Out of all the ways customers can get in touch with businesses in 2023, few are more convenient than live chat. They don’t have to pick up a phone. They don’t have to send out an email and wait hours to hear back. They don’t even have to fill out a form where they disclose all their contact information in exchange for a response. For customers, live chat is simple and convenient, and it allows them to get quick answers to their most pressing questions without requiring a ton of effort.
In 2023, if you’re not utilizing live chat on your website, you could be missing out on an easy way to score major points with prospective customers. Here are five awesome reasons you should add live chat to your home service business website if you haven’t already:
1. CUSTOMERS LOVE LIVE CHAT
When it comes to boosting the conversion rate of your home service website, customer experience is the name of the game. Conversions result from a seamless user experience in which customers can easily get in touch with you if they’re interested in learning more. Customers love live chat because it is the most convenient and allows them to multitask while contacting your business.
In addition to this, live chat is fast. The days of calling and waiting on hold for an available operator are over. With live chat, customers can get in touch with your business instantly, increasing their chances of following through with the interaction rather than dropping off midway through. Compared to 61% for email and 44% for phone, live chat boasts an impressive satisfaction rate of 73%.
2. LIVE CHAT IS AVAILABLE EVEN WHEN YOU AREN’T
Unlike a secretary or customer service representative who goes home every night at 6, live chat is available around the clock to help your customers when they need it the most. This is incredibly important. Even if there is no one around to respond, a live chat system will take in the customer’s inquiry and reassure them that they will get a call or email back. In addition to allowing you to serve your customers better, being available outside of standard business hours is an easy way to stand out from your competition and acquire new customers who might have otherwise looked elsewhere. Often, customers are looking for a business that can respond to their needs the fastest, which live chat does an excellent job of facilitating.
3. LIVE CHAT HELPS YOU CAPTURE LEADS
While it doesn’t involve as much effort or commitment as other forms of communication, live chat systems typically require at least a name and email address from the user in order to start a conversation. As a result of this, you can acquire warm leads from live chat which you or your customer service team can follow up with to potentially convert into paying customers. Utilize the contact information you receive from live chat to score easy bookings and/or email subscribers for your home service business!
4. LIVE CHAT HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS
After using live chat over a certain period of time, you will start to notice patterns in the types of questions people are asking. Do you keep getting requests to chat about your hours? How to book an appointment? Do customers often ask if your business is insured? Whatever your most common questions are, live chat will give you valuable insight into what kind of information prospective customers want to know, and it will allow you to add content to your website accordingly. Ideally, you want your website to be a place where people can go to find authoritative information about both your business and your industry. Having helpful content on your site that answers people’s questions not only improves your SEO and authority, it also boosts your conversion rate by creating an outstanding user experience.
5. LIVE CHAT BOASTS AN IMPRESSIVE ROI
Live chat is a low-cost tool to implement, but it can pay off in spades for your home service business. Unlike phone and email, which can be time-consuming and require high administrative costs, live chat is a convenient and fast mode of communication that you can offer your customers at a relatively cheap price. As far as customer service solutions are concerned, the ROI from live chat is hard to beat with traditional methods.
With technology and customer expectations rapidly evolving, it is important to stay ahead of the curve if you want your business to outperform the rest. Live chat enables you to offer a convenient, easy-to-use, 24/7 customer service option, at a low cost to you as the business owner.
To get started with live chat for your home service business, explore this free live chat software comparison tool from our friends at G2.