When time is of the essence and a consumer is looking for a response, they used to have to pick up the phone and call in only to be put on hold for who knows how long. Consumers were frustrated and wanted a faster, painless way to talk with a representative. Live chat busted on the scene as a key communication channel and as one that could be utilized across the globe. Regardless of the size of the business, having a live chat agent there to answer any questions the customers may have, not only helps the business cut costs, but also helps the customers stay happy and loyal.
Thousands of businesses are offering the same services as your company so how do you stand out from the competitors and really strive? Just like any other aspect of business, you are only effective and successful if you deliver quality. When it comes to improving the communication with your customers, you need to measure the effectiveness of your live chat program, which can be done by measuring it by what we like to call “The Big 3”:
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction)
“You keep your customers happy, and they will keep you in business.” Customer satisfaction has remained, and most likely will always remain, the biggest aim for every business. A happy and satisfied customer represents a profitable business. In the case of live chat, having an agent there to answer questions in a timely and accurate manner, will do wonders for a company’s CSAT. Customers want to communicate in the mode that they are most comfortable with and according to the latest trends, live chat is where they want to be met.
Response Time
As mentioned above, the amount of time it takes a company to respond to their consumers is a huge factor in the overall success of the live chat feature. Company after company sees negative results from their live chat simply because they do such a poor job responding to their customers! Having a live chat agent trained and ready to answer any questions as soon as the customer chats in, leaves a positive image and a satisfied customer.
Average Chat Handle Time
This last factor can be a little tricky but still should be measured very carefully. Having a low chat handle time, meaning the entire time from beginning to end of the chat conversation, can mean several things. One being that the chat agent was able to quickly answer the customer’s question or, the customer did not want to spend their time chatting with you. This is where it falls on the business initiating the chat to keep a watchful eye on this metric to ensure that there is a happy balance in the overall Average Chat Handle Time.
