How To Measure The ROI Of Implementing Live Chat On Your Website

In today’s virtual world, there is a wide variety of website options that can be beneficial for enhancing the user experience. It is no longer enough for businesses to have a website with engaging content – what a great majority of consumers nowadays are looking for are ways to interact with brands.

While this became possible, thanks to various social media platforms, they are not exactly the best way for consumers to get their problems solved, all the time. What about those consumers who are not on social media sites? Will they remain unsatiated?

Also, real-life customer support agents have a limited number of requests they can handle on a daily basis, so sometimes it is inevitable for some individuals to have to wait for hours or even days to get their problems addressed.

That is why the majority of business owners have turned to live chat which enables them to provide their clients with exceptional customer service, increase their sales to a great extent, and convert more leads into long-term customers.

In fact, according to the research conducted by the American Marketing Association, implementing live chat on a company’s website can increase conversions by up to 20%. Moreover, live chat for sales has a 300% return on investment (ROI).

So, if you want to improve sales with live chat but aren’t exactly sure what the total investment will be, how much revenue you will get, and whether your efforts will really pay off, we are here to provide you with some tips for measuring the ROI of implementing live chat for sales to your website.

Factors That Need To Be Taken Into Consideration

First of all, there are a few essential factors you need to be taking into consideration when measuring the ROI for your live chat for sales, and they include the following: the number of monthly web visitors, your incremental sales, predicted live chat volume, costs related to the technology and resources that you have been using, average sale value, and sales’ gross margin.

You can determine the volume of your live chat based on whether you are looking for a proactive or active visitor engagement. Moreover, you can also determine the volume of live chat for sales depending on the type of industry your business falls under and its standards regarding live chat implementation. When it comes to the number of resources you have been using as well as their costs, they can be determined based on simultaneous sessions and the average handle time.

Of course, you need to be aware of the fact that the conversion rates can vary to a great extent depending on the industry – they can be anywhere between 4% and 40%. This fact is of an essential importance when it comes to determining the number of your incremental sales, as well as the revenue.

In addition, your average sale value can increase between 5% and 15%, as with live chat for sales your sales reps get an ability to upsell your products.
Once you have managed to generate the total revenue from your incremental sales, it will become easy to measure the return on investment for your live chat.

How To Improve Sales With Live Chat

While implementing live chat can bring numerous benefits to various areas of your business, we will now focus on ways how this powerful technology can be used for improving your sales:

#1 You Will Be Able To Provide Customers With Quick Solutions

Many consumers are hesitant when it comes to contacting a company via email or phone not only because it takes some time, but also because their personal information will be added to an email list in most cases.

On the other hand, live chat provides them with a higher level of privacy as it enables them to chat directly from the comfort of their own home. In addition, your customer support agents will be able to find solutions to problems quicker than ever which will contribute to the overall productivity.

#2 Consumers Value Convenience

If a certain individual visits your website, asks a question, and gets an immediate response, chances are that they will find your company professional and trustworthy, which will inspire them to be confident to purchase something from you.

According to a study conducted by Forrester, more than 40% of consumers think that having an option to get answers to their questions while shopping online is one of the best and most convenient features any website can have.

Another great thing about live chat is that your website visitors don’t have to sit and wait for a reply as they will be notified by sound or visual alerts as soon as someone replies to them, which will save them a lot of time and annoyance.

#3 Live Chat Can Be Used For Upselling

After answering someone’s questions or after solving their problems, your live chat session doesn’t need to end – instead, it can be used as a great opportunity for motivating your customer to make some additional purchase.

For instance, when your agent is done with providing some customer with the solution they need, they can inform them about the discounts and promotions your company is offering at the moment.

To sum up, live chat is a proven way to increase your sales and customer satisfaction regardless of the size and the type of your business. However, if you are not certain whether your live chat is really paying off, you can use the aforementioned tips to easily measure the ROI that it brings.

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