We asked our users about their best practices that help them to provide excellent support and get more clients.
1. Don't bother customers with a pop-up chat.
It inhibits the user experience. When customers get to your website or e-shop, their main goal is not to have a conversation with your support team. Let them get to know your product or service and just be there for them if you have any questions.
2. Indicate the working hours when you can have real-time communication in the chat.
Often, the chat window icon is displayed in the lower right corner of the page, but the chat does not allow real-time chat. In the chat window, mark the times when you are ready for real communication – for example, Mon-Fri from 9:00 to 18:00. Keep track of when your customers are most active visiting the website because they need the most support at that time.
3. Reply to the customer within 5 minutes.
Observe the times allowed for real communication and respond to the customer as soon as possible, no later than within 5 minutes. Subscribe to be notified of incoming conversations and always complete an ongoing conversation, do not leave the customer on hold.
4. Don't ask for too much information.
Allow non-personalized chat and don't ask for extra information for real-time chat – You don't have to know the customer's name, email address or phone to get information about whether the goods are in stock. Bringing a parallel to the retail store – even there the customer does not have to identify himself when going to ask the seller for a suitable size.
5. Avoid going under the bar when answering.
If the customer has a more general interest in the product or service, use your expertise and always refer to the best solution with the accuracy of the link. Ask for feedback on whether the offer met expectations. If the desired product is not in stock, do not end the conversation as required, but offer the best possible alternative and make sure that the customer found what they were looking for.
Less is not more! Be proactive and, when entering the conversation, use questions to find out what the client's real desire is. This is the only way to help them make the right purchase decision.
6. Save time and money on customer service.
You can't have 2 phone calls at once, but 3 real-time conversations behind the screen is a snap. This way you reduce the time spent on customer service, you can offer more accurate solutions and serve more customers at the same time.
7. Measure results and analysis!
Using a chat without collecting and analyzing statistics does not allow you to find bottlenecks and look for better solutions. You can add notes about each new customer, ongoing service situation, and completed sales to each conversation. By linking the data to e-store orders, you can evaluate the performance of the conversation and the use of the chat.
8. Reward effective sales.
Implement a motivation package for customer service representatives for effective sales, because the customer who asks questions in the chat is ready to buy and deserves the company's attention. He should not be pushed toward a competitor with silence and non-participatory customer communication.
9. Increase the value of the average shopping cart.
Cross-sell and increase the value of the average shopping cart – knowing that the customer is looking for running shoes, feel free to offer, for example, the most popular warm tights and gloves. Draw the customer's attention if an order limit has been set for getting free delivery or if a price campaign is underway.
10. Evaluate the most requested topics.
For example, map and categorize all questions within 2 weeks to get an accurate picture of what customers need most help with. To improve customer service, you may need to create a FAQ section or change your processes if most of the questions are about, for example, a late delivery package or a return option.
11. Strengthen the customer relationship.
Turn new contacts into customers and recommend registration on the website so that further purchases are faster, cheaper and more convenient. Or invite them to the newsletter instead and offer a discount on their first purchase. This will signal that the customer is welcome back at any time and you are always ready to offer help again.
If you want to offer better customer support, try the new and customer-friendly chat solution Askly.
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