How to set up live chat support for the best customer experience

Live chat is a powerful tool, but like any tool, it must be used correctly to get the most benefit from it.

If you want to help customers with live chat, you'll need to make smart decisions about where it's added to your site, how your customer service team will use it, and how it integrates with your other support processes.

We've put together this guide to help you not only successfully implement live chat on your website, but also deliver the right kind of support experience to your customers. Let's see why live chat is such a powerful tool for customer support teams. But first…

What is Live Chat Support?

Live chat support is a customer service messaging channel that allows businesses to communicate with customers on their website via chat. It offers a range of benefits to businesses: they can provide instant support to customers and respond to customer questions in real time, which reduces wait times, improves customer satisfaction and boosts sales.

> How Live Chat Adapts to Changing Customer Service Needs

Modern consumers rarely have a single point of contact with any given company. The research process, even for small purchases, can be long and difficult: there are reviews to read, content to consume, documents to check, and questions to ask.

"Modern consumers rarely have a single point of contact with any given company"

All of these touchpoints are opportunities to have a conversation with a customer before, during or after a purchase.

By offering live chat on your site, you make it easier for customers to start that conversation. They don't have to search for a contact email address or take the time to call you. Live chat also helps you personalize the support experience for customers who may have a longer search process than others or naturally ask more questions. With a pervasive chat window, you give those customers the ability to get answers faster without feeling frustrated or inconvenienced.

We've found that businesses using our live chat solution have a significantly faster first response time than the industry average. This means your support team can spend less time scrolling through Q&A sessions and more time creating thoughtful, personalized interactions that nurture long-term relationships.

Top 3 Benefits of Live Chat Support

Since 38% of buyers are more likely to buy from a business they can chat with, offering live chat support can help increase your sales. But that's not the only advantage, far from it.

Here are the main benefits you will see by adding live chat for customer service to your site.

1. Customers won't have to wait for help

The on-demand nature of the Internet has conditioned us to expect results immediately. This includes business responses: when a customer contacts you with a question or problem, they want a solution as soon as possible.

"Live chat support helps your visitors get the answers they need right away"

Live chat support helps your visitors get the answers they need right away, reducing the chances of them leaving your site for a competitor, writing a negative review, returning a product, or canceling a subscription.

Even if a member of your support team isn't immediately available, live chat tools like Intercom Messenger can provide personal, contextual solutions to any type of customer query, from the simplest to the most complex, through a Messenger-based ticketing solution. . Even if your customer abandons the chat, our Messenger will follow up via email for a seamless experience that they can interact with as they please. This behavior removes some of the uncertainty from the situation and makes them feel valued.

Your live chat software can also provide self-service options to help customers find what they need on their own. You can add a search box in Messenger or fully automate the Q&A experience, providing an even faster response time for customers with easy-to-answer questions.

2. Customers can get help where they need it

Some products are more complex than others, and some c...