Technological advancements have entirely reshaped business communication making it more modernized and streamlined. Live chat reduces friction and is the better & faster way to communicate with customers.
The live chat trends and insights show the significant growth of live chat, which is why it is a popular channel for businesses and customers. Forrester report says, “More than 41% of customers expect live chat on your website”.
For better understanding, we have compiled a set of live chatstatistics that will help you to use online chat stats across different business functions.
Key live chat statistics for 2020
Live chat has become one of the vital functionalities of any website. When customers get instant answers to their queries, they are satisfied and happy. The below live chat statistics 2019 show it is one of the most preferred channels among customers.
- ICMI report says, “ The rate of adoption of live chat is because more and more customers prefer to chat with businesses in real-time.”
- According to ICMI, live chat has become the leading digital channel for online customers, as a staggering 46% of customers prefer live chat compared to just 29% for email, and 16% for social media.
The below chart shows why live chat is a popular channel and considered to be the perfect add on to enhance the business – customer communication.
Live chat statistics: customer support
Customer support and business success are interdependent. Businesses are focusing more on delivering excellent customer service as it indirectly impacts brand value. Unlike traditional channels like phone or email, customers expect real time proactive support.
And that’s where live chat comes in.
According to g2crowd, live chat has a 73% satisfaction rate as a way for customers to interact with businesses. Live chat tool helps your support agents to solve your customers’ problems faster and improve customer satisfaction.
Key customer support statistics
Here are some live chat support stats that prove it to be the most preferred channel for acquiring real time support.
- 50% of consumers say that having a live person answer questions in the middle of a purchasing decision is one of the most important features a brand can offer. (Forbes)
- As per In the U.S., customer service interactions via legacy channels like phone and email fell by 7% over the course of 2016 and 2017.
- Forbes reports says, 54% of retailers were offering live chat features on their website.
- As per Inc reports, 42% of consumers say they prefer to live chat over other support functions because they don’t have to wait on hold.
- Econsultancy report says, “79% of customers say that they prefer live chat because of the immediacy it provides”.
- Harvard Business School Report says, on average, live chat increases customer retention rates by 5% and increases profits by 25%-95%.
- Forrester reports says, 73% of customers say that valuing their time is the most important thing companies can do to provide them with good customer service.
- 62% of customers expect live chat to be available on mobile devices, and if possible, 82% would use it.
Key learnings
- If response time is the main criteria of your business, live chat tool delivers instant response and proves to be a faster communication channel as compared to email or phone.
- Live chat on a website reduces resolution time with real time visitor monitoring that tracks your visitor’s activity to offer a customized solution and reduces the second contact.
- Your support operators can use canned responses and ready live chat scripts to improve the resolution time and help customers in quick decision making.
- Integrating your live chat in your SaaS app helps to provide in-app support and retain customers with your business.
Live chat statistics: lead generation
Lead generation is an important aspect of marketing that refers to the process which ultimately leads to a possible customer transforming into a regular customer down the line. So having a lead generation strategy is imperative for your business.
Live chat is an excellent way to maximize leads and optimize ROI. It helps to acquire more customers and of course generate more sales. 63% of consumers who used live chat on a website are likely to return to that site.
Having a chat tool improves the response time of the website visitor, and improves the chances of sales.
Key live chat conversion statistics
Live chat helps businesses to engage with prospects in real time. It turns your website as a lead generation machine to capture more leads and drive sales. The below live chat statistics can convince you better.
- Emarketer study found, 63% of customers said they were more likely to return to a website that offers live chat as opposed to one that doesn’t.
- Forrester report says 44% of online consumers say that “having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a website can offer.
- According to Vtldesign, 94% of customers who were proactively invited to chat were somewhat or very satisfied with the experience.
- Emarketer research says 40% of buyers who use live chat are more likely to make online purchases (versus 22% of buyers who had never chatted).
- ICMI Report says, live chat leads to a 48% increase in revenue per chat hour and a 40% increase in conversion rate.
- Digital Marketing found out 38% customers said they had made their purchase due to the chat session itself.
- Ifbyphone research finds 59% of customers are more likely to buy when brands answer their queries in under a minute.
- Forrester report says, 53% of customers are likely to abandon their online purchases if they can’t find quick answers to their questions.
- Live chat support can definitely reduce cart abandonment, increase sales, and boost conversions.
Key learnings
- Live chat allows your representatives to track your website visitors and effectively convert them into leads by triggering right and timely messages. The first good impression converts your first time visitors into potential customers.
- Live chat sales strengthen relationships between the company and its audience, helping to generate more leads through customer loyalty.
- You can use proactive triggers to send messages to the prospects who may need to ask a question about your product or price to make a decision for the final purchase.
- Connect your live chat with CRM tools so that your sales team can instantly follow-up with prospects.
Live chat statistics: chatbots
Chatbots are the modern ways of boosting your business ROI while offering convenience and automated sales support assistance. Bots are a smarter option to ensure that customers receive the immediate response that they are looking for without making them wait in a queue.
