Is live chat a viable form of customer engagement for today’s marketers?
Just ask millennials. According to a new survey from Software Advice, 60 percent of millennials prefer to have their online shopping queries answered via live chat over traditional channels. The majority of U.S. adults surveyed have used live chat at least once—and many express a clear preference for it over more traditional customer service channels, the survey says.
As an online service channel, live chat meets customers exactly where most of them seek pre-sales product information and post-sales support. Because of this, receiving support via live chat requires considerably less effort for most customers than phone or email support.
What’s more, the survey shows that businesses find great value in live chat support. It lowers the barrier to first contact for prospective clients, and offers immediate support answers to existing customers. Companies with a customer base centered on the lower age-range bracket—the demographic with the strongest preference for live chat—consistently express success with their implementations. But even more noteworthy is that companies with customers in the highest age-range brackets also report success.
The survey, “The Impact of Demographics on Live Chat Customer Service,” examines those considerations required for the implementation of online live chat, drawing upon data from a recent Software Advice survey on customer preferences and discussions with companies that currently offer live chat as a customer service channel.
Online live chat from leading vendors like KANA is proving to be one of the best service channels for meeting customers’ needs throughout their journey, from first contact through post-sale support, the survey says.
Consider the following findings:
More than half (56 percent) of respondents have used live chat at least once to answer a question on a company’s website
49 percent of respondents prefer using live chat for online-shopping questions, while 74 percent prefer telephone for complex financial questions
Regardless of the nature of the question, 56 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 prefer live chat to phone, compared to 27 percent of respondents aged 35 and older
Online live chat is proving to be one of the best service channels for meeting customers’ needs throughout their journey, from first contact through post-sale support, the survey says. As an online tool, it meets customers in the very place they increasingly turn for answers: the Internet. And unlike other channels such as email, live chat provides instant support, with minimal customer effort required.
For businesses that offer live chat, the survey reveals that the channel’s success depends, to some degree, on the nature of the question being asked. Live chat excels at providing immediate answers to simple questions, but as the question or support issue becomes more complicated, phone or email support channels gain the advantage.
Some respondents indicated that customers use live chat primarily to ask “more detailed questions about information that isn’t readily available on the Web page or product page,” but if a customer wants to see additional pictures or video of a particular item, that assistance must be provided via email.
The top reasons for using live chat are convenience and no wait time, the survey notes. Implementation of it is “quick and painless,” the survey says.