Chat Finds Its Place in the Modern Contact Center

While the phone remains indispensable to the contact center – customer support facilities are, after all, set up to revolve around the telephone – Web chat is becoming the second most important channel to customer. While today’s customer may use a variety of channels through which to get an answer – self-service, social media, online forums, FAQs, mobile apps and e-mail – the telephone and Web chat are now the two most critical media when a customer actually needs to communicate directly with a representative.

According to a recent study of consumers from Software Advice, the online hub for customer support tech, more than half (56 percent) of respondents have used live chat at least once to answer a question on a company’s Web site. Whether they choose chat or traditional telephone support, however, depends on the complexity of the customer issue. Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents reported they prefer using live chat for online shopping questions, while 74 percent prefer telephone for complex financial questions.

There is evidence that chat or phone preference is relevant to age. The same Software Advice study found that 56 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 prefer live chat to phone, compared to 27 percent of respondents aged 35 and older. For most companies, particularly those with young customers, chat is the “up and coming” channel. It has huge advantages: it’s fast, it’s synchronous (one-to-one real-time communication), and it’s easily available where customers are: on a company’s Web site, either the standard or the mobile version.

“Online live chat is proving to be one of the best service channels for meeting customers’ needs throughout their journey, from first contact through post-sale support,” wrote Software Advice’s Craig Borowski. “As an online tool, it meets customers in the very place they increasingly turn for answers: the Internet. And unlike other channels such as email, live chat provides instant support, with minimal customer effort required.”

As their primary reasons for using the channel, customers cite the convenience and the lack of hold time (unlike with live telephone support). They also like the fact that chat allows them to keep a written record of their interaction, unlike a live phone call. Some companies believe that the informal nature of chat – there is no need to engage in a greeting, small talk and a formal “good-bye” with chat also raises its appeal.

“I think people are intimidated to get on the phone with a sales rep and ask about pricing or process questions too early, because they don't want to get hard-sold when they are just fact-finding,” Katie Meurin, marketing director of ZCO Corporation, told Borowski. “Live chat allows them to get answers with no delay, but also gives them the ‘out’ of being able to sign on and off chat as they please.”

For younger, less formal customers raised on text messaging and multitasking, it’s easy to see why chat may hold appeal. While every company will need to build out their multichannel efforts in different ways, for most companies, investing in time and personnel to ensure a robust chat presence will be well worth it. 

Edited by Stefania Viscusi