One of the drawbacks with ecommerce used to be the lack of customer service. In a physical store staff are usually trained in customer service, and able to help in real time. The added customer service offered in most high street stores is one of their main strengths, and many customers still prefer the high street as a consequence.
Traditionally, an ecommerce website would perhaps carry a telephone number or online form to fill in. The problem with telephone support is that it’s expensive, and many smaller ecommerce sites simply can’t afford the infrastructure. The drawback with an online form is that it doesn’t deliver support in real time, there is an inherent delay.
There is an alternative, and it’s rapidly growing in popularity. You will already see it as a component on all sorts of ecommerce websites. That alternative is live chat software. Live chat delivers the kind of real time customer service that customers want, and it doesn’t cost very much to implement.
There are many ways that live chat is better than other modes of customer service. It can be available 24/7, adhering to the irregular shopping schedules of those who use online retailers. It can also issue very clear instructions, and good live chat will be able to display clickable URLs, for example.
Live chat is great because it fills what was once a noticeable gap in how ecommerce sties worked, i.e. the lack of “live” customer service.
