How to boost sales with live chat

Live chat allows you to engage with website visitors at the very moment they are thinking about your products and services, turning every visit into a conversion opportunity.

Through a combination of considered timing, targeted questions and human touch, you will turn passive website browsers into qualified prospects and even customers. Live chat increases online purchases by 35%*, allows you to qualify leads faster and overcome objections immediately.

Make it easy

When you consider that 57% of customers will abandon a purchase if they can’t get their questions answered easily*, you realise just how important it is to offer a real-time communication channel for anyone who needs assistance before deciding to buy. Make sure there are no barriers in the way for buyers – ask only for the most essential information in your pre-chat survey, be really clear with your responses and always ask if the user needs help with anything else before closing a chat.

Be proactive

As a salesperson, you wouldn’t sit around and wait for the phone to ring. You should take the same approach to live chat. With proactive chats, you can encourage engagement and catch those who need assistance but might just give up and go elsewhere without a nudge.

Proactive chats make the chat window pop up instead of waiting for the visitor to click on it. You can do this manually or set automation for specific pages on your website. You can even set up proactive chats in response to pre-set visitor behaviour i.e. if someone clicks on a product, scrolls through the description and sits on a page for a certain amount of time, a window could pop up and ask if they need help.

Kekkou desu, Mr Roboto

People buy from people. If you want to increase sales with live chat, you need to demonstrate your humanity and do everything you can to avoid giving the impression of being a chatbot.

You can do this by adding photos of your live chat agents and using their names so customers can connect to the person behind the screen. After that, it is a case of speaking like a real person, demonstrating empathy and not relying too heavily on stock responses to customer queries. Basically, you need to channel your inner Styx (“I'm not a robot without emotion…”).

Optimise for mobile

Remember mobile users when considering your live chat sales strategy – ensure the software you choose includes the ability to detect the device used by your site visitors and optimise both chat display and functionality. With so many consumers using mobile devices for browsing, you will maximise your chances of success by delivering live chat with this in mind.

Integrate live chat with your CRM

By integrating live chat with your sales CRM, you will ensure that all communications with customers and leads are centralised and can be reviewed again later. Following up on your online enquiries is essential, and this makes doing so that much easier.

Start your free trial today

With Moneypenny's outsourced Live Chat service, you’ll have the ability to manage chats yourself with the support of real people based in our UK headquarters who will respond to chats on your behalf either 24/7, out of hours or just when your own team are unavailable.

Try it free for one week, with no set-up costs or ongoing commitment. Join the #LiveChatRevolution today. Call us on 0333 202 1005 to get started!

*Source: Live Chat Revolution whitepaper