Is Your Website Turning Potential Customers Into Paying Customers?
BY HEIDI MCIVOR ALLEN
We live in a world today where most people would rather use a Live Chat function if it were offered than pick up the phone and call a company or physically go into a business. For businesses that utilize a Live Chat feature, it is allowing the consumer to interact with a business the way that they want to. My parents being young Baby Boomers, they would rather pick up the phone and call or walk into the business, but by offering the Live Chat function, they can choose how they want to interact with a business. To understand how to turn potential customers into paying customers, we need to explore the concept of “Live Chat”.
“When you change one thing, you have the ability to change EVERYTHING.”
TOP REASONS PEOPLE PREFER A LIVE CHAT OPTION
1) The Believe They Can Get Their Questions Answered Immediately
2) The Ability to Multi-Task
3) The Believe It Is The Most Efficient Communication Method
From a business standpoint, having Live Chat is a no-brainer because it is a way for someone to represent your business 24/7, without paying someone to represent your business 24/7. With 42% of chat leads coming outside of normal business hours, this is a great way to capture those leads coming in, and then following up with them during regular business hours. Now if I had to fill out a form on their website with my information and then wait for a response? It just doesn’t convert as well.
We live in a society where we want instant gratification; we want our questions answered immediately. Even if I used the Live Chat function and the agent responded with “someone from our office will be in contact”- that’s great! I have reached out and they know I am expecting a call; the ball is now in their court and if they have a good customer service team, I would expect to hear from them relatively quickly. 42% of consumers say live chatting is their preferred was of giving contact info, which is higher than any other lead method.
LET'S TALK ABOUT LEADS
Think about your own consumer behavior for a minute. If you go onto a website, do you typically fill out the form and wait for a response, or are you more comfortable giving your information to a Live Chat agent?
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “those bots and automated responses drive me nuts!” That might be the case with some chat features, but a Live Chat agent is just that – a LIVE Chat Agent. It is not a bot, it is not Artificial Intelligence, and it is not automated responses. It is a live person that is gathering lead information for a business so the business can then follow up with that lead. Something to keep in mind about this digital offering is that it is not a money maker and not going to make you rich. This is a renewal tool and a way to show clients their Return on Investment (ROI). By running Live Chat along with another digital product, it offers a great one/two punch in showing the ROI because on most websites, we will be able to track someone clicking on the “Start Chat” button and then show those as Live Chat Conversions on the Monthly Report.
The way that Live Chat works, is a piece of code is created for the Live Chat that is put into the container tag. This piece of code is what activates the Live Chat feature, so the business must be able to install a container tag on their website for Live Chat to work. Once that code is placed, the Live Chat agent will start to show on the website and the user can access the Live Chat on the left-hand side of their screen, or the bottom right corner.
If the user is visiting the website through their phone, they also have the option to text using the Live Chat. If they do decide to engage via text, the button will go to a text number provided by Live Chat that will match the area code of the business’ phone number; the client will not be able to have their cell, or another phone number, listed as the number that comes up when “text us” is selected.
The leads that are gathered are categorized into 3 different types of leads (Sales, Other, or Service), and the client is only charged for those that are considered “Sales” leads:
“SALES” (BILLABLE) - Someone the Live Chat agent chatted with and obtained the visitor’s name and contact information (phone number and/or email address), what the visitor is looking for is offered by the business, and the visitor falls within the business’ geographic coverage area
“SERVICE” (NON-BILLABLE) - An existing customer of the business – they may be trying to reschedule an appointment or get in touch with their sales rep, etc.
“OTHER” (NON-BILLABLE) - Someone who is outside of the geographic coverage area, someone looking for a service the business doesn’t offer, looking for a job, etc.
Another benefit of adding Live Chat is that it increases conversion rates, and who doesn’t love a good conversion? Twenty percent of chat conversations result in a lead, and 40% more leads are gathered online when using live chat than with no chat.
As I mentioned earlier, providing Live Chat on a website allows a consumer to interact with a business the way that they want to, but it also allows for two-way communication between the consumer and the business. I always like to think of sales as dating. If you go on a date with someone and they just keep talking about themselves, that’s probably as far as the date is going to go. If the date is more of a two-way conversation and both parties are learning about each other, then there will likely be another date. It’s the same with business. By having a Live Chat agent on a website, a business is opening up the opportunity for further dialogue with the consumer.
McIvor Marketing Wants To Help You With Live Chat Features
From this blog you can see that there are a lot of positive reasons for having the Live Chat option on a website both from a consumer standpoint, and from a business standpoint. Here at McIvor Marketing, we want to supply you with the best tips and resources to have the most success with your business! We’re all in this together and are here to help each other grow! When you change one thing, you can change EVERYTHING! Start making positive changes today by reaching out to us today!
What Business Services Does McIvor Marketing Offer?
We are so glad you asked! From setups to start-ups to businesses in growth and transformation, McIvor Marketing has services to meet your needs. Not ready to dive into hiring a full-time marketing director? Are you just curious about how your marketing is performing? We can help you set up trackable ways to measure your marketing ROI with a project-based digital audit to help you find out what vendors are performing. We can also help you get your social media advertising portals set up. In addition to that, we also offer training on Google Analytics, Facebook Business Manager, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Canva, as well as how to plan content and brainstorm ideas to help you grow through research.
Our phoenix based digital marketing agency can help with website design & development, logo design, branding items, off-line marketing design and strategy, paid search management, social media ad management, email marketing, display advertising and more! Check out our full list of services and reach out with any questions.
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