Have you ever felt the sting of a lost lead? If you own an e-commerce website, odds are good that you’ve experienced this often, and you’re not alone. In fact, the average visitor-to-sale conversion rate for e-commerce sites globally, as of 2019, was a mere 2.58%! This is not a one-off phenomenon, either; the global conversion rate averages between 1% and 5% range from year to year. Most online visitors are ready to look but not ready to buy. In comparison to the 20% to 40% conversion rate of traditional brick-and-mortar stores, converting less than 5% of your online store’s leads to sales can feel like an excruciatingly small incoming buyer rate.
Despite this drawback, however, e-commerce has become an increasingly necessary part of the way we conduct business over the past few decades. This is part of why chat support is important: It can greatly increase a visitor’s likelihood of making a purchase.
Why Chat Support Is Important to Your Website
Consumers may be more open to online window shopping, but they’re also more drawn to purchasing from an online store when they finally decide on a product or service. The ease, convenience, and accessibility of online shopping options are great for consumers, and these aren’t benefits that shoppers are planning to give up any time soon. Knowing how to use your e-commerce website properly is key to turning a decent profit and keeping your company afloat.
So how exactly do you catch more leads and stay on top of your e-commerce website? With live chat, of course! The reason why live chat is important is that it offers a multitude of benefits to you as a business owner, including:
Individual Responses to Customer Questions
One major reason why the lead conversion rate in brick-and-mortar stores is much higher than on e-commerce websites is that customers in a physical location can ask a staff member questions about a product they’re looking at. Websites with only a written FAQ or an automated response system miss out on that human interaction and can leave guests unsure about the product in question and less willing to follow through with the purchase. With live answering, however, your online small business can attend to any and all customer concerns with an attentive virtual receptionist who will bring that in-person charm to their digital interaction. You could also use tools like VoiceNation’s after-hours answering service to make sure your customer has a live receptionist to interact with at any time of the day.
Expert Product/Service Knowledge
With live chat for e-commerce, customers gain the benefit of an industry expert who knows all of the important details about your company without having to hop on a phone call to speak to someone. Small business live chat software is a true hybrid between the physical and digital shopping experiences. It gives shoppers the benefit of interacting with a human while eliminating some of the social anxiety that can come from having to locate and pull aside someone in a brick-and-mortar store. Live chat also streamlines your order processing, so you never lose a customer to delayed handling times! Having a real-life person behind every interaction who understands how the business works mean your sales go more smoothly and your source of revenue is placed in secure hands.
Customer Service on the Go
E-commerce live chat is a game-changer when it comes to mobility. If you’ve been debating whether or not your small business needs live chat software with an app, consider this your answer: YES!
Having a mobile app with live chat software for your small business means that you can serve your customers in a way that fits their busy lives. That extra level of user experience goes above and beyond to make customers feel seen and can be the difference between a successful sale and a lost lead.
Stop missing out on online leads. Use VoiceNation’s live chat support for your websites today.