Live chat is a relatively new channel for customer support and sales. Many companies are just beginning to get a grip on using live chat to grow their businesses. Many others are yet to power their business with it. And from experience, I know that very few know how to use proactive chatting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this article, you will learn what a proactive live chat is, what to use it for, and why. You will also discover advice on how to use proactive live chat effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let\u2019s begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is Proactive Live Chat?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Proactive live chat refers to the chat you start with the website visitor instead of waiting for the visitor to send a message first. It works similarly to a salesperson standing in the corner of the store, ready to assist as soon as they see you are doubtful or lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Usually, proactive chat messages are automated messages meant to encourage visitors to start a conversation. Even something as simple as sending a \u201cHello, how may I help you?\u201d pop-up is proactive chatting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But of course, proactive chat goes beyond that. As you\u2019ll see shortly, there are many ways to initiate a proactive live chat conversation, all depending on a visitor\u2019s particular situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benefits of Proactive Live Chat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not every visitor will initiate a live chat conversation with you. But that doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t want to chat. It may just be that those people are either afraid to start the conversation or need a nudge from you to do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s one of the biggest benefits of taking a proactive approach to a live chat – Being able to start meaningful conversations with more visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s not all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proactive live chat increases customer satisfaction<\/strong>: Because you are proactively asking or suggesting customers things by anticipating their needs, it shows you are ready to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, it offers a solution before customers\u2019 questions\/doubts turn into frustration. For instance, a web hosting company can proactively share a link to their \u201cconnecting your domain with hosting\u201d FAQs through chatbox after someone buys a hosting plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It reduces shopping cart abandonment:<\/strong> On average<\/a>, almost 70% of people add products to the cart and leave without purchasing. Answering questions, offering discounts, and assisting hesitant visitors proactively is a sure-shot way to reduce abandoned carts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proactive chatting increases customer loyalty:<\/strong> Simply put, proactive chat improves customer experience. And good customer experience directly and positively impacts customer loyalty<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can reduce the website bounce rate with proactive live chat too:<\/strong> Consider this: You heard there\u2019s something called \u201cproactive live chat.\u201d You Google it and find this article. Now, if we set up a proactive chat trigger that suggests another relevant article like \u201c10 real-life examples of proactive live chat,\u201d you are likely to open it. Meaning, the bounce rate decreases (and the average session time increases), leading to a better conversion rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It can also help you increase the average order value<\/strong>: With proactive chatting, you can cross-sell and upsell during the live chat session (initiated because of your proactive message) and with the proactive message itself. For example, if you own an online t-shirts store and someone has bought the same t-shirt twice, you can upsell them a quarterly subscription by reaching out via the chat window when they revisit the store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reduce incoming call volume:<\/strong> Most businesses\u2019 support page asks customers to call, email, or chat. If the customer wants answers fast, they are likely to call. Simply setting a proactive message like \u201cHey [FirstName], how may I help you?\u201d for support page visitors will reduce call volume. It will direct them to live chat, leading to overall customer service costs reduction<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, proactive live chat increases lead volume:<\/strong> You can acquire visitors\u2019 emails, names, and more through trigger chat messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, you are more likely to fill this form instead of looking for our contact page, finding our email, and sending in the query.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike the regular or reactive chat, where the visitor clicks the live chat button and starts the conversation, proactive chatting is a bit complex. You have to anticipate visitors\u2019 questions, needs, and desires for an effective proactive live chat strategy. Moreover, you have to personalize the message as much as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are the common types of users to engage with proactive live chat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Concentrate on the \u201cawareness\u201d stage of the sales funnel while creating proactive messages for the new visitor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, we can direct you to our YouTube video on seamlessly integrating live chat with MS Teams<\/a> by asking, \u201cHey, want to see how you can manage all your customer support efforts right from Microsoft Teams?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuing the previous example: At this stage, we can ask you to sign up for a 14-day free trial<\/a> with a message like, \u201cHey, want to give Social Intents a try? It\u2019s free – No credit card required!