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Would you accuse a play of being bad just because the actors used a script? Of course not.
The same should apply to a quality customer service chat. Sure, it’s a little different from theater–you are responding to a customer’s immediate questions and needs, and not just providing entertainment. But a successful live chat script is like a play with a choose-your-own-adventure twist. It’s part performance and part audience participation, and if done correctly, can be a whole lot of fun.
Your job, as an exceptional live chat agent, is to know all the different possible endings, and to lead your customer to the right one.
But if you’re still not convinced, here are the top 8 reasons you need a live chat script:
A good live chat script makes your job as an agent easier. This is because you’ll always know what to say and what’s been pre-approved by your company. Few things are as nerve-racking on the job as finding yourself in a situation where you actually don’t know what to say. Having a script minimizes the opportunities for these moments.
As Stephen M. R. Covey, the author of The Speed of Trust, states in his essay about trust and leadership:
Trust is hard to come by these days, but you need it in order to conduct business successfully. As a live chat agent, you know from experience that customers trust you when you communicate clearly. Having clear direction from a script will make you more confident, and agents who are confident inspire trust in their customers. Remember, in this situation you are acting as leader! Don’t be afraid of the title–own it with your exceptional live chat etiquette.
Ask your live chat support team to report which phrases they have found most effective when dealing with unhappy customers. This will prove invaluable to future hires and less experienced team members, who will need these field-tested scripts to guide their conversations.
The importance of using a script can never be overstated when it comes to consistent quality–you don’t want a customer speaking to a senior agent one day and a less experienced one the next, only to feel a huge difference in the quality of service he received.
Though we all like to hold tight to our plans and believe they’ll work out seamlessly, we’re always aware that we’ll have to improvise along the way. But that doesn’t render the act of planning useless–if anything, the power of planning makes you clarify your goals and intentions, and forces you to mentally prepare yourself for the curveballs that life throws your way.
The same can be said for managing your live chat system. When you have to keep track of different responses for different scenarios, it’s imperative to keep these messages organized and have a concrete plan. Working with scripts really pushes you and your team to categorize messages under different potential scenarios for easy retrieval. This in turn helps you keep a mental index of different issues that crop up and how to handle them, turning you into a customer service machine.
Live chat scripts are vital to streamlining productivity. If you know what to say and how to say it you’ll get the work done more efficiently, which is vital when you are juggling multiple chats at once. Typing out clunky messages not only slows down your chat dialogue, but it also prevents you from efficiently responding to your other chat customers.
That’s why reciting a script is crucial if you don’t want to run the risk of blanking. Knowing your script inside out like a good actor will prevent your mind from coming up empty. If you’re adequately prepared, customer questions and comments will automatically trigger the right response.
Offer real-time, personalized, efficient support that your customers and agents will love at 1/3 the cost of voice support.
Learn moreYou may feel a little bit like Houdini when you realize you know the magic words to put a customer at ease. If you’ve worked out your script beforehand, you’ll know the positive phrasing that will trigger calm.
Have these live chat examples rolled up your sleeve like a magician’s dove:
Having the ability to calm a customer and reach resolutions quickly is truly a live chat benefit all agents should be able to enjoy.
It may seem counterintuitive, but having a script may actually make your company more unique rather than more generic. If you go about it with the right mindset, script-building is a chance to brand your company through language.
For example, you might deal with young customers a lot, so you may want to use emoticons or certain buzzwords that are popular like, “Hey!” or “Cool!” Or if you are selling software to tech companies, you might want to use certain industry terms in order to truly speak their lingo. Take a basic script and tweak it with your team to really go that extra mile and wow your site visitors.
Remember, no one is saying that a script is a replacement for your compassion. But a great script is the jumping-off point to greater success with your customers. Just like true actors, you must be prepared with the right script. Then everything else can fall into play.
Lost without a script? Try our customer chat service script, 101 Ready-to-Use Live Chat Scripts for Both Sales and Customer Service, today to further your awesome live chat skills.
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