Page 27 - The Compass 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 8

PURCHASING: ONlINe CHAt: HOw tO StARt, wHAt tO exPeCt by Kevin Gurski with help from HomeServiceChats

Have you ever been researching something on the Web and come upon a • Increase in customer satisfaction.
site where a chat box popped up? For years, Apple, REI, Disney, and many o Your office will be more accessible to customers throughout a great-
other industry-leading companies have been using online chat to achieve er portion of the day. When accessibility increases, new customer
superior customer experiences and increase sales effectiveness. Research satisfaction increases. Not only will new customers be impressed,
shows that visitors who chat are 7.5 times more likely to complete a pur- current customers will use it during your busy days and while they
chase than visitors who don’t chat. Chat also leads to greater customer are at work.
satisfaction and more frequent repeat business. But is it right for residen- Challenges:
tial-service companies? • Professionally managed chat is a financial investment.
The theory behind chat is fairly simple: make it easier for potential cus- o If you chose to have a professional manager for your chat service, expect
tomers to communicate with your company, interact with a greater number the starting rate to be $249 monthly.
of potential customers, and schedule more service calls. Though the theory • Increased website bounce rate.
of chat for your company is simple, the practice of chatting professionally o We noticed a slightly higher bounce rate after installing chat on
is difficult to execute. So, is it worth implementing in your company? What company websites. However, the evidence suggests that the bene-
are the benefits of chat? What are the challenges associated with chat? fit of session duration outweighs the negative effect of the slight
Benefits: increase in bounce rate. We only saw increases in Google organic
• Interact with new customers outside of normal business hours and in- rankings after adding chat—never decreases.
crease web-conversions. • (Potential) Customer frustration for poor chat execution and framing.
o Because chat is more effective than a lifeless “Schedule Now” button, o Chat is easy to do poorly. If done poorly, customers get frustrated,
you will convert more web visitors into new customers when your CSRs get frustrated, and chat is ineffective.
office is closed by live interaction with the customer. o Much like the phone, if your team has poor service, poor phone skills,
o Our goal as marketers should be to meet the buyer where the buyer and poor scripting, your phone conversations will not be effective.
wants to buy. Just like direct mail, Facebook marketing, and Google AdWords are not
• Lower communication barriers help increase the frequency of communi- for everyone, chat is not for everyone. However, when chat is implemented
cation with new customers on your website. deliberately and correctly, it can be an extremely effective tool for driving
o Statistics show that 3-7 percent of non-bounced web visitors are likely revenue and “wowing” customers.
to engage with online chat. If you are interested in implementing chat on your company website,
o Of the total chatters, over 40 percent will be new customers. whether you are looking for a professional service or you are looking for
o With an experienced and high-quality chat agent, you can expect to col- help getting chat setup in-house, feel free to chat with one of our newest
lect contact information from 50-60 percent of those new customers. Partners, HomeServiceChats. You can learn more about them by visiting
• Better organic search ranks due to longer user-session duration. their website or contacting Trevor directly. Along with their great service,
o When customers chat with your company, they stay on your site for they are also offering SGI members a rebate. They are hoping to chat with
a longer period. Longer session duration leads to higher organic you soon.
Google-search results.
o Because the average chat length is between six and eight minutes, Website: www.HomeServiceChats.com; Partner Contact: Trevor Flannigan
chatters are staying on your site longer. (816) 282-0406
o Compared with the same period in the previous year, average ses- trevor@professionalchats.com
sion duration increased 10%.
Attention

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THE COMPASS | Issue 8 | 2017 27