with that business.

Recently, I experienced a poor example of customer service which I wrote about in my earlier post here.  I was quite shocked this type of service still exists from a large dominant organisation in our economy.

So what is good customer service?  I believe it has the following 3 main elements:

  1. Welcoming and friendly – not pushy.
  2. Prompt and efficient
  3. great knowledge of the product

Chat2 software can assist your business in escalating customer service and encouraging returning loyal customers to grow your business.  Here on some tips on how to provide great customer service online.

Mel on NQ site

Welcoming and Friendly

If you are greeted with a smile, no words just a smile, upon entering a physical business – how do you feel? Normally good and you drop your guard a little. A new customer would like to get their bearings first and become familiar with the surroundings, before being approached by a salesperson.  They are more likely to approach the smiling salesperson to seek service.

From a salesperson perspective they are keen to make a sale, if they are a clever they would be reading the customer’s body language to assess the need for immediate sales assistance.  If the client had eyes averted, looking around, walking away from the salesperson, then they would read this customer is not ready for client service.

Online web service is quite different when using live chat software.  Firstly, you know the customer wants service, you don’t have to read body language signals. So that first hurdle disappears.  Though to be welcoming and friendly in the first instance you can’t smile through the website, so you need to use friendly, welcoming words without sounding robotic.

Short, simple welcoming messages are best. For example:

“Hi- hope you are having a great day”

“Hi, hope your feeling great today”

“Thanks for the chat – how are you?”

These could be set up as your initial automatic responses to give you time to be aware and answer the chat.  Asking a question like this can set the tone for a positive chat. The chat then starts on an even keel.

When a visitor has sought to use chat as a complaint line, your chat person needs to diffuse this tension to start the chat positively. It is always best to empathise with the visitor first, try and diffuse any anger by saying things like:

“I am sorry to hear that”

“Sorry to hear you are having that experience”

“I am sure we can fix that for you”

“ Let me try and help you”

“I am sure we can find a solution for you”

Remember you always need to keep your tone warm and friendly, so empathy will assist in the client warming to you and gaining some trust.  It can be challenging keeping the tone of your conversation friendly in the text form.  So always read the message to yourself as if it was coming from someone else or have a canned message set up to assist with prompt warm replys.

Prompt and Efficient

Upon entering a business in the physical world, you want your question, query or assistance to purchase attended to as quickly as possible.

This is more so in the online chat channel.  If a customer starts a chat they are looking for assistance. The business needs to respond quickly or they have lost that potential customer. For small to medium size businesses who don’t have the luxury of a room of chat agents, they need to have automatic responders set up within the Chat2 software. These responders are warm and friendly, not robotic, to quickly engage the customer in the chat.

Keep your replies short and concise as your website visitor does not want to read paragraphs on chat, they are seeking quick and efficient answers. Encourage your website visitor to answer questions to engage them in the chat.

If you a chatting with an online visitor be careful of leaving your chat visitor waiting too long in between replies.  If you are having to check prices, stock, technical information, let the chat visitor know.

“Just a sec – I need to check stock”

“Sorry – can you wait I need to ensure I have the correct price?”

“Just a moment – I need to clarify information with our technical team.”

They will then be prepared to wait for your next reply.  If it is taking longer than expected, let them know ie. “sorry, still checking”.

You need to treat the chat visitor as if they are in front of you – though keeping in mind they can not see what you are doing visually, so you need to keep them up to date. In the instance you are away from chat for longer than you expected, you can set up Chat2 to provide a reply in that time frame, for example:

“Sorry to keep you waiting”; or

“I have been delayed – please leave your name, number and email and I will contact you asap.”

You don’t want to lose your chat visitor so you need to obtain a way of being able to contact them, if you have not already obtained contact details.

It can be challenging for your chat person to answer two live communication channels at the same time.  Ideally, a chat person would be someone in the back office who has other duties and are not the first person to answer the phone or attend to customers who visit the business. These chat personnel could be support administration personnel, in areas like sales, accounts, marketing, human resources, operations etc.

 

Knowledge of Business Service/Product

Chat personnel in your business need to be well versed in the product/service offered by the business.  The visitor on chat is expecting the person who answers the chat to be able to assist their queries.  After using Chat2 software, you will get to know what your website visitors are looking for and be able to train your chat personnel in the best replies to the questions.

Chat2 will also assist you in deciding what information to provide or not provide on your website, or whether your website is friendly in obtaining information.  You will be able to provide links from your website to common information being sought.

