If there’s one certainty in business then it’s that your customers will have questions. After all, making a purchase is not a decision that should be taken lightly. There will be numerous questions which need answering. And these questions will pop into the heads of your customers all throughout the day. But will your business be available to answer them?
Most organizations keep to the standard opening hours of 8am – 5pm; these hours allow a good proportion of customer queries to be answered swiftly. But what if a customer has a question they want to ask at 7pm? Or 9:30pm? Or even 2am? It would be nice for them to receive an answer, but it’s unlikely when the office is empty. Thankfully, it doesn’t need to be this way. All you need to do is embrace the world of virtual live chat.
It’s a form of customer service which is powered by virtual assistants and is rapidly gaining popularity in business. You may even have seen the trademark popup message on websites where a friendly assistant asks “Hi! How can I help?” But have you ever considered how these services work? And, more importantly, what can virtual live chat do for your business?
Working with Virtual Assistants
The key to success with virtual live chat is to work with fantastic virtual assistants. And, here at Pineapple Staffing, we understand the importance of virtual assistants. They can quickly become an invaluable asset for your company, but what exactly are they? Well, for one thing, they are creating headlines in the world of employment. Virtual assistants have experienced this growth in popularity thanks to the following factors:
- Cost Effective: Virtual assistants tend to work on a project or hourly basis. Therefore, you are only paying for the time spent on a specific task. You can then use these cost savings to invest in other areas of your business. And, don’t forget, a virtual assistant does not require sick pay, holiday leave or medical benefits, so the savings can be significant.
- Enhanced Productivity: There is a marked difference in productivity between a virtual assistant and an in-house employee. And this is all down to the levels of dedication invested by virtual assistants. An in-house employee has a certain degree of job safety due to their contract, but this is not a luxury for a virtual assistant. Instead, they need to consistently deliver high quality work on time. And this is why virtual assistants are renowned for such incredible productivity.
- Increased Flexibility: The remote nature of virtual assistants means that you can pick potential employees from anywhere in the world. All they need is an internet connection. And this means that there is a massive pool of workers to choose from. In turn, this level of availability allows your business to benefit from 24/7 coverage. This flexibility enhances your competitive edge and ensures that crucial tasks are completed with ease and on time.
The benefits of a virtual assistant, in any capacity, are clearly an exciting prospect for any business. But how exactly can they help with virtual live chat?
Virtual Assistants and Virtual Live Chat
The most important benefit of virtual assistants, when it comes to virtual live chat, is their availability. The possibilities afforded by working with virtual workers guarantees that a 24/7 service can be provided. Therefore, your business can continue to reap the benefits of virtual live chat at 6am just as effectively as at 6pm. This makes for a highly lucrative prospect and is one that all businesses should consider.
Virtual live chat, however, is about much more than just availability, so let’s take a look at the other benefits it can deliver:
- Cost Effective Communication: The traditional method of live communication has, for decades, been the telephone. But the costs associated with phone contracts and equipment can swallow up large portions of your budget. Virtual live chat is much more cost effective. Initial outlay on software is minimal and unlimited chat-time is available for a fixed cost.
- Speed: Customers want their questions resolved as quickly as possible. And, sometimes, this can be as simple as providing a link to some information e.g. a web page detailing a specific product or a knowledge database. But providing a link over the phone isn’t easy, some URLs are close to impossible to dictate. Virtual live chat provides the perfect environment for solving this predicament; URLs can be sent within seconds by virtual assistants. And this minimizes the time taken to solve what would otherwise be labor heavy endeavors.
- Convenience: Customer service should always be accessible and convenient. Virtual live chat ticks these two boxes with ease. Providing live chat to your customers allows you to connect them with support teams instantly. For a customer, this is much more preferable to queuing in a physical location or being stuck at the end of a long telephone queue. Best of all, virtual live chat is available on a wide range of devices to guarantee availability to all.
- Higher Conversion Rate: The cumulative effect of all these benefits is an increased conversion rate. The general consensus is that consumers love the in-depth information on offer and that it is available instantly. Not only are the chances of conversion significantly increased, but your customers are more inclined to return. It’s a highly powerful strategy for businesses to take advantage of and one that should not be passed up.
As you can see, the benefits of virtual live chat are numerous and powerful. These benefits are strengthened even further when they are in the hands of highly skilled virtual assistants. So, how do you go about implementing such a service?
Entering the World of Virtual Live Chat
The good news is that connecting a virtual assistant with your business is simple. All they need is an internet connection. With this in place, a virtual assistant can use their PC, laptop or tablet to seamlessly integrate with your business. But, for virtual live chat to succeed, you need to make sure that you are working with the best live chat companies.
There are many live chat platforms available, but the ones that are best positioned to get results are:
- LiveChatInc: Established nearly 20 years ago, LiveChatInc provides a comprehensive customer support package. Their platform is one which strives to cut costs and increase sales. And it does this by providing a lightning quick service which allows one chat agent to talk with several customers at once.
- Olark: Detail is crucial when it comes to dealing with customers and Olark embraces this concept. Not only does it allow chat agents to quickly respond to customer queries, but it also allows live chat insights to be applied. This maximizes the chances of answering customer questions correctly and increasing conversion rates.
- Drift: Converting website visitors into customers is one of the main aims of virtual live chat. And Drift is keen to establish this outcome by fostering a better sales environment. It does this by directing the correct chat agent to each conversation e.g. a sales expert towards a potential purchase and a customer service rep for a general enquiry.
- Intercom: Growing and managing your business is the core objective of Intercom. Using team-based frameworks, your virtual live chat team can collaborate on customer queries. This empowers them to make the best decisions. And this leads to more conversions. More importantly, it allows your organization to deal with more customer queries than ever before.
A One Stop Solution
Virtual live chat represents a powerful tool for your company; it’s essential for growing your business and providing your customers with a world class service. There are few organizations that would argue against increased conversion rates, so integrating virtual live chat should be considered a priority. But, for your live chat solution to be effective, you also need to be working with the very best virtual assistants. Pineapple Staffing has you covered when it comes to virtual hiring. We can connect you with the virtual assistants you need to make your live chat a success.
