In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, speed reigns supreme. It’s all about how fast you can get the right content to the social media-savvy audiences. So why then is customer service still lagging behind?

Research shows that the average response time for customer service request on social media is 10 hours, while email responses take even longer with an average wait time of over 12 hours! This is clearly unacceptable in this day and age and inevitably cause you to lose customers. How, then, can you respond to your customers almost instantaneously? The answer is simple: use live chat!

Live chat software enables you to engage in real-time conversations with your customers while they’re browsing your website. It’s not only quick and convenient for you, but your customers will absolutely love it. In fact, up to 33% of customers now expect to see live chat offered on every website. This isn’t surprising when you consider the fact that live chat is actually 100x faster than any other digital service channel.

The most obvious benefit of using live chat on your website is the potential to increase sales and conversions. According to The American Marketing Association, B2B companies who use live chat see a 20% increase in conversions, on average. But that’s not all! A report by eMarketer that looked into the impact of live chat on consumers found that 35% more people made a purchase online after using live chat.

Prospects and customers visiting your website will naturally have questions about your product or service. What makes live chat so powerful is that it allows you to answer these immediately – while the potential buyer is still on your website. In other words, this useful tool gives you the chance to hold your buyers by the hand and help them overcome any reservations about making a purchase. It’s pretty much like having a sales assistant on stand-by, live on your website!

Live chat can also help you reduce customer service expenses. It’s a well-known fact that delivering excellent customer services comes at a cost. This is because in traditional call centers, a customer service agent will typically handle both phone and email requests. But, only one at a time!

Research by Telus International shows that live chat can change all that since it allows agents to engage in as many as six simultaneous chats. Being able to handle several customer call at once means that you won’t need as many people in your customer service team as you would with a traditional call center. To put it simply, live chat I s more than 50% cheaper than handling phone calls.

Introducing live chat to your website has also been shown to build trust with buyers. Since it’s difficult to establish genuine rapport with customers online, potential buyers will naturally be skeptical of buying things from people they don’t know. With live chat, however, you can have a direct conversation with your buyer and close the gap between online and offline purchases.

These are just some of the benefits of using live chat. To find out more, take a look at the infographic below.

As always, please let us know your comments or any questions on Twitter (@thewebsitegroup ← Click to Tweet Us).