\u201d<\/em> to reduce the friction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n People go through the whole sales funnel and leave at the very end because of reasons like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can send a message like \u201cHey [FirstName], any questions about shipping, refunds, or delivery? Just let me know! I might have a discount too :)\u201d<\/em> to decrease cart abandonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also a great time to upsell or cross-sell. For example, a message like \u201cYou can get free shipping if you add an item of $8.55 or above. Other buyers frequently purchase [Relevant Item] with [Purchased Item].\u201d<\/em> can increase AOV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TIP: The best approach to segmenting customers for proactive chat is to understand their intent and reason for visiting the site. This way, you can match the proactive chat triggers to that intent directly, and increase the relevancy of the messages you use to engage customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest secret to making proactive live chat work is to get the timing right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It may sound like a cliche, but unfortunately, it is true: Display the message too early, and you might deter a person from wishing to speak to you. Trigger the proactive chat message too late, and you might lose a chance to engage with the person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your timing will depend on the intent and the type of content a person\u2019s reviewing. For example, readers of a blog post might want some time to consume the content before they\u2019re ready to engage with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The same goes for product pages or feature pages. Those customers might need time to familiarize themselves with the information on the page before being ready to start asking questions about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For that reason, you could trigger a proactive message like \u201cHey, I see you are looking through our features. Let me know if you need any help :)\u201d<\/em> after 20 seconds of the visitor checking your features page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I see many sites using generic \u201cHey there! Let me know if you need any help.\u201d<\/em> messages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is nothing wrong with such approach, of course, but at the same time, these messages are weak and often fail to engage visitors enough for them to pick up the conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Personalizing messages for the web page and the visitor makes for a better customer experience and increases conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example- We ask, \u201cCan I answer any questions about our Slack integration?\u201d on our Live Chat for Slack<\/a> page. The question references a specific question our potential customers have when researching our live chat software<\/a> product. For that reason, it initiates many conversations with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy to overwhelm users with a proactive message blast. I\u2019m sure you can only imagine what a visitor seeing these messages one after the other would feel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, all the messages are relevant and helpful in some way or the other. However, the sheer amount of information there is a bit baffling and disturbing, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n For one, such a string of questions doesn\u2019t give a person many opportunities to reply to any of those and initiate the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, these messages contain a mix of sales and help information, confusing a person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, as a rule of thumb, keep your proactive chat minimal. Set up a single message targeting a specific intent and leave it there. If a person is ready to chat, they\u2019ll pick up the conversation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where having a chatbot powering your live chat comes in handy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Set up your chatbot with as many Q&A as possible. Of course, do it in a way to ensure that the user knows an actual professional is there to assist if needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Automating proactive chat triggers with chatbots saves you time, gets users the answers faster, and helps you understand their needs so that you can direct them to the most relevant person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Example](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/_4LX-bxrTOVJvgW_ynciw3rcSN0JSrr1jdeFq8xXNzlu2YkH2xnl9eshZ0m-c1IIl4sAuQm1CFuCLJTlFmDDZZYYU8AUiOs4W2d8PTKYw0ziAQzj5vyvl_tGC24UhkyALwaktcbj\")
Common proactive live chat use-cases: When to use proactive chatting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Customer](\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/K_js9LctiMobVWNoEaAHcC_NufHpy5ddc2gx6nbaAJuFKioe0Obah8zWJ_8tXk2dTm9yra1TQDA05Cevf0Zb1Ut_AZAO0xls5Ia9VhBjsOycCIsBqVupNyVpTAZ5CMLyijLy1IH1\")
![\"Cart](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/dWcjXJTw9Y-gsbegGhrqqzMU9-1-ip6-WV79ImAA83bDFkuzPrFQ7-ZoDuRB4VQ-gkaJlTueuL98ZxHSxJGmH7ovdmc89XoocId5wrBEmmEsPh8tMmBKvm129cW3DcJCr7bzdrNP\")
Tips to Win Customers with Proactive Live Chat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Trigger proactive chat messages at the right time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Personalize the message<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Example](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/SfuiHmuzU0bF1oiNoU8QknYqeMBes497Ww_fbTaX_OmX95j1PrGGc46pFyAdqfHhVG6sncZCcT390t2u1QVfAI3b8TLrAhCI-4sFdzD_YEoRvrTBf3NJw5Dmh9x67ie1oclWBbls\")
3. Keep the chat minimal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Automate the proactive chat as much as possible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Handover to live chat agent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Example](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/G-7UQ2deHgF_5y0r-ut-qfSgAGMFioWA_vaOxbsJeL969E53GmYps-x5_3rVPHHeWXg_6zM5ZOxR9_kMT4ZqZF8gBbWdNR_L1fZ_snLJj0BQ9jtFXn_3eg79csTW4pULBthUF88R\")
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