There are well-defined guidelines for composing letters and emails. These communications are well structured, and their interchange follows a logical pattern.
Is there a similar set of best practices for talking to people in live chat?
Is it acceptable to proactively engage customers and write the initial message? Should you use formal or informal language ? Are there any rules at all?
While live chat etiquette rules aren’t set in stone, there are some good general guidelines you should follow to give your customers a great experience. These guidelines are:
Be fast with your responses
You should not keep consumers waiting on hold. After all, knowing live chat etiquette is nothing if you completely ignore your consumers. You should reply quickly.
When chatting with your customers, you should always remember that messages are delivered instantly, and the exchange of communications is dynamic and occurs in real time.
This means that when you delay giving your response, your customers will have the impression that you are ignoring them, which doesn’t have a good impression on your business.
Studies show that customers expect the average chat service response time to be less than 5 minutes. This means that when a customer messages you, and you take more than 5 minutes to respond, you will be doing your business a disservice.
If you are busy and you don’t want to keep your customers waiting for too long without hearing from you, there are a number of tricks you can use. These tricks include:
• Set up automated welcome messages and greetings
• Send chat requests to appear as push notifications on mobile (or Slack).
• Have social media, WhatsApp and chatbot integration
To be on the safe side, ensure that your pay per minute chat software has these features.
As much as automated messages are a wonderful feature, as they give the impression that you are on the line and ready to address the problem, hence your customers don’t get impatient, you shouldn’t overuse it.
Instead, do it in moderation. If you flood the customer with a series of extended messages, they will be put off, and they are less likely to continue with the engagement.
Be warm and friendly.
A typical live chat experience is far more simple and convenient than traditional phone calls or emails. It is a highly effective communication route, and you should take advantage of it.
As an agent, you do not need to introduce yourself. This is because users can already see your avatar and name. Also, you don't have to be overly formal, like in business email salutations.
While this is the case, you should be warm and friendly. As a rule of thumb, always open the conversation with a greeting. As mentioned, you don’t need to be formal about it.
Simple greetings are perfectly acceptable. Excellent solutions to go with include:
• Hi!
• Hello!
• Hello [name].
• Hello there.
You can also mirror what your consumers send you. When doing this, be cautious and ensure you don't overdo it. For example, when someone writes "yo dawg!" you should still respond "hi."
As a rule of thumb, don’t start your conversation with a long and formal greeting filled with unnecessary information, as it will be pointless and will most likely make you feel cold. You don’t want this, do you?
Personalize your conversations
Research studies by marketers show that tailored messages boost sales by up to 20%. Due to this, you should use the power of customization in all your conversations.
And the good thing is that there are many ways you can incorporate it. One way to do it is to mention your customer's name when greeting or talking with them.
A survey of five bank firms found that using customers' names by workers and support agents increased customer loyalty and happiness. Customers addressed by their first names were 30% more inclined to refer the bank to their friends.
Asking your customers for their names during a conversation with your support service may come across as awkward and out of place.
Thankfully, you do not need to do it manually. There is no need to inquire directly. A smart way to go about it is to have your customers fill out a form before they start the chat. In the form, capture their name and email address.
Show empathy
You should consider any issue from your consumers' perspective. By the time the customer is reaching out to you, chances are that they had been attempting to resolve the issue for some time.
They also may be in a hurry to resolve the issue due to a deadline.
Contacting an agent is often the final thing most customers do in an act of desperation. You are their last resort, and you have to assist them.
As you chat with your customers, be cautious of your views. Watch that you do not pass judgment or encourage them to calm down. You are not in a position to offer your ideas unless you are asked.
You also should avoid being condescending to your consumers. Thankfully, with training and experience, you will prevent this from happening.
The least compassionate thing you can do for a customer is to transfer them from one agent to another and compel them to describe the situation to everyone again.
To prevent the customer from having to repeat their problems, you should make use of a group chat and have other agents read the entire conversation from the beginning.
Parting shot
More customers are contacting companies via live chat rather than email or phone. This is because the option is faster. Introvert customers or those in loud spaces can get immediate responses without having to talk on the phone.
All they need to do is to log into the chat feature and get the solution they are looking for.
As a business person, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your chat feature is highly functional and the service providers you work with are professional and offer nothing short of exemplary services.
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