3 Live Chat Tips For Your Ecommerce Website
Updated: May 2021
Looking to add a simple feature to your eCommerce website that will instantly boost your customer’s experience? Add a live chat widget! When website visitors have a question or problem they expect to be able to communicate directly and quickly. This means that a plain old contact form that asks them to fill out their info and then wait for a response won’t always cut it. One of my favorite things about live chat is actually not techy at all; it’s that implementing a live chat system on your eCommerce website gives your site an interactive element and reminds visitors that real humans are on the other side of the screen to help them.
For small to medium businesses, this is also one quick and relatively inexpensive way to look and act like a major player! It shows everyone that your biz is tech-friendly, responsive, and focused on customer service. Those are all great wins! If you’re interested in some more of the psychology and stats behind why live chat is such a winning tool check out this post but read on for some tips on how to implement it successfully + a couple of recommendations on my fave live chat widgets for Squarespace.
Live Chat Tip 1
Get Everyone on the Same Page
If you have a team, make sure you go through some training so that everyone knows and understands how to chat. This means not just what to say but how to say it. You can have some answers to common questions written out in your brand’s voice but people need to be able to communicate on the fly in the same way. The goal is to make it seem like it’s not a robot chatting! You should also cover things like your expectations around response times and what options are available for resolving issues. For example, you could have some generic discount codes or links for tracking shipments at the ready so issues can get resolved quickly. Consistency is one of those things that customers can’t quite put their finger on when asked why they love a brand but will be quick to point out the second it’s missing so getting everyone on the same page is really important.
Live Chat Tip 2
Choose a Tool that Works for You First
Live chat does require integrating a third-party program and there are lots of options depending on what internal software and systems you use. For example, you could use one that connects all your chat messages to Slack or Facebook Messenger if that’s where you’re guaranteed to never miss a message. This is especially important if you’re flying solo or have a very small team of people that are busy doing things other than just monitoring your chat activity.
This may be obvious to point out but I think that while most tools need to work for customers first and you (the business owner) second, this is one that actually needs to be the other way around. Customers will use whatever tool you present to them but if it’s one that’s inconvenient for you to check and use then it’s pointless. You could also check out using a tool like Zapier to help you integrate your live chat widget into your existing business systems or semi-automate some responses when needed.
Live Chat Tip 3
It’s OK to Set Boundaries
When it comes to adding live chat one of the biggest concerns I hear about is that business owners are afraid they’ll have to be “on-call” all the time, ready to answer questions at 3 am. Here’s the thing: most chat widgets allow you to set “office hours” or simply turn the chat off if you’re going to be out of office or not able to reply right away. This is perfectly ok and normal! Use these features! I still think it’s better for an eCommerce site to have live chat turned on for 8 hours a day than not at all. The only thing you’ll want to consider is whether you’re in the same time zone or region as most of your customers. If you’re in Bali but your customers are in Cali, having chat only during your daytime hours really does nothing for your customers on the other side of the world.
Something else you could consider versus just setting an “out of office” auto-reply on your live chat is just temporarily removing the widget altogether when needed. For example, if you’ll be gone on vacation or your team is swamped with other deadlines making chatting super impossible. Having the chat icon there indicates that you’re ready and willing to talk with customers so it’s going to be a real letdown if they submit a message and never hear back. There’s no shame in turning off the chat widget if you need to and turning it back on when you’re ready.
Recommended Widgets
Facebook Messenger - if you’re down with Facebook, this is probably the easiest route. It’s free to use and most people already have and use FB Messenger. Another bonus is that people can chat on your site but then also pick up the chat thread on their phone which is really convenient. Check out this post with step-by-step instructions on adding FB Messenger to your Squarespace site.
Tidio - As far as more traditional “stand-alone” type widgets Tidio is one of my favorites because it has a lot of options and features but is still easy to use. Pricing ranges from free to $18/mo so there’s guaranteed to be a plan to fit whatever stage you’re at. Another thing I like about Tidio is that if you are interested in going the chatbot route (where you set up automated responses to common questions) this is a great tool for that on one of the paid plans. I do think that having a chatbot is still better than having nothing at all so if you’re one of the people I mentioned above who’s wary of being committed to a life of being a customer service chat agent maybe check this out?
LiveChat - A step up from Tidio is LiveChat which I think is best for eCommerce businesses that really want to make chat a core part of their eCommerce experience. You can also add ChatBot features to automate some aspects of the chat. LiveChat is super easy to install and comes with a 14-day free trial so you can tinker around in it before paying. The thing that sets LiveChat apart from the other tools on this list is that it pulls communications from all sorts of channels into one central hub. There are also some really cool features like a ticketing system for escalating issues that require some offline time to work on and the ability to share products right in the chat. Definitely check this one out if you're wanting to go the premium route!
Bottom Line
Adding a live chat widget can be a quick win for your business when it comes to customer service and making a great impression with customers. It’s easy to add one and becoming the norm for quick convos with online visitors. To make sure you’re successful with implementing live chat, make sure to get everyone on the same page, use a tool that works for you first, and remember that it’s ok to set boundaries on your chat if you need to!
