With the advent of online chat, customer service has gotten much easier for both customers and the customer service representatives who try to help them. However, when not used correctly, online chat can also leave both parties feeling more frustrated at the end of the conversation than when the conversation started. So to help use this technology to your full advantage and ensure that your customers get just what they need, here are three tips for communicating with leads and customers through online chat.
Know What You’re Getting Into Before The Chat Starts
To give your leads and customers the best chance of having a successful experience speaking with your company through online chat, it’s wise to know what you’re getting into with this conversation prior to it starting. To do this, you should consider setting up a pre-chat survey before you begin a chat conversation.
In this survey, you can ask things like what their name is and what the basics of their question or problem is. This way, if you have certain people who are better equipped to handle specific types of questions, you can give these leads or customers to the ones who will be best able to help. Additionally, just having a little more knowledge before you jump into a conversation can be very helpful for you in general.
Save Your Most Common Responses
One reason why many customers like to use online chat is because it’s a quick and easy way to get the help that they need without waiting on hold. Knowing this, you should try to do everything in your power to answer their questions as quickly as possible.
To help you get your conversations moving quickly, you can and should use saved responses for common questions that you get asked on a regular basis. For example, if there are a lot of people who experience the same issues, saving the response for how to work through this issue can save both sides a lot of time. And since the response is already written out, you can ensure that it’s error-free, too.
Let Your Personality Come Through
When leads or customers call into a business, they almost expect not to be able to speak to a real person. But with online chat, showing that you’re a real person responding to them can be very beneficial.
To do this, try to let your personality come through in your responses and the questions that you ask to your lead or customer. This can help the person you’re talking to feel more comfortable, and they’ll appreciate that they’re speaking to a real person and not just a computer.
If you use online chat to speak with your leads or customers, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you communicate better with everyone you interact with.