Online chat use for customer communication is becoming increasingly common. In 2009, around 38% of all internet users regularly made use of chat features. By 2015, that number had risen to 65% – due to the influence of social media, chat services like Facebook Messenger, and widespread adoption of smartphones.
Obviously, online chat isn’t going anywhere any time soon. And because online chat is now so ubiquitous, adding a live, online chat service to your website can help you acquire more customers, increase customer satisfaction rates, and much more. Read on to learn about the top 3 reasons you should use chat in your customer acquisition strategy!
1. Immediate, Two-Way Communication
Most lead-generation strategies are inherently 1-way. While they’re effective, things like websites, blog posts, and email newsletters don’t allow for user interaction.
Two-way communication is an incredibly effective way to start a conversation with a potential lead – instead of simply broadcasting your message to the world, and hoping the right person sees it.
This is one of the reasons that chatbots are so popular. They facilitate immediate, two-way communication. If a customer is interested in your services, they can begin chatting immediately – and a sales representative can take over from the chatbot, and begin the process of generating a fresh lead.
This allows you to scale your brand’s conversation and messaging – while still preserving the personal touch that customers love.
2. Swift, Timely Action – And More Satisfied Customers.
Timing is everything when it comes to lead generation. It’s always easier to convert a lead when you follow up quickly. Because chatbots provide leads with an immediate way to contact you, you can minimize the time you spend on individual prospects – and let them come to you, instead!
Modern chatbots are very sophisticated. By taking information like time spent on each webpage into account, they can classify individual prospects and leads by who is most likely to convert – increasing efficiency, and allowing you to focus your efforts on the best leads.
Even just sending an automated greeting to a website visitor after they spend 30 seconds on your page can help you get a conversation started. In fact, visitors who are invited to chat by a chatbot or a customer service representative are 6.3x more likely to convert, and start a conversation! These greetings can be customized for multiple scenarios – including repeat visits, a visitor who spends a lot of time on your website, or even tailored to specific product or service pages.
By allowing for immediate interaction and a quick response time, chatbots can dramatically increase lead conversion, and are a valuable part of any customer acquisition strategy.
3. Data Collection For Business Insights
The data you collect from a chatbot can help you make better business decisions, and provide you with critical business insights.
Chatbots can classify customer information based on their responses and level of interest – allowing you to build more accurate data, and improve your future communications with customers.
By building more accurate models of customer behavior, chatbots can perform even more effectively, and provide you with valuable insights about visitor behavior and conversion rates. In turn, this data can be used to deliver more personalized services, offer discounts, and take other actions that will make your leads more likely to convert into paying customers.
Harness The Power Of Live Chat In Your Business Today.
With the proper implementation of a live chat feature using both chatbots and real-world customer service representatives, you can revolutionize your customer acquisition strategy. So take a look at the information above – and start thinking about how your business can harness the power of live chat today.