Did you know that only 1% of traditional cold calls result in meetings? Or that over 90% of B2B...
Today’s customers aren’t used to waiting. Webpage speeds are faster than ever, whole seasons of TV shows are binge-watched the day they’re released and smartphone cameras give us access to breaking news stories as they unfold. If it’s not fast, we’re not interested.
The same applies to your customer service. Why would a visitor wait a few days for an email response when they can just go to 10 other websites that can deal with their query right away? Live chat is one of the fastest methods of customer service, ensuring your visitors get the answers they need to buy from you.
When you’re looking for the perfect live chat software, make sure they include these features.
Features your live chat software needs to have
- A great training portal
- Effective security
- Mobile-friendly
- Customisable
- Multiple users
- CRM support
- Analytics
- Auto-assigning
1. A great training portal
Like with any software, onboarding is crucial. Whether through tutorials or helpful tips, the live chat solution should be easy to get to grips with for any new user on your team. It could include demo videos within a training portal for the sales team to watch or frequently asked questions that provide all of the information someone would need to get the most from the software.
2. Effective security
The aim of live chat software is to enhance the buyer’s experience and build trust with the user by developing a relationship with them. If they feel as though the live chat they’re using isn’t secure, then they’re going to leave and go elsewhere.
The live chat software you use should have the safety features in place to allow for secure data transfer. It should also host, process and encrypt data in compliance with the GDPR regulations that were rolled out in 2018.
3. Mobile-friendly
Stat time! Around 48% of all global web traffic comes from mobile devices and 62% of users are less likely to purchase from you if they’ve had a negative experience with your mobile site.
Basically, you need to make sure your website is easy to navigate and accessible via smartphones. This includes your live chat software, so make sure it includes mobile support. This ensures phone users can access the same customer service as their desktop counterparts.
4. Customisable
Your live chat software needs to be an extension of your existing brand identity. It needs to match your website’s look and feel, staying consistent with the image and tone you’ve cultivated.
Colour combinations, textured backgrounds and the chat window header should all be customisable so you can create a chat window that feels as though it’s been designed by your business. It shouldn’t feel like external software. Instead, it needs to feel as though it’s just another part of your website.
5. Multiple users
You shouldn’t have to pay any extra to add new users to the live chat. Anyone should be able to access the software so they can interact with customers and answer any questions that they may have.
If there are five users who want to speak to someone via live chat, then multiple members of your team should be able to easily log in and help them with their requests. It’s about volume - if you’re a large business that receives a lot of customer questions, then you need to be able to manage them quickly and efficiently.
6. CRM support
If you’re having to use multiple integrations, then time is wasted as you work across them. Things can easily be lost and opportunities missed because the information isn’t organised or easily accessible.
Look for a live chat solution that will link and work with your existing CRM, such as HubSpot. That way, you can easily collate visitor data and use it to market to them in the future - assuming it’s appropriate and GDPR compliant.
7. Analytics
Following on from CRM support, analytics can make it even easier for you to use live chat to give users the best possible experience on your website. Implement a live chat solution that includes an analytics tool and you can see where on the website the person is speaking to you from.
If they’re on a pricing page for example, then there’s a good chance they want to talk to someone from the sales team. Wouldn’t it be great if the live chat tool then auto-assigned that specific person to one of your sales reps...
8. Auto-assigning
...oh wait, it can! Some live chat solutions can be used to auto-assign conversations to the right member of your team. If someone is accessing live chat from a support page, then it’s a member of your customer service department that gets the notification.
It’s about making sure the right person speaks to the customer so that they receive the answer they’re looking for quickly and effectively. Using personalisation like this via your live chat improves customer experience and reduces the time that your sales team wastes on customers that aren’t ready to make a purchase.
Find live chat software that offers these features and you’re on to a winner. Implementing live chat is a great step towards adopting conversational marketing into your existing campaigns. If you’re not sure what that is and what else it involves, then do we have a free guide for you.
Download our guide to conversational marketing with HubSpot
Conversational marketing is customer-centric, focusing on their goals and needs. Its aim is to build better relationships with buyers and generate more high-quality leads. We’ve put everything you need to know about conversational marketing with HubSpot in our free playbook.
It has tips on getting started and how it can complement your existing inbound marketing strategy.
Download it now using the link below.
