38% of sales through online chat. How to achieve such results?

Online consultants on sites have been working everywhere for more than 10 years, but only recently their positive effect on the conversion rates of the site was revealed. Research says chat rooms directly provide an average of 38% of online sales. 62% of users who chatted with the operator in a chat said that they would buy more if the stores used online consultants on their websites.

The reason why chats make a big difference in sales is very simple. An online consultant is the only inexpensive opportunity for personal (human) contact during an online purchase.

Tim Young and John Holland in their book “ Rethinking the Sales Cycle ” say that the sense of risk is the most frequent emotion when a person is already in the final stages of the purchase cycle. The problem is that users at this moment do not see anything except the screen, so it’s difficult for them to somehow help.
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At these stages, the human factor takes effect. Chatting operators can mitigate a sense of risk and create confidence in the purchase.

The following describes 21 tips, each of which is analyzed using the example of our Carrot Quest service (in which an online chat is combined with eCRM, which collects all data about the actions of each user on your site).

1. Save your chat history to users.

When customers communicate with operators, they will want to save a lot of information and resort to it in the future. The problem is that the majority of online consultants for the site (chat) does not store the history of correspondence.

Action: In Carrot Quest, we offer the visitor to leave an email and all correspondence in a convenient form is duplicated to his email. But that is not all. We always keep the history of correspondence in the chat itself, so that the client and the site can always view all the correspondence with the operators.

2. Use auto messaging or templates

It is believed that for the chat support to be productive, operators must respond within 30 seconds and promptly assist visitors. But for most companies, this is a meaningless burden. We wrote a detailed article about this, “ Global problems online-chat and a new model of communication on the Internet .”

Speed ​​is important if you have already started a conversation with a client. Do not forget about politeness and professionalism. In this case, pre-prepared messages (templates) are excellent.

We can use templates to automate part of the conversation, but do not forget that too much formal communication and templates can kill a lively conversation and alienate the user.

Action: Create a set of well-designed messages and train the operators in which situations and how to use the templates correctly. Before sending, you can always correct the template, based on the features of the interlocutor.

3. Use active messages

Not often users themselves start a conversation with the operator in the chat, so you need to identify those who need help, and then write to them. They may not respond to your message in the chat, but this is not bad, such a message is enough to create a good relationship with the company. It is important that such messages are not sent to everyone in a row under any circumstances, because they should not annoy users (send them at the right time at the right time)

Do not write active messages like "How can we help you?", This only repels. Allow visitors to walk through your site first, and then engage them in a conversation. Send the user not a standard message, but based on the context of his actions.

Action: Determine in advance after what actions you should write the active message. And after 20-30 seconds, write. Such a message can be done both manually and automatically.

We have created a whole section for this task. Live section. In it, operators can monitor in real time what each user on the site is doing. Knowing this, operators can start a dialogue with the user on time and always “into the subject” and gradually bring it to the sale.

4. Operators must know ALL about the product.

Your operators should be considered as sales and support specialists, so they should know all the features of the product and the company. This provides more thorough work with customers, whether it be a sales manager or a support employee.

Action: Provide operators with the same training as salespeople.

5. Operators must see what the user is typing.

Operators should see what users are typing before they send a message. This gives operators not only an understanding of what their customers think, but also allows them to respond to questions faster (start writing an answer before the user has submitted their question).

Operators need to know when a customer sends a message. There should be alerts and visual notifications for new messages. Plus, it will help one operator to work on several conversations at once.

Action: Make sure that the chat you are using is able to show what users are typing before sending and shows notifications about new messages.

6. Operators can translate dialogue.

Chat operators are not required to know everything. Each of them can have their own competencies. If the operator does not know how to answer the question, then he must transfer the conversation to another operator. The client should see that different people write to him in the chat.

Action: Teach operators to transfer conversations in the chat as needed. Each operator must have a list of other operators and their competencies. Operators must have names and personal avatars.

Also, operators can communicate with each other in a dialog box, and their “notes” will not be visible to users.

