How to effectively use an online consultant? (Part 3)

A great many users who have installed an online consultant on their website do not receive the desired return from this tool. Moreover, some “fix” the departure of visitors from their site after the consultant’s attempt to engage in dialogue through chat. In this article I will try to give practical advice on the effective use of "live chat".

Online consultation with the apparent external simplicity and ease of installation of modern systems, consists of many nuances that may not be visible to the novice user of online chat. It is very important to realize that an attempt to start a conversation by means of a drop-down window is, in fact, an analogue of a “cold call” on the phone and is designed to make a dent in the distrust characteristic of the first contact. It is not by chance that there are a lot of trainings on the “cold call” technique. The same situation is with chatting. It needs to learn, only then you will begin to receive positive results from use.

0. Zero step start successful use of the system is competent integration of the chat window on the company website. I described this in some detail in my previous article .
Here I will briefly highlight the key points:
• Modern chat should not use popup windows. These windows do not meet the latest standard HTML-5. In addition, they can be simply blocked by site visitors.
• The form of the invitation to dialogue should be in the form of a chat, but not in the form of an invitation banner. Studies have shown that the form of the invitation in the form of chat is 50% more often accepted by site visitors than other forms of invitation. Under the chat window, I understand one single window in which the text of the operator’s invitation is written and in which the visitor can immediately write the answer. No pop-up growls and windows in which there is no place for visitors to respond, but only the operator’s welcome phrase. Such windows look artificial and cause less trust among the visitor.
• Pay attention to the speed of the chat. Some systems prohibitively produce a primary connection with an operator. Messages can also “walk” with delays.
• The window should fit organically into the design of the site, and not look like an alien element. Ideally, this condition is satisfied by systems with the ability to flexibly customize the chat window and the ability to load their own code for the chat window.
• Do not overload the window design elements. This makes it look like a banner and increases the risk that a visitor will refuse to chat.
• Additional fields to fill in before chat, reduce the number of chats. It is obvious. On average, the desire to start a chat disappears from 38.5% of visitors who independently turned to an online consultant and instead of receiving an answer received an offer to fill in something. However, this has a certain meaning on the visited resources, therefore it is better if the system can be configured.
• The presence in the chat window of the “operator writes” indicator is not the most useless option. It helps the visitor to feel that the operator is engaged in his question and helps to increase the time that the visitor is willing to spend, waiting for the operator to respond.
• No backlinks to online consultation service provider in chat windows! For a serious commercial site, this is simply unacceptable. This not only reduces the image of the site, but also “leads” visitors to someone else’s resource. Commercial online consultants are simply required to be able to remove their logos and links from the visitor's windows.
• Check how well chat windows are displayed in different browser versions. Cross-browser layout is a business that requires accuracy, besides new versions of browsers are constantly coming out and online consultants manufacturers should track these changes.
• It would be nice if the design of the chat window can be easily changed without changing the active code on the site. For example, this is possible with the use of technology EasyWay

