Why live chat is important to those who outsource customer service

Wednesday, December 4, 2013


Some business owners who want to outsource customer service take communication platforms for granted, thinking that it’s the outsourcing firm's responsibility to decide which channels to use when attending to customers. But a recent survey insinuates that one has to look at a platform that delivers solid results, and thus might become essential to achieving business owners' much-coveted success.

In a recent eDigital Service benchmark survey , 2,000 respondents were asked about various customer service channels, and the results showed that live chat is the most preferred platform by many customers.

By way of satisfaction level for any customer service channel, live chat garnered 73% against email's 63%, and phone, which gained 44%.

Although live chat is not yet the universal platform in customer service, it boasts the highest satisfaction rating, as it delivers more efficient results than transactions done through email or phone.

Despite being the most frequent ways used in call centers to communicate with customers, email and phone surprisingly became an inferior choice of the surveyed customers. Long waiting time, high payment rates, automated answering systems, and unqualified call center representatives cause phone-based customer service to deliver low quality results.

The benefits of live chat


In providing customer service, making customers satisfied with each call and transaction is a must. But as channel preference shifts and changes rapidly, the effectiveness of calls and emails have changed as well. Today, the younger generation prefers live chat over traditional customer service done over the telephone, and the industry must listen to this resounding trend.

Here are the reasons:

  • Live chat is faster

    Most young people today have gone impatient due to the luxuries that technologies brought to their generation. In live chat, time is a key factor. For those who preferred live chat, a large number said that here, their questions are answered quickly, and communication mishaps such as intelligible accent and poor connection do not interfere with the conversation. Hence, it delivers more efficient results.

    Live chat also offers convenience right from the company website, and it forgoes the lengthy direction-dictations present in phone conversations. Links can be easily sent here, which leads to consumer's quick accessing of the company’s website, products, and services.

  • Live chat is cheaper

    It is cheap and delivers favorable results; thus, it is cost-efficient. The good thing about live chat is that there's no such thing as premium or long distance rates that must be paid, as live chat is installed on a brand's website by its developer. Moreover, purchasing live chat platforms like Velaro, WhosOn, and Skype would not make the business owner pay thousands. They are cheap or mostly free.

    In addition, live chat often increases customer purchases as written—or typed—communication helps the business relay its intent clearer to the customer. It's also easier to show the product's appearance since sending photos or links to a website that carries the images of a specific product is very doable in chat. And everybody knows that visuals play an intrinsic part in sales.

  • Live chat data is essential to the company

    Numbers are important to any business to track and understand its customers. Live chat platforms provide an unlimited chat transcript that can be used for reviewing and studying the customer's wants and needs. Through this, monitoring data points can be an essential factor in solving future problems or in creating new products and services for the customers. Using live chat is like having a diligent marketing analyst on your side.

    Choosing the right customer service platform is an important factor in any business that want to outsource customer service. And if you are one of them, better look for an outsourcing firm that use different platforms, for partnering with one that lacks know-how in modern and alternative channels is like forcing yourself to business failure.

Open Access BPO's top priority is to provide unique outsourcing solutions that are built on unparalleled customer service. Learn more about us by visiting our website or by joining us on Google+ account.