Can a Free Live Chat App Save the Earth?

Last Monday, April 22, the world celebrated Earth Day 2013. The focus for this event is climate change and entailed each and every single one of us to take a look at our carbon footprint especially that of our daily activities. A carbon footprint is the total sets of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, activity, product, or person.

At Offerchat, this activity allowed us to think about our project in relation to the environment.

Did you know that the simple use of a live chat app on your site can reduce your carbon footprint and save the Earth? We didn’t. And we we’re surprised by what we found out and what we realized.

How a Free Live Chat App Can Help Save Our Planet

A live chat app is a web-based tool that can be embedded on any website. Once added, it provides a feature for site visitors to communicate one-on-one with the website’s owner, admin or a customer support rep online – all these without leaving the page or using another medium such as email.

The live chat feature is perfect for general inquiries (item, price, shipping, etc.) and first-level support. It’s the best-suited instant communication tool for business and E-commerce websites where online shoppers are keen on asking for instant information of which they base their purchase decisions.

Below are specific ways a live chat tool can reduce the carbon footprint of an organization, company, or a solo enterprise engaged in E-commerce and online retail:

Live chat app decreases phone calls

A very large percentage of the incoming call traffic that contact centers receive is general inquiries. For online merchants selling products and/or services, the amount of pre-sales inquiries can be astounding.

Many E-commerce sites have contact numbers. A single mobile phone call is believed to have a carbon footprint of 47kg of carbon dioxide a year for a typical two-minute usage per day.

Having a live chat app on your site presents online shoppers with a more attractive option than grabbing their phones to reach you. If all your site visitors won’t have to make a phone to inquire about your items for sale, you’re definitely helping in reducing the carbon footprint of phone calls in the world.

Free live chat tool minimizes outsourcing to high-energy call centers

A business with its own live chat tool minimizes the need for too many high-energy contact centers.

The facilities, equipment, manpower and maintenance of high-energy contact centers have contributed much to carbon emissions. A phone support agent can attend to only one customer at a time, while a live chat person can attend to a maximum of three customers.

Just look at this call volume data for December 2012 from the 311 contact center:

Source

 

The data shows the large majority of the incoming call traffic at 311 is general inquiries by nature. This accounts for a bulk of the calls being handled by their customer service representatives.

Imagine if this high-energy call center has live chat agents handling general inquiries instead of phone agents. Certainly, their carbon footprint can be hugely decreased as telecommunications networks, equipment cooling devices, PCs, computing devices and other facilities are reduced.

Live chat is web based

A web based live chat tool eliminates the use of multiple PCs.

The conventional idea of “software” is a licensed executable file to be downloaded and installed in a single device. This implies that said software can be accessed and run only in a single computer bearing the license and not with a different one. More users would mean more devices, and consequently, more money and energy spent.

Current web based live chat applications operate in no such conditions. Since they are cloud-hosted, a user need not download and install software but rather just add a line of code to the HTML framework of his or her website.

Since they’re not limited to function on a single machine, the dashboard of any web-based online chat software can be accessed through any device (PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet) with an internet connection and a browser. So it rules out the use of multiple devices especially in online enterprises where it is used for live help.

Live chat encourages work from home jobs

Outsourcing and crowdsourcing are two very loud industry buzzwords nowadays. Remote workforce lies at the core of these concepts and a lot of them are qualified for live chat support.

The latest TeamViewer Study: Remote Workers Work Harder for the Environment reveals that telecommuting employees are more likely to consume less energy, thereby, reducing carbon emissions and saving the planet.

Instead of having your live chat support teams in-house, in a high-energy contact center, delegating it to the remote workforce is a move that can positively impact the planet and help alleviate climate change. Just imagine if a significant amount of first-level support agents work from home instead in call centers.

Parting Words:

Incorporating ways to reduce global warming to heal the Earth should be at the fabric of our business culture. You can start it right at your own venture to contribute to the growing number of Earth savers.

There are numerous ways to this: From practicing energy conservation at the office, to practicing the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle), to allowing workers to telecommute, to re-thinking and finding ways to free ourselves from high-energy contact centers and many other creative ways.

Help minimize phone calls and add live help to your site! Saving the planet means saving ourselves.