Best Practices: How to Carry Out Effective Communication on Chat

Chat support, needless to say, must be direct, precise and on point. Customers value the presence of a live chat feature on the website because it provides them with a quick and easy way to get a response on questions and inquiries.

Do you know that one in four live chat conversations generate a sales lead? According to Auto Trader Group Director, Nathan Coe, “We are seeing time and time again that dealers that have properly implemented live chat functionality are seeing leads that in most cases are incremental to the leads they had before implementation.”

See how I placed emphasis on “properly implemented live chat functionality” because that is the reality of it, a live chat can only become a strong sales force instrument if used properly by following the right chat communication practices.

Greetings

What is the proper way of greeting someone at your physical storefront? Do you…

say Hi and then “Welcome to shop xxx, glad that you dropped by to shop! We have amazing collection of ready to wear T-shirts, shorts, dresses, swim wears, etc. We offer 20% discount if you buy a minimum of 5 items plus a free item of your choosing if you buy more than 10 items etc.”

I say, “Whoa, hold your horses there!” You’ll definitely give your shoppers info-overload that will make them run for the exit or jump to another shop.

Imagine seeing an overly long chat greeting like that, asking you to do a bunch of stuffs on your first visit on the site. Wouldn’t that overwhelm you? I bet it would.

How about you slow down and just put a simple, “Hi, How are you? Drop us a chat for inquiries [or How can I help you?]” then wait for your visitor to pose an inquiry that they need immediate answers for. That would be for the best to have them set the course of the conversation – make them feel in control.

Chat Transfers

The customer support department is divided into sub-departments such sales and technical support (via phone or chat, regardless). Transferring chats then becomes inevitable as not all visitors want to buy. Some initiate chats because they need something fixed while others would want refunds etc.

However, transferring chats need to be a smooth process or you’ll risk losing the confidence that customers have on you and the business.

Things to remember when transferring a chat:

1. Don’t let customer repeat himself to the other chat operator you transferred him to.
2. Inform customers that you are transferring him or her to another chat operator.
3. Have a set of guidelines about chat transfers that operators can follow.
4. In resolving issues, chat operators need the help of other departments for further information.
5. Don’t let customers be transferred more than once in a single chat session.

Closing a chat

Like the greeting or opening chat, message should be brief and precise. Set the tone of the brand and carefully wrap up the chat efficiently with an up-sale or cross-sale only if applicable to the issue or inquiry at hand.

Also, don’t ever forget to leave customer the assurance that customer support is available (whenever your business is available; specific time) and other channels they can reach you (email, phone, Skype etc.)

Survey Request

It is bad practice to include any survey request within an ongoing chat conversation or in closing a chat. Why? Because it is rude and irrelevant. However, you can make it into a pop-up and have it appear after the chat session is closed.

How to use surveys requests pre or post chat?

1. Collect information prior to chat to help resolve problems quickly.
2. Collect information prior to chat to know about product interest and preferences.
3. Collect information after chat session to evaluate customer satisfaction and make improvements.

Remember: the survey request must be formal, sets a specific direction or goal, and should be outside the chat session.

For chat etiquette, proper grammar usage and sentence construction on chat refer to Master Superior Customer Experience by Minding Your Live Chat Etiquette