7. History of user actions and correspondence with him

Operators will work more productively if they have the opportunity to see all the actions and properties of the user for all the time they visit the site and the whole history of communication with him. This will allow operators to be more specific and helpful in communicating. Customers will appreciate it, because they do not have to repeat all their requests and problems.

Action: All chat history with the user should be saved in the online chat. Operators must see which segment the user belongs to and what actions he has previously performed on the site.

8. Collect email addresses in chat

Those users who have not yet left email should be able to leave it in the chat. The chat must have a form that is automatically sent if the user does not have an email address in the card (it must be voluntary, not forced). The main benefit of the user - the entire history of messages will be duplicated by mail, he will not need to wait for an answer while sitting in the chat. As it turned out, the number of those who are comfortable with this format is only growing every day.

Action: Collect user emails in the online consultant itself. Convince them that the replies will be duplicated to the mail, from which you can also correspond.

Now very few people are “sitting” and waiting for the operator to respond to the site, the model of communication on the Internet has changed dramatically . Users are more likely to get used to write something and get distracted, and later receive an answer with a notification.

9. Chat integration with third-party CRM

Your operators should have access to records for users from CRM (what they bought, when they bought, how much money they paid, etc.) This will allow a personalized approach to communication with the client, which will increase the number of repeat purchases. All tools should be integrated with each other and work in synergy (CRM, chat, pop-ups, email-mailing, analytics).

Action: Operators should have access to the maximum amount of user information. Actively use the ability to integrate online chat on the site with various services.

10. User knowledge is the key to selling.

Provide operators with behavioral analytics about users. They should know the whole history of the actions and purchases of each visitor in order to understand its features and needs. Operators need to know which pages were visited by customers, what actions were taken on them, what products they bought, from which channel they came from, whether they visited the site before, etc.

For example, the operator sees that the same person enters the card of the same product (or service) for the 4th time, but does not buy it. It is clear that the user is in the process of considering the purchase, he has doubts. The operator can help with the selection and convince to make a purchase.

Action: Before you help the visitor in the chat, review the history of his actions and which segment of users he belongs to. The chat operators in the Carrot Quest always look at the user's card before answering, which is why the conversation is complete.

11. Personalized online chat invitations

This is similar to paragraph 3, but it is personalized. Personal chat invitations are much more attractive than general ones. they are sent with a call by name from an individual operator with a name and a photo.

Some companies have discovered a feature that 1 person out of 3 is ready to communicate, provided they have a personal invitation. This is impressive!

Action: Encourage your operators to take initiative in personal invitations whenever possible. Personal contact will increase activity in the chat. Remember to track how this affects your conversion.

12. Up-sell and cross-sell

Your operators should know up-sell and cross-sell sales techniques.

In principle, up-sell sales are an increase (“raise”) of the sale amount. When a customer is convinced to buy a more advanced version of the product (for example, with an additional option), rather than the one that he originally considered.

For example, the user chooses an iron in an online store, he stops at some model and starts asking the operator about it. The operator tells him about this model and in parallel offers the model with the best in functionality and more expensive.

Cross-sell occurs when the user wants to buy additional goods to the main product. For example, when buying a digital camera, you offer the customer to buy a separate memory card in case the memory in the camera runs out at the wrong time.

Action: Train your operators in the basics of sales so they can use these opportunities.

13. Place the online chat button on the site

On all pages of the site there should be an online chat button. Visitors need to know where they can go if they need help.

Action: Talk to your designer where to place the chat button.

14. Use reports on the work of operators

Online chat tools should include analytics in which you will track the performance of your operators. You should see how each operator’s communication affects sales and repeat sales, as well as customer churn. This indicator should be analyzed periodically to determine changes.

Keep in mind that there may be other factors affecting the performance of the operators. This can be tracked using other KPIs, such as the number of visitors to the site during communication, the number of hits, etc.

Action: Track indicators and link them to each support person.

