If you’ve been on the internet in the past year, you’ve most likely experienced live chat somewhere. Maybe you’ve even looked into it for your own company! It’s everywhere and a great solution for a quick, efficient way to communicate with customers. However, if you’ve done research on live chat, you’ve probably noticed that there are a ton of solutions available. With an abundance of live chat companies promising various metrics, it can be hard to choose which to focus on, let alone what live chat company can take you there. We understand the struggle, so we created this list of live chat metrics that matter.
- Satisfaction Rate
You want your customers to have a pleasant experience with your company, but what does a successful satisfaction rate actually look like?
Some optimists may think 100% is the one and only goal for satisfaction. However, 100% is not a realistic goal for any company. At Flow, we aim for 90% satisfaction. This allows for a margin of error for any negatively rated chats while also providing insight into potential issues if rated below 90. Though we often exceed this, having a 10% buffer is helpful for those negative reviews that come in.
Negative reviews don’t always mean negative interactions with the company and can come for a variety of reasons. In fact, some of our chat agents received “poor” ratings after being praised for their service! However unavoidable, bad reviews can certainly be used to an organization’s advantage by raising awareness on areas of opportunity that may not be highly obvious. While praise is certainly beneficial, bad reviews can allow you to improve and continuously evolve with your client and their needs.
2. Response Time
Response time is the amount in seconds or minutes it takes for chat agents to reply to the customer. It’s critical to track this metric for the sake of your company’s reputation (and satisfaction rates), as many negative reviews can be traced back to “slow response times” or “not responding at all.”
Having a quick response time is imperative to grab the customers’ attention, and garner high customer conversion rates, satisfaction rates, and provide increased convenience. The most ideal time to engage a customer is when they have your company at the front of their minds, which may, in fact, be when they first send a chat. Getting an actionable response to the customer during this window has been shown that it makes for higher conversion rates. It also leads to happier customers, as customers feel the agent is more mindful of their time and they are valued and important (because they are!).
At Flow, we guarantee a response time of 40 seconds as it gives our agents enough time to assess the incoming chat (research if needed) and personalize the response to send it out! Our clients have found that their website visitors are happier and feel heard more than previous modes of communication, such as email or phone.
In addition to the benefits listed above, a lower average response time generally relates to a shorter chat duration.
Related: Millennials Literally Cannot Even With Your Customer Service. You Need Live Chat.
3. Duration
Duration is, of course, the length of the chat initiated.
The faster a chat concludes, the sooner the agent can accept a new chat. Therefore, having a shorter duration time means better techniques for faster resolution, resulting in optimal service and solution-oriented agents. How? It allows the chat agents to be quick-minded and problem-solve on the spot, likely resolving the issues on the first contact!
It’s important to have set recommended duration times. At Flow, we have a recommended duration of 10 minutes (8 minutes of conversation and 2 minutes of wrap-up), though this can change depending on the complexity of your business or services. If a lot of technical jargon or text requiring thorough reading to understand is necessary, having a longer recommended duration time is understandable. You know your company best so you should feel free to adjust this to fit your needs.
4. Total Number of Chats
Is your product, service, or business being noticed or talked about? The total number of chats can give you insight into how engaged your website visitors are.
This depends on the traffic your website has. Even still, large traffic numbers may not always correlate with more chats. There are other factors that you may have already noticed such as peak periods of traffic or an unengaged clientele, for example. It can also take some time to live chat to be a known mode of communication amongst your customer base. With live chat becoming a more prominent feature, people tend to find the chat quickly and get service faster, making them more likely to spread the word, ultimately driving more traffic (and chats!)
The total number of chats is also helpful in determining agent requirements. If you have a large chat volume and only 2 agents, it may be necessary to add one or two additional agents to accommodate the demand. You certainly don’t want to miss chats or keep visitors waiting too long!
5. Conversion
Last but not least, conversion! Tracking your conversion rate is essential, and having live chat on your website can increase it significantly. Flow’s agents have demonstrated a 52% average increase in qualified leads using customized conversation flows for each chat client. It is important for you to look for a company that will adapt to your specific needs and provides the conversion rates you are looking for.
Related: Everything You Need to Go Live With Live Chat
With this extensive list of information on important metrics and how they’re relevant to your company, you can make informed decisions on the best live chat company for your business. You’ll soon be providing exemplary customer service at the drop of a hat and you’ll see the magic that live chat provides! Want to discuss more? Shoot us a message and we’ll set up a time to discuss your business’ unique live chat needs.
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