Competition, convenience & cost: how live chat can transform a small business

Live chat is a cost effective and easy way of allowing customers to make contact with support or sales agents via a real time conversation. The service has grown considerably in value in the past five years, especially when considering that a greater number of people now set up businesses in conjunction with other jobs. For an ever increasing number of people, live chat has and will continue to be an invaluable resource.

How can a small business benefit?

We feel that we are in an excellent position to help small businesses understand the benefits of live chat. In 2011, we ourselves introduced this facility and thanks to our customer’s feedback we have given people the opportunity to make contact with our contact centre agents in a way that is of greater convenience to them.

We have highlighted three key reasons why a small business should consider a chat service:

Customer convenience: Consumers are changing and so are their needs. Live chat provides customers immediate answers to support or sales queries. A 2010 study from Forester Research concluded that 44% of online consumers felt that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a web site can offer – further demonstrating the service’s value to the modern consumer.

Reducing costs: By utilising a chat facility function, businesses can have their support or sales agents running multiple chats at once, further reducing operational costs.

Competitive edge: Getting ahead of the competition is vital for small businesses especially when considering the growing numbers of people who are now running their business online. Those businesses that are able to offer a service that engages and heightens their customers’ experience will gain a significant advantage in their space.

But is this affordable?

It would be wrong to suggest that only companies with large budgets can invest in such services. As customer service chat has grown in importance so have the services available to smaller businesses. Help is at hand from like Offerchat give businesses the opportunity to outsource their needs to professionally trained chat agents who can assist customers. Most importantly, the service is concentrated towards those businesses with budget constraints.

Results

By deploying such a feature, a small business is able to stand out from the crowd. Moreover, it is a great way of turning customers into fans and company evangelists. Here are a few messages from our own customers, highlighting how live chat has serviced their needs:

 

 

What do you think? Is live chat viable for a small business? Let us know by tweeting @123reg