15. Save chat messages to use in the FAQ or in the knowledge base.

Your support generates a lot of information that you can use in the future for telephone support services or employee training. You can use these posts to complete your FAQ. Operators working in telephone support can quickly find a description of such problems in the database and use this to solve current problems.

Action: Ensure that the support department has access to the knowledge base from the chat. Train your staff to use this base.

With the help of chat operators you can quickly build up a knowledge base and improve sales. We did just that.

16. Train and motivate chat operators

Well-trained operators are highly motivated. People do not like to be in situations where they do not understand what is required of them. Operators who work in customer support should not only be trained in the product or service, but also have to be completely confident in their ability to manage chat communication.

In order to become a good chat operator, you need to learn :) Usually, chat support staff lead from 4 to 6 conversations at the same time, but practice is needed to achieve this.

Action: Create a training mode for all support staff. They will quickly lose their motivation if they feel overwhelmed and do not understand what is required of them. Conversely, employees who fully understand their work and are confident in it will be motivated for the result.

17. 24x7 is not the most important

If earlier it was thought that support should be within 24 hours 7 days a week, but now the market is gradually moving away from that . There are only a few areas left where instant response is so important. For small companies, such support is a big burden. Yes, you should try to respond immediately and have a dialogue in the chat, but in most cases it is impossible.

In the first paragraphs we already wrote that the answer should be duplicated by mail. The user will always see a notification about a new message in the mail, it is really convenient. The main thing, warn him about this in advance.

Action: Warn users that you can not always answer instantly, but they can leave an email and get an answer to the mail from which they will continue to communicate.

18. Be sincere

Every conversation in the chat (dialogue) is an opportunity to strengthen the opinion of you as an honest and sincere company. Do not miss this opportunity, because You only have 1 chance to make a first impression. Operators must communicate honestly with customers and let them know the limits of your capabilities.

If the operator wants to transfer the dialogue to another more competent employee, he should do it without shame. Many customers have a 6th sense and know when to hide the truth from them. If your employee lies, in the end, it may come up with even more problems than solutions.

Action : See how your operators deal with the pressure on them. One of the good techniques is to ask the operator very difficult questions until you reach the limit of his personal knowledge. Then you trace how he gets out of this situation.

19. Be helpful

Even if your employee cannot directly help with the problem, he can still be helpful. He can transfer the conversation to a competent employee or find the answer to the question on the Internet. If it takes too much time, he should offer the client to leave an email and send an answer later.

In any case, help is the key to communicating with the client. After all, if the client does not need help, then, most likely, he will not write in the chat.

Action: Make sure your operators understand that helping the user is the main thing. If the issue cannot be resolved now, the operator must submit it to the support service with high priority. The situation is relevant, since this is a potential sale.

20. Stay focused on conversation.

Good employees can process 4-6 dialogues at the same time and convince each client that all attention is focused only on him. This requires training and experience, so you need to carefully analyze the performance level of each operator.

Customers need to feel their value at the expense of the conversation. Therefore, fully delve into the conversation and try to help the client. If the operator has started the dialogue, he should not be distracted, he must respond promptly, otherwise the client will leave.

Action: If you have already started the dialogue, then try to respond quickly, and if this is not possible, then warn the user that you will send an answer to the mail, from which he can calmly continue the conversation. To speed up, use the message templates described above.

21. Charm

Always attracts the person who mastered the art of conversation. Some gifted people are born with this talent, the rest have to learn and practice it. Most likely, the majority of your operators fall into the second category. There are some simple rules to follow when dealing with customers. These rules should always be in the mind of your employees.

• Listen carefully and ask leading questions;
• Know the product and understand the main problems of customers;
• Focus on the tasks of the client, not your company;
• Do not try to impress the customer with your level of knowledge;
• Using the correct grammar when communicating with text is key.

Action: Ask your operators to read different literature, let them start with the classics - Dale Carnegie, he perfectly described the key factors when communicating ...



Chats are an important element of the entire online system. The model of communication on the Internet is changing, new technologies provide many opportunities. Change and you.

With pleasure, the Carrot Quest team.