Running an eCommerce site is quite different from running a brick and mortar shop. For one, you worry about very different things when you compare the two. For your eCommerce site, you have to think about the visual appeal of your Lakeland website design and how it can create conversions. With a brick and mortar shop however, you need to worry about location, utilities, employee salaries, and everything else that goes into running a shop.
However, no matter how different the two maybe, there is one thing that remains constant between the two mediums: customer support. The customer is the most important aspect of ony store, whether it be online, or in retail. In retail shopping, it’s quite easy to provide person-to-person customer service. The customer simply has to approach the indicated personnel, and get their problem sorted out.
In eCommerce, one way that online shops can provide that same immediate customer service is through the use of a live chat support option. There are a number of benefits to providing online chat support for your online customers. For one, many customers like online sites that offer this option, because it gives them the chance to directly connect with someone who can help them immediately.
Live chat support is also very efficient for both the online shop and the customer. On the side of the customer, they can connect with someone almost immediately and get a solution to their problem or question in less than half an hour. This saves them the trouble of having to fill out a form, emailing it, and waiting for a response. On the side of the online shop, the live chat support agents can be trained to have responses at the ready for the more common questions, which saves time that they can spend helping someone who has an issue that may need a little more time.
However, while live chat support is great for your eCommerce site, it does have a couple of unforseen downfalls that you have to consider before deciding to integrate this feature into your site. In order to have a successful live chat support feature, you have to take the time and resources to find and train employees who are capable of providing excellent customer service through chat.
One of the biggest appeals of moving a retail store to an online medium is being able to cut down on costs like employee salaries and utilities, and utilizing live chat support will require that you hire additional staff to handle this.
Customer support is one of the most important ways to maintain a loyal customer base. Overall, live chat support is a great addition to your eCommerce site’s Lakeland website design and helps maintain a quality level of customer service that shoppers will appreciate. However, it has a couple of downsides that may make it difficult for smaller online shops to fully utilize this feature, and must be fully considered before deciding to implement this feature.