Understanding the Importance of On-Site Chat
It’s a tale as old as time. Well, not really. But you get the picture. You’re on a website and you have a burning question about the product - or maybe you’re on the fence about buying something - and there’s no one around to answer your question.
You can’t find an email address or a phone number to call, so you end up leaving and looking somewhere else for what you need. When websites started popping up, it was very much a one-way street. The only interaction was between the visitor and the content on the website.
And it was only later that marketers realised that allowing visitors to communicate with them directly through the website was far more valuable than just leaving them to browse by themselves and hoping they would make a purchase. In comes live chat. Live chat has been around for decades now but its popularity has skyrocketed in recent years.
And there are plenty of reasons why. For one thing, customers prefer live chat over other forms of communication because it’s quick and convenient and also doesn’t require talking on the phone (not all customers like talking on the phone. ).
Live chat also allows businesses to respond instantly to their customers’ queries, reducing the chances of them bouncing off your website and going elsewhere. But here’s where it gets better. It turns out that on-site chat is not just useful for potential customers. It is comparatively also a valuable source of information for businesses because it allows us to see where customers are struggling and how we can fix those issues to increase conversion rates.
This makes having an on-site chat feature an absolute no-brainer.
Tactic 1: Personalized Greetings to Capture Attention
The last time I walked into a store, I was greeted by an enthusiastic person at the entrance. There were no generic hellos or a “Can I help you.
” loaded with anticipation for rejection. Sort of. I Reckon they gave me a smile and asked about my day. Imagine feeling this welcome every time you visit an online store as well.
It’s quite easy to connect online, but it’s equally easy to get the wording wrong and scare people off their chairs. In human terms, it can translate to someone approaching you at a store asking, “How can I help. ” repeatedly until you get annoyed and are forced to leave – probably swearing never to come back. The trick is to use available personalisation tools and understand that AI can only take things so far.
Retaining that human connection is key. The way I see it, personalised greetings remind shoppers that there is a real person behind the chat bubble – someone who truly cares about their experience and wants to help them shop better.
Even if it’s just two little words: Welcome Back. It appears that personalised greetings (as long as they are brief and to the point) have a much bigger impact than we realise. But it’s important not to overthink things.
Adding too much of a personal touch can seem very off-putting – kind of like an over-enthusiastic stranger following you around at a party, wanting nothing more than to be your best mate for no reason. Intense eye contact included.
Tactic 2: Proactive Engagement Strategies
You know that thing where you walk into a store, and the salesperson can’t seem to figure out how to approach you. They either hover too close or disappear, leaving you fumbling alone. The same sort of thing can happen on an e-commerce site, especially when it comes to chatbots.
Sometimes, we don’t realise how important proactive engagement strategies are until we run into a customer who just needed a little nudge. I’ve found that proactive engagement - reaching out to visitors even before they hit us up with a question - isn’t about being pushy. It’s about predicting the needs of our customers and offering value at the right moment. Welcome greetings can help start things off, but customising them based on visitors’ browsing history takes things up a notch.
Say someone’s been looking at skincare products for oily skin - wouldn’t it be great if our chatbot sent them information about controlling acne. It almost feels like a mind reader. Something I’ve noticed is that businesses love showing off what they can do - which is great, but not always necessary.
Personalisation can go horribly wrong if it means bombarding people with irrelevant information or being too insistent. It seems like the trick is to find out when’s the right time to send over a greeting or pop up with offers and suggestions. More or less. With website bots that have access to browsing patterns and history, the possibilities seem endless (and tempting).
But there’s a fine line between proactive engagement and stalking your potential customers till they decide your product isn’t worth it after all. It appears that the best way forward is to be attentive without smothering anyone - sometimes, it makes sense for bots to ask first before starting conversations.
Tactic 3: Utilizing Chatbots for Instant Support
We’ve all been there. Feels Like the site looks amazing, your products look cool, but you have a question, and you know this company only checks their email inbox on days of the week ending in y.
Enter chatbots. With so many resources online to answer pretty much any burning fashion question you might have, why not help customers have access to your specific knowledge bank 24/7. Using chatbots or a ‘frequently asked questions’ search feature will help customers get answers to their questions instantly. If they need support with tracking their order, want to know what size you recommend, or even just how you started as a business, they’re more likely to stick around if their answer is available instantly.
The way I see it, this is about making sure that there is little to no friction between a customer and what they’re looking for - be that answers or information about your brand. Chatbots could be what makes your business stand out from the crowd because they feel like your business cares. Personalised shopping can’t stop at just recommendations - it needs to be holistic and cater to every aspect of the shopping experience.
And that means making sure your customer has all the information they need before spending their money. After all, if you don’t want them to have buyer’s remorse (and buy again), being helpful goes a long way.
Tactic 4: Collecting Feedback Through Chat Interactions
You know that feeling when you finally find a moment to ask someone what they think, but it’s already too late. The moment has passed. They're out the door, halfway down the road, and not even your best "wait up" can bring them back.
That’s what collecting feedback feels like for most eCommerce stores. At least for those who’ve not caught up with using on-site chat to collect it in real time. The way I see it, it’s this thing that’s been around for a while but is only now gaining popularity. Traditionally, feedback collection was an afterthought.
I know because I have worked with so many brands who saw collecting feedback as yet another box to check rather than a goldmine of insights that it is. But things are changing. With on-site chat, you can now get feedback from shoppers in real time while they’re still browsing your website.
And all it takes is setting up prompts within your chat window or automating questions based on customer behaviour. Like, let’s say a shopper has been on your site for 15 minutes and hasn’t bought anything.
Maybe the chatbot could politely ask if there’s anything keeping them from making a purchase today. Or if they did make a purchase, maybe ask if there was any friction in their checkout experience.
I realise some businesses are still coming around to the idea of automating chat interactions, but as someone who’s watched the industry evolve from static popups to smart chatbots that go far beyond sharing discount codes, I’d say now is as good a time as any to start using chatbots for collecting feedback in real time.
Measuring Success: Analyzing Chat Engagement Metrics
We’ve all been there - scrolling on the phone, slightly bored but still in need of answers. It seems like now, every touchpoint with a brand is quite a bit less transactional and more interactive so understanding your audience has never been more important. Instead of spending time wondering what makes your audiences tick, measuring chat metrics can tell you everything you need to know in black and white.
More or less. Metrics like start and response rates, open rates, average number of messages or interaction length and operator performance might seem like random statistics at first but each gives you invaluable insights into how audiences feel about the experience you’re delivering as well as areas where it can be further improved. For example, a low response rate could suggest an unfriendly UI, clunky interface or even the wrong placement on a webpage while low satisfaction scores are an indication that audiences are generally unhappy with how things are being handled. More or less.
In addition to giving you an inside look into what’s working and what isn’t, measuring chat engagement metrics also helps track overall effectiveness against tangible KPIs such as brand awareness, conversions and revenue growth. By going back to these simple questions: 1) What is this feature intended to do. 2) Is it helping audiences on their journey.
3) Is it helping my business achieve its goals. - you can then go on to monitor whether those goals are indeed being met or if the approach needs to be tweaked. Trying different things can be confusing - particularly when using features like this for the first time. But by keeping an eye on important statistics with the human element in mind, even things that aren’t working become easier to identify so you can take steps towards fixing them.
All in all, I’d say chat engagement metrics are a great addition to your toolbox for helping customers navigate their journey but also providing actionable insights for your own team.