Live chat has quickly become an important customer service option for consumers online today, allowing them to quickly receive answers to their questions by a live person with knowledge of the company and site.  While many companies understand the need for live chat implementation, many do not realize the skills involved with this type of operation.  Often times directors or managers believe live chat can be added to a current employee’s tasks, not realizing the added time and skill sets necessary for success.  Instead of setting your agents and live chat up for failure, creating a dedicated team of chat agents should be considered when it comes to live chat.

As stated above, many companies are unaware of the different skill sets and requirements involved with hiring and maintaining a staff of competent agents to cover live chat.  Taking a handful of customer service agents off the phones and putting them in front of a keyboard can be a big mistake on multiple levels.  Before making quick decisions on your live chat operations, look to answer these simple yet telling questions.

How much web traffic does your site receive? What will the volume of inquiries be?

Depending on the amount of web traffic your site receives and the amount of questions your visitors ask, a handful of agents may not be enough to handle the number of conversations that will flood the chat panes.  Having a dedicated staff on chat allows you to save your phone-based agents from being stretched too thin with increased volume.

Do your agents have the necessary skill-sets for chat?

Along with chat volume, the skill-sets required to successfully handle live chat are far different compared to those needed to handle customer support via telephone.  Agents handling live chat must be competent with their typing, have impeccable spelling and grammar as well as be able to project a friendly and inviting tone through their chat responses.  Dedicated agents are specifically trained for these skills and compared to an agent moved from the phones over, can provide faster, more friendly service to your website’s visitors.

Live chat is a great way for your company to show its current and potential customers that you are committed to providing the best possible customer service.  Being available on the medium they want with dedicated agents ready to answer any and all questions posed by site visitors can greatly improve your conversion numbers while reducing cart and site abandonment.  If your customer service operations are new to live chat, considering dedicated agents may provide the best solution to quickly and effectively establish a new area of customer service on your website.  If you are interested in learning more about live chat capabilities or would like to know what customer service option is best for you, contact Eventus to speak to a live chat expert who can help you and your organization make an informed decision through strategy, implementation and operational aspects.

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