I went to a big box store the other day, looking for material and advice to replace a cracked shower tile. The problem was, I couldn’t find an employee anywhere. I don’t know if there was a meeting going on in the store, or if every single employee took the same break at the exact same time, but it seemed as though I wandered aimlessly for weeks before finding someone that could answer my question. Luckily for the store, I was there with the material in hand, with their closest competition fifteen minutes away. Otherwise, I may have simply stopped shopping there, and found someplace more convenient.
Does this happen on your website? Do customers get lost page after page, desperately seeking an answer to a question before hitting, “Add to cart”? I know personally, if I am interested in making a purchase, but cannot get all of my questions answered online, I’m going to a different site. There’s nothing tying me to buying on your page. It’s not like I have a fifteen minute drive in between websites, so chances are, I’m out of there, fast.
We’ll pretend you sell scissors. How many questions could a customer ask? Well, for starters, they may ask:
• Do these work left handed, too?
• How many sheets can I cut through at once?
• Are the grips soft?
• Can they be sharpened later, or are these pretty much disposable?
• How well do these work on hair?”
I know, some of these questions seem silly. Would you want to risk losing this sale, just because the question was silly? I know that if the customer was in the store, they wouldn’t have some of these problems. Now that people are buying more online they have more, shall we say, creative questions.
So, what is the solution? Live chat. Imagine the live chat button on your website as an old-school bell on a countertop. When a customer has a question regarding a product, they ask right away, while they are still on the website. They don’t email you, and then go buy the product elsewhere on the Internet while waiting for a response. They instantly get their question answered, and make a purchase.
I can already hear naysayers, “I don’t have time to sit in front of a computer screen, waiting for people to have questions!” If you have time to sit at a counter, servicing live customers, you have time to answer questions online. The same person can do it. They are both making a purchase from your store. It comes down to training your staff to help online and live customers.
There are other huge advantages to live chat. If you notice someone wandering around your store, you can ask them, “Can I help you?” The same is true of live chat. If someone is on your site, you can ask them, “Can I help point you in the right direction?” You can see how many people are on your site at any time. You can watch what parts of your site are being visited most frequently.
Want to look at this more in depth? Send us an email, and we can discuss this option for your business.