Many of us have such busy daily lives, website visitors sometimes don’t want to read pages and pages of website information, they want the information handed to them on a platter.  For great customer service, it is ideal if your chat person can provide this information quickly and efficiently, then and there, while the visitor is on the business website.

If you are using chat personnel where their role is not directly involved in the detail of the product or service, you need to ensure these people are well trained on answering queries or have access to the standard business replies from the common questions. This is easily set up in Chat2 with canned messages.

Or if this type of chat person is not able to assist they can always reply:

“Sorry the person I need to check with is not available at the moment, can I take your name and phone/email and I will get them to get back to you?”

This is an opportunity to gain another customer that may not have contacted your business without having access to live chat software.

Implementing these 3 elements of customer service in live chat software will encourage customers to return to your website.  If a visitor lands on your website with live chat software, they are more likely to purchase from you, over a competitor who does not have live chat. 79% of these customers who purchase said they purchased as their questions were answered quickly using chat.

Enhance your customer service online with these tips on being welcoming, providing prompt and efficient service, with good product knowledge. Chat2 will engage your online website visitors with great customer service providing the opportunity for business growth.

 

Karen Lloyd-Collins

CEO

Chat2

 

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Customising the Look

Colours, themes, and CSS can be edited with the options available under Themes. 

In your Chat2 dashboard go to Installation/Themes/Create New

First give the new theme a name:

 

Then click on the Widget Container to change colours of widget.

 

Click Save or Update (if updating a current theme). 

If this is a new theme, then you need to allocate this theme as the Default once done. 

To do this, go to the side menu and select Installation/Default Theme and select the name of your new theme to be the Default. 

Your new theme should now appear as the Chat2 widget.

If you are skilled with CSS code, your ability to create is only limited by the imagination.

Or we can create a beautiful new theme for you – just Chat2 us!

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Eye Catchers

Sometimes visitors don’t notice they can chat. Eye catchers can solve this by displaying a prominent image above the chat tab. 24 Bit PNG image files can be uploaded in the need help widget area which is accessed by selecting:
Settings/Embed code/widget themes/[add-edit]/need help widget

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Chatting

This is the chat window, where operators can chat to visitors and have a set of tools to inform and assist them.

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Notifications

It’s important to setup notifications so you can answer chats when they come in.

This quick video shows you how in the Google Chrome browser.  Google Chrome is the best browser to use when operating Chat2.

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Getting Started

When Chat2 is installed on a website it will be offline initially. While offline Chat2 will take messages and forward them to the email that was used to sign up to Chat2. Offline Chat2 will look something like this:
03
There are two ways to log in

  1. Go to www.chat2.com and click login located on the menu bar at the bottom of the page.


Enter the field details as requested and click login.  The dashboard of Chat2 will be displayed for your website.  The login URL will be displayed in the top of your browser, save this URL to your bookmarks as you will be able to login directly when going to this URL.
2. The second method to log in is to enter the login address (URL) directly into the address bar at the top of the Chrome browser. The URL will consist of your website address without the www or dots followed by .chat2.com. For example if your website address is  www.nqsolar.com.au then your login url is nqsolarcomau.chat2.com
If you put the address into your web browsers address bar it should load a login page that looks like this:

Enter the email address and password you registered with and then click login.

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Installing Chat2

Installing Chat2 is simple.

Once we have registered your account, you will receive an installation email which will provide you with three installation options.  Whichever option you choose, a short code will be produced for you or your website manager on the screen.  The code is to be pasted into the footer or onto each page you want Chat2 to appear. The code is available in the “Get Instructions” email you received when the Chat2 account was registered. If you need help, just chat 2 us at www.chat2.com

You can simply click the “Not your job” link and forward this onto your website manager or developer if you wish. Or click the “Do It For Me” and we will do the installation for you complimentary.

Chat2 is also available as a plugin through WordPress.

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Introduction

Chat2 is a web application that adds live chat to websites and Facebook. Using Chat2, website operators can chat, help, guide, interact & transact with website visitors. Chat has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any communication medium.

Here is a short demonstration video of Chat2 from the perspective of the website visitor and the operator.

An operator is someone who is logged into Chat2 answering visitor questions and assisting them with their enquiries. Operators can do more than just answer questions, they are empowered with concise information snippets and tools they can share with visitors in a way that’s contextual, relevant, and faster than any other communication medium.

Chat operators strive to answer visitor chat requests as fast as they would phone calls. They can answer questions from several visitors at the same time. Operators, do their utmost to maintain customer satisfaction by promptly assisting visitors.

With our unique, innovative live chat software and our team of online engagement agents 24/7, you will have the power to maximise your sales, leads, bookings, conversions & attract more enquiries.

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