Live chat is rapidly becoming one of the most effective ways for businesses to interact and communicate with their consumers. With technological advancement, customer behaviour and needs are evolving too. As a result, we are seeing the adoption and takeover of a digital-first mindset. In order to meet the demands of this ever-changing consumer, live chat has allowed businesses to surpass expectations. Greatly enhancing the customer’s interaction with a business through seamless communication.
So what do customers really love about it? And why is it that some businesses are still reluctant to adopt it despite statistics showing 51% of customers are more likely to make a purchase on a website that has a live chat integration? With help from Kustomer’s recent report, this blog aims to shed some light on these burning questions.
What’s Not to Love?
An obvious reason that this communication tool is so popular amongst consumers is the fact it is so easy to use and easily accessible. Communication through messaging platforms has become part of our everyday lives. Whether it be chatting to friends or contacting your favourite bakery. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that research by Kustomer has revealed that 79% of consumers get frustrated when they can’t contact customer service on their preferred medium or platform.
Additionally, chat has provided a customer care experience that aligns with the fast-paced world we live in. People love the “here and now” and that is exactly what live chat gives them. Research has shown that 90% of online consumers value immediacy when it comes to receiving replies to a web chat customer service query. Additionally, 79% of users who prefer online live chat do so because they get that immediate assistance.
Why Doesn’t Everyone Use Chat?
Clearly, consumers are welcoming the benefits that come with live chat. Yet despite that, the Kustomer report reveals that only 25% of those customer service organisations surveyed are actually using it.
According to Kustomer, the top two reasons as to why companies have not yet adopted chat are down to (i) lack of time and resources to implement it, or (ii) internal challenges, i.e. they don’t know where to start or they have staffing constraints when it comes to managing more communication channels. The third reason given is that businesses think their customers don’t want or like live chat.
Those numbers are remarkable bearing in mind the statistical evidence that heavily favours the benefits of this communication tool. Including research revealing that live chat has a 92% consumer satisfaction rate.
Evidently, businesses can and should be doing more to introduce live chat into their communication armour. The statistics show that consumers want accessibility to instant communication which has a knock-on benefit to customer satisfaction, reliability of services and ultimately sales. Businesses that continue to ignore it may learn to regret it. The modern-day consumer has already come to expect it on consumer-facing websites and those businesses without may be overlooked in favour of competitors.
Want to know more about Live Chat? Or simply get started and give it a try yourself!
