Live chat has become an integral part of almost every online customer support system. The appeal comes from the accessibility, ease of use, and speed of the feature, giving customers the ability to almost instantly solve any issues they may have. So, how does this translate into numbers and trends this year for businesses in Rockford?
Adoption and Usage
In a 2018 survey performed by Bold 360, 71% of businesses stated that live chat will become the most popular form of customer support by the year 2021. This is due to the short response times, customer satisfaction, and the quality of the service. In fact, live chat is currently the most preferred customer service channel according to 73-81% of respondents, depending on the survey, with 30% of customers expecting live chat functionality on a company’s website. Currently, however, only 9% of companies have the feature implemented on their site. This could translate into a competitive advantage depending on your current industry, market, and competitors.
Speaking of speed, Hubspot found that customers expect an answer to a customer support query in 10 minutes or less. This expectation can be easily met through live chat, which in most cases, offers an almost instant reply. According to Zoho, 87% of companies that have implemented live chat on their website offered the service for this exact reason. On top of that, 61% of those surveyed stated that the feature has been implemented in order to increase sales and conversions.
User Preferences
Now that we know the companies’ point of view, let’s take a look at users. Traditional customer support methods are still prevalent today. However, according to Kayako, 41% of customers state that live chat is their preferred method of reaching out to a company, with phone support coming in second at 32%, and email support in third at 23%. This high rate of preference is due to the instant response of live chat operators. Interestingly, 42% of businesses think that customers prefer phone services over all other support methods, according to Kayako.
Customer Satisfaction Rates
So, let’s take a look at customer satisfaction rates. Zendesk has found that customer satisfaction rate for live chat is at 92%, the highest of all support methods. This number oscillates between 82% and 92% according to several reports. One of the main driving factors behind this high number is the instant response time that you get with live chat. Another interesting statistic comes from a SuperOffice survey, where it was found that around 21% of live chat requests remain unanswered. This could be due to several factors, such as technical issues, a shortage of live chat operators, or simply customers leaving the chat before the issue was addressed.
Benchmarks
Since response times are so important to users, live chat service providers have been focused on reducing the amount of time that a user has to wait in order to speak to an agent. On average, this time dropped by 11 seconds, from 59 seconds in 2015 to 48 seconds in 2018. However, companies can strike a balance here. While 77% of customers expect an instant response time, according to a survey done by Drift, 95% of them would be okay with slower-paced chats in order to get a higher quality support service. This means that customers expect to reach a live chat agent instantly, but once they are in the chat room, they would prefer to take their time in order to fully solve their issue.
Implementing Live Chat for Your Rockford Business Website
Live chat can be either a great addition to your suite of customer support services, or it can be the main avenue for interacting with your customers. If you are interested in implementing live chat in Rockford, contact us today.