Live chat is fast becoming a preferred choice for eCommerce customer service. It offers a blend of benefits centered on cost-efficiency, sales and customer relationships.

The following is an overview of five of the most compelling advantages of live chat for your eCommerce site.

Lower Service Expenses

The ability to operate as efficiently as possible is a key reason that eCommerce sites can compete successfully with traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Live chat can contribute to operation efficiency because it is 17 to 30 percent less expensive for customer service than phone calls. Reducing your variable service costs on each service interaction goes a long way toward improving gross margins and profit.

Higher Conversion Rates

Customers are 20 percent more likely to make a purchase after you engage them with live chat than without such engagement. The live chat creates a much more personal, two-way connection than a customer skimming your content alone. Additionally, live chat is a platform for answering questions or concerns that impede a purchase. Cart abandonment rates are extremely high. Forrester recently reported that 57 percent of online shoppers leave carts if they can’t get quick answers to questions. Visitors find it easier to move on to a different site if answers aren’t readily apparent. With a live chat, you can minimize page bounces, answer questions and guide prospects toward the right solutions.

Improved Relationships and Loyalty

It is virtually impossible to replace the face-to-face personalization that you get in a brick-and-mortar store through eCommerce. However, live chats are an adequate substitute that gives you a chance to demonstrate a genuine interest in satisfying the needs of your core customers. Customers are much more likely to feel connected to and trust an eCommerce business that offers real-time interactive support. This trust helps drive repeat purchases, increased buying levels and positive word-of-mouth sharing in person and via digital platforms. A recent case study with Virgin Airlines showed a 15 percent increase in average order size due to live chats.

Fast Identification and Resolution of Problems

It is challenging for eCommerce sites to recognize problems that get in the way of customer purchases if visitors leave without contact. Live chat affords you the opportunity to interact with a visitor to not only uncover individual concerns, but also to potentially recognize and address site or business problems impacting all of your visitors. Learning about site-wide issues early through live chat gives you the ability to address them more quickly. You can thus reduce the number of customers affected and safeguard against long-term implications.

Key Competitive Advantage

Offering a quality live-chat feature is one way that you can distinguish your eCommerce site from competitors in the competitive marketplace. Anything you can do to optimize visitor user experience, the buying process and customer support enhances the value you provide relative to competitors.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important benefits of live chat for your eCommerce site. Live chat software is available and affordable for eSellers to implement. Do so as soon as possible to gain a critical competitive advantage in your industry.

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