1. In this paragraph, I will speak about an active call. Systems that have this capability allow you to increase the number of chats by 40% -100% relative to systems that do not know how to actively call a visitor. At the same time, we remember the conversion numbers, which say that visitors who accepted the invitation to chat from an operator are 6.3 times more likely to convert than visitors who have not used the chat. Thus, after you have integrated the chat window into your website, the next step should be the rules for inviting customers to the dialogue, which you put into the system. In the simplest version, the system should be able to send a greeting to the visitor after a certain time the visitor has been on the site. In the correct, modern online consultants, the systems of filtering visitors and sending out individualized invitations to dialogue are responsible for this. Including it is a good idea to have the opportunity and manual invitation to the dialogue for obscure, highly specialized and exclusive sites. Where each potential client is on “weight of gold” and there are practically no random visits to the site. Filtration systems allow you to get away from the sad “Hello, can I help you with anything?” And sharpen invitations as much as possible depending on the visitor’s search query, location on a particular page of the site, geography, number of visits to your site, and also allow you to create complex filters combined by logical conditions.
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2. The step is not the very first in terms of the logic of presentation, but perhaps the key one in the successful use of the online counseling system. Regardless of the “tricked out” of your consulting system, excellent integration into the site of the best and most convenient chat window, well-chosen invitation and the right time to issue it ... absolutely everything goes to waste if your consulting manager is asleep and is not able to respond to the FIRST minute incoming visitor request site. I will give a simple analogy, again with the phone. There is an unspoken rule of “three beeps”. After you have not picked up the phone during this time, it is likely that the customer will hang up and most likely will not call you back. So in consultation via chat. If the client did not receive an answer within 1-1.5 minutes, there is every chance that he will simply leave, not only the chat, but also the site. It is very important that your consultants answer the first call as quickly as possible. If the question is complicated or requires a detailed answer, the rules of sending messages like “one second”, “wait a minute, please”, as well as techniques when you break a complicated thought into simple sentences or even parts of sentences should become mandatory. Do not forget this chat and here you can give information in chunks - it will not be a sign of uncertainty or stuttering of the interlocutor. You need to respond as quickly as possible, remember that your message will not be immediately delivered to the visitor, but with a delayed server. This can add up to another 5-10 seconds. by the time of writing the message. In subsequent remarks, it is permissible to make longer pauses, but according to the laws of politeness, it is better to warn the interlocutor that you need a little more time to respond. Perhaps this all sounds somewhat banal, but due to the non-operational response, the greatest number of those who really wanted to know something from you are leaving. As a result, he not only did not receive an answer to his question, but also received a portion of the negative from visiting your site. There is a “subtle” psychological moment. Everyone is accustomed to the phone and are about how to behave. With chat rooms and forums, ICQ and Skype - also many are familiar. But chat via the website is the shortest and psychologically “easy” way to make contact, but it also requires a lightning reaction. Pay close attention to this! In some systems, it is possible to see in the reports which of the operators is not in a hurry to communicate with customers. Each replica of the operator, with a delay of more than 1 min. marked “red” in reports.
In addition to the above. If you are not sure of your ability to promptly answer a visitor’s question at the moment, then it’s better to use the so-called offline forms, or at this time completely disable any chat forms. Such opportunities are provided, as a rule, in any commercial system. I also recommend to inspect everything related to the operator’s alert system about the arrival of a new message. There should be no flaws. Sound and pop-up alerts are required.

3. The next tip is going hand in hand with the previous one. Learn to quickly type messages! Please note that the online consultation system would have the opportunity to insert pre-prepared phrases to frequently asked questions, have a pattern search and be as convenient as possible from the point of view of the user interface. A good indicator of the speed of response is the function of the indicator spy. Such an indicator not only can show whether the visitor writes or does not write to the operator, but also allows you to see the text written in the chat window by the visitor, but not yet sent by him to the operator. Leaving ethics behind, but this “peeping” certainly helps to reduce operator response time and, consequently, increases our customer satisfaction. An example of a system with such an indicator.

4. Literacy. Everything is clear without comment. It should be noted that the operator must check written on the impossibility of a "double" interpretation of the text of his answer. If you do not understand something from the visitor's question - specify (but not “ask”).

5. If you are serious about using chat, as a new channel to attract customers, it makes complete sense to go through the relevant specialized training in chat.

6. It is worth remembering that you should not wash your fingers before the phalanxes in the chat at all. Chat serves to easily overcome the barrier of first contact. After the contact is made, by mutual consent, you can switch to talking on the phone.

7. Well and most importantly ... An integral part of any consultation, in fact, an excellent knowledge of your product - without it, nowhere. This is a universal recommendation whereby you would not communicate with a potential client.
In conclusion, I will give a small summary table of how the American consultants represent the ideal manager consultant. Key skills in the table are arranged in descending order of importance.



Do not despair if, even if all conditions are met, visitors will sometimes “run away” from the site after sending them an invitation to chat. Remember that the activity has never interfered with sales, and the visitors who left most likely did not want to buy anything. The further, the more familiar the live chat will be to visitors, as has already happened in the United States. Experiment with design, call time, invitation text and you will succeed. By adhering to these simple rules, you can really increase the conversion of site visitors into clients and you will not be disappointed in online consulting as such.

Wish you luck!