What is going on?!
You think your customer support is great. Yet your competitors are winning. What is their secret?
Live chat.
The best live chat software offers fast response, greater engagement, and higher satisfaction rates. It boosts conversions and grows revenue – all while saving money on support.
Below are eight ways the competition is beating you with live chat.
8 Ways Competitors Use Live Chat to Beat You
1. Boosting sales
Your competition knows the average chatting customer is worth 4.5 times as much as a non-chatter. Furthermore, customers who chat bring in nearly 50% more revenue per hour spent chatting.
For example, Intuit boosted average order value by 43% utilizing a live chat widget at its checkout. And Rescue Spa saw revenue grow nearly 300% in its first year using live chat.
2. Responding faster
Live chat lets your competitors respond faster to questions. Consumers wait an average of 23 seconds for a live chat response. In addition, conversation time averages six to 12 minutes.
Most noteworthy, new software features improve your competitor’s response time. Also, the best live chat software enables support to see what customers are typing – and start researching an answer – before they hit send.
3. Promoting brand
Other businesses gain the loyalty and trust of consumers by offering live chat. 41% of people say they trust a brand that provides live chat.
And consumers respond. A case study showed EZ Texting gained 31% more signups when it implemented a live chat widget.
4. Investing smarter
If you feel you are falling behind, you may be tempted to throw money at the problem. Yet your competitors are choosing to make wise investments in the live chat which will save in the long run.
Studies show live chat costs 400% less than phone support. And one chat agent completes the work of 15 agents in email support. In addition, the return on investment for live chat software is 300%.
As an example, Magellan reduced its support expenses by 50% when it used live chat to handle 30% of support requests.
5. Converting consumers
Conversions are the gold standard of e-com. Your competitors know how to turn a visitor into a sale.
And live chat customers are 51% more likely to buy than non-chatters. Furthermore, 29% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when live chat is offered – even when they don’t actually use it!
In fact, Intuit experienced 190% improved conversion rates when it used live chat on a lead conversion page.
6. Satisfying customers
Consumer responses demonstrate again and again that people prefer live chat to other options. And the competition knows this.
Nearly half of all Americans think live chat is more efficient than other support options. Four out of five believe live chat solves problems quickly. And 79% of consumers prefer live chat because of its immediacy.
7. Reaching targets
Have you noticed that nearly everyone has a smartphone nowadays?
Your competition has.
Mobile opens a new frontier for the live chat. Chat usage on mobile trails desktop, but that is likely to change. Also, customers who live chat on mobile devices are over six times as likely to convert as those on mobile who do not chat.
8. Maximizing technology
The other players in your marketplace know what they do well. And they know when to use the expertise of others.
So live chat software provides the platform for the competition to gain an edge in customer service.
Top live chat software options used by your competitors include LivePerson and JivoSite – each has over 300,000 subscriptions.
A recent development is a proactive chat, which offers engagement immediately upon visit. Hence, proactive chat increases interaction volumes by 40%-100%. In a case study, proactive live chat expanded conversions by 60% for Blue Soda.
If you are tired of losing to your rivals, maybe it’s time to add live chat for your customers.