Bots are able to segment the target audience and qualify them by asking pre-defined sales questionnaire and convert them into leads. These are the significant reasons why brands are investing in improving the customer experience.
Key Chatbot Statistics
The below statistics provide insight into the present and future chatbot trends
- According to Chatbot Report, 21% of consumers see chatbots as the easiest way to contact a business.
- Business Insider reports say 67% of consumers worldwide used a chatbot for customer support.
- Accenture reports say, “Bots allow businesses to up-sell and cross-sell in a personalized, conversational, and engaging way. 57% of businesses agree chatbots deliver large ROI with minimal effort.
- The Ubisend report says,1 in 5 consumers would consider purchasing goods and services from a chatbot.
- The top industries profiting from chatbots are real estate, travel, education, healthcare, and finance (Chatbots Life).
- The average time it takes a company to respond to a message is 10 hours on messaging platforms. Over 50% of customers expect a business to be open 24/7 (Oracle).
- According to Chatbots Magazine, businesses can reduce customer service costs by up to 30% by implementing a conversational chatbot.
- Chatbots Magazine found out 67% of US millennials said they are likely to purchase products and services from brands using a chatbot.
- By using chatbots, businesses and consumers will save a combined 2.5 billion hours by 2023. (Juniper Research).
- Chatbots can help businesses save on customer service costs by answering up to 80% of routine questions. (IBM).
Key learnings
- If your customer expects an instant response, typically less than 30 seconds, use chatbots to deliver instant support 24×7
- AI bots are active 24×7 to engage customers to handle information based questions and reduce support tickets. The top potential benefit of using chatbots is 24-hour customer service.
- You can build better relationships by delivering personalized and tailored customer experience by sending the right messages to the right customers using chatbots.
- Chatbots are easily scalable during peak hours or when your support team is busy or unavailable to engage customers.
- Deliver hybrid support to your customers by automating FAQS with chatbots and the complex chats to be handled by the human agents.
Live chat statistics: customer satisfaction
Customers prefer using live chat over other ways of getting support. They get answers to their questions immediately, without leaving their computer. They don’t need to remember the phone number to call or wait for hours to get a response to their questions.
Offering real time support is one of the best features of live chat that boosts customer satisfaction. The ability to have questions answered right away or log an issue and know someone is working on it gives a great feeling to customers.
Customer satisfaction statistics
- Live chat software has a 73% satisfaction rate as a way for customers to interact with businesses (G2’s Facebook Chatbots Guide).
- 73% of customers were satisfied with their live chat experience, surpassing all other channels. By comparison, email and phone customer satisfaction rated just 61% and 44% satisfaction, respectively (Econsultancy)
- The average customer satisfaction rating for live chat globally is 83.1% (Statistica)
- 20% of the shopping population prefers using live chat to contact a retailer over any other communication method (e-tailing.com).
- live chat has the highest satisfaction levels of any customer service channel at 73%, compared to 61% for email and 44% for phone. (eConsultancy)
- Forrester says, 73% of consumers say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do when providing customer service.
Key learnings
- Making the chat conversations interactive boosts customer satisfaction rates and improves customer experience.
- Live chat support reduces the queue time for the customer and improves customer satisfaction metrics.
- The live tools allow identifying the complexity of the query, make the resolution easier and quicker offering better live chat experience.
- Instant response to customer queries by your support team means a higher live chat satisfaction rate.
Live chat statistics: Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is the connection between any business and its customers forged through effective communications. Why is customer engagement important? As it creates a bond between you and your customers that encourages long-term loyalty based on mutual growth.
Live engagement tools help to connect with the customer in real time to identify and collect first-hand information on the problem. It allows collaboration with the customer to resolve the issue instantly and delivers an in person experience.
Customer engagement statistics
- A study by marketinginsidergroup found that 80% of U.S. customers would pay more for a product or service to ensure a superior customer experience.
- Emarketer report says, 63% of customers said they were more likely to return to a website that offers live chat as opposed to one that doesn’t.
- 44% of customers said that having a live chat specialist available during an online purchase was one of the most important features a company can offer.
- New Voice Media says 49% of American consumers switched companies last year due to poor customer service.
- American Express found out that 40% of customers want customer service reps to take care of their needs faster.
- McKinsey reports say, 70% of the customer’s journey is based on how the customer feels they are being treated.
- As per Bain and Company, customers are four times more likely to switch a competitor if the problem they’re having is service-based.
- According to American Express, Happy customers will share their positive experiences with about 11 people.
Key learnings
- Live chat offers humanized support for complex queries by using live engagement tools to deliver better customer experience.
- Deliver better assistance to customers and make effective conversations by using live engagement tools.
- Co-browsing tool helps to share the customer’s screen temporarily to deliver real time solutions.
- You can personalize your chat conversations through video chat develops trust in customers and improves customer experience.
- You can enhance your business revenue and team productivity by using customer engagement tools to make your conversations meaningful.
Conclusion
Considering the above online chat statistics, live chat is a must-have tool for businesses of all sizes and sectors. By implementing chat, you can witness a significant increase in sales & business revenue, provide real time customer support and deliver a great customer experience.
