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There is an abundance of stats on the internet revealing the popularity of live chat for customer service. It’s accessibility and speed meet today’s customer expectations and digital-first preferences. But while these stats are true, the figures don’t always tell the whole story. Why? Because when you offer audio and video chat within your live chat offering, its popularity rises even further.
Audio and video chat give agents the ability to speak directly with the customer, seamlessly switching from typing to talking. This blog will take you through just some of the key reasons why audio and video chat are key to the success of your live chat support and customer satisfaction.
But first, here’s a quick video on what audio and video chat is and how you can use it:
In an age of increasing automation, customers value the human experience. While phone scripts and canned messages can help save you time and keep the conversation up to company standards, they can also mean that the human interaction that is available with in-store experiences doesn’t always translate well to remote support.
Audio and video chat can change that and show your company’s commitment to genuine and personalized contact with your customers. The fact that your customer can see and hear the agent on the other side makes the chatting experience more human, and even helps to increase trust in the agent. While you may not have the full attention of an agent who is in a live chat conversation handling several queries at once, customers also appreciate the personal, attentive one-on-one help that audio and video chat offer. Building relationships like this can result in improved customer satisfaction and are key to loyalty.
Some conversations are simply better suited to talking rather than typing. Perhaps a customer has a complicated issue that would take a long time to type out. Or maybe they are on the move and typing is inconvenient. Particularly for older demographics, typing may be difficult or unfamiliar to them. By offering audio and video chat within the live chat solution, agents can quickly and easily move the conversation from typing to talking and resolve the issue in whatever way the customer prefers.
Audio and video chat is also a great alternative when you can’t meet in person (which has become more relevant than ever during COVID-19).
And, once the customer and agent are connected, they can address multiple questions and get faster answers to longer questions than they could were they to type everything out. This ultimately reduces agent handling time and improves productivity, allowing agents to handle more queries.
High-value, VIP customers aren’t your ordinary customer; since they are planning on investing (or have invested) a greater sum in your company, they often demand an even more personalized service and exceptionally quick attendance.
Unlike traditional phone systems, live chat allows your company to establish automatic routing rules that put your VIP customers in direct contact with their account manager. The one-on-one nature of audio and video chat helps build stronger personal relationships with these clients (or prospective clients), who as a result become more valuable to your company.
Every eCommerce marketer worth their salt knows that providing clear and plentiful product imagery is key to almost any sale. Video chat takes this to a whole new level. Through video chat, agents can very effectively showcase and demonstrate products to customers, showing your customer more detail than they could ever get from an image. And this doesn’t have to be used for eCommerce – a car dealership could take the customer on a virtual tour of the car, for example
This adds an extra level of engagement and trust that will go a long way in securing sales.
Every single one of your customers are valuable and deserve timely and quality assistance. Video chat for businesses allows agents to communicate with deaf customers via sign-language and provide a valuable service that just isn’t possible over the phone. In fact, Comm100 Live Chat is WCAG 2 compliant.
Additionally, video chat software can be used securely by medical and counselling professionals to help diagnose and treat patients who may be incapable of or unwilling to leave the house for a face-to-face appointment.
Today’s consumers are demanding. With so much choice and competition, they can easily switch from brand to brand to find the company that provides them with the support they want. To deal with this, offering choice and building relationships is absolutely key, and although audio and video chat is just one step in this direction, it will make you stand out from the crowd and show your customers you care.
Offer real-time, personalized, efficient support that your customers and agents will love at 1/3 the cost of voice support.
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