9 Ways Contact Centers Can Improve Web Chat Interactions

Written by KOVA Corp

As technology evolves new ways of communicating with customers, the problem of making sure that person-to-person communication does not become distorted by the digital medium is a real one. The ways we achieve customer satisfaction sometimes require special consideration.

This is especially true with web chat. Missing nuances of tone and facial expressions, a chat session that seems innocuous and customer-friendly to your contact center team member might come across as curt and rude to a customer. In order to optimize web chat for customer relations, here a few best practices to keep in mind.

Know Your LimitationsKOVA

No matter how well you’ve trained your contact center team members, web chat has its limitations as a communications medium. In crafting web chat policies make sure to include a line in the sand specifying when it’s time to switch to the telephone.

Some types of problems are just too complex for web chat – customers will thank you for making sure their concerns are addressed as fully as possible. Where First Contact Resolution (FCR) can’t be achieved, a seamless transfer of conversation from chat to telephone should be possible.

Keeping The Light On

Keeping customers waiting can ramp up frustration levels. If there are no contact center team members available for chat, have a capability that shades out the “Chat Now” feature. Better to deactivate the feature than condemn customers to an indefinite wait in a clogged queue.

Keep It Personal

Yes, web chat is staffed by live, honest-to-goodness human beings, but the chat medium can make customers feel like they’re talking to a robot. By emphasizing a personalized web chat conversation, you not only encourage customers to use the web chat feature, but you leave them satisfied with the experience. It can be as easy as telling them your name and asking how their day was. Paying attention to their conversation, and gathering extra details about their situations, can also show the customers that their problems are being heard, understood, and solved.

Perpetually Professional

It goes without saying that the obligations of professionalism don’t disappear in digital media. We may abbreviate and misspell words in our private texts and e-mails, but there is no place for poor grammar and spelling when communicating with customers. Even when the conversations become friendly and a little more personal to where the customer shares information unrelated to the problem, keep a level of professionalism and focus on solving their issue.

Instant Response

In communicating via web chat, it is crucial to respond to the customer immediately. Any wait at all will seem too long to a customer needing assistance. Even if you do not immediately know the answer to their question, respond asking for more information or to let them know that you are about to research their problem.

Keeping It Lively

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Avoid long paragraph responses. Customers tend to give up on chat when it takes too long to see a response. So keep responses short and snappy to keep customer attention focused on the chat experience. Make sure to ask follow up questions throughout the conversations, to ensure that the customer is understanding your instructions.

Simply Simple

Keep instructions as clear and easy to understand as possible. Try going in a numbered steps order, or respond slowly with descriptive details. If the chat experience is too complicated it defeats its purpose and makes for an unpleasant customer experience.

Remember, if things get too complicated, it’s time to switch to the telephone.

Constant Confirmation

Avoid making customers reconfirm information they have already confirmed. It slows the chat down uselessly, and is just annoying.

Generation ?

An easily overlooked matter is the age of the person a team member is chatting with. Typically, younger customers are comfortable with chat features. Readiness to redirect queries to other avenues of communication ensures that all customers receive the attention and help they deserve. Being sensitive to age and preferences in contact center communications are crucial to a satisfying customer experience.

 

Live web chatting can be unsuccessful, if the right measures are taken. You always want to make sure your customer feels comfortable, and understood. Remember, the customer is always right, so do your best to help them through their problems, because the better your customer service is, the more likely the customer will return.

 

 

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