Tips & Tricks to Hone your Professional Chatting Skills

Communication over the live chat platform is a lot different than talking to a client in person, over email, or on a phone. Please note that 79% of customers prefer the live chat option because they are provided with fast responses. At times, your prospective customers might misunderstand what you are trying to say as interacting through the text might leave more space for the interpretation. But, it does not mean that you need to spend a lot of time contemplating each word you type. Just follow some Professional Chatting tips for giving your website visitors a positive customer support experience. 

Is your company finding ways for improving the consumer experience through live chat? As the remote workforce grows and the office dynamics evolve, live chat software have become an important aspect of communication. Maybe some new hires in your organization find it hard getting a grip on interacting at the same. Are you someone who is looking for improving his CHT i.e., Customer Handling Time on chat? So now, it is vital for being up-to-speed on the professional chat skills. 

There is no denying the fact that the website visitors like the idea of talking through live chat. According to recent studies, consumers are happier with chat as compared to phone or email (73% for live chat satisfaction whereas 61% for email and 44% for phone). With time, more and more customers are opting for this platform. However, it might be famous but doing it accurately is not an easy task. The customer service agents of your company need chat-specific tricks for leaving the best impression on your visitors. 

Here is the list of some important tricks and tips for the live chat agents to hone their 

Professional interaction skills

1.  Be fast to accept the chat – Consumers must not wait once they initiate the chat request. As per reports related to live chat, about one-fifth of the consumers rate the long waiting time as its most annoying part. Always remember that they do not like to be in the queue and the only way for ensuring the same is by accepting their chat request just after you receive it. 

Say, if a client on live chat needs urgent help or is irate, then it would not be an amazing start to your chat if you have already made them wait for a very long time. Keep the average wait time as less as 20 seconds. 

2. Always greet your customer – After accepting the chat, your first duty is to greet your customer courteously and professionally. It might be helpful for you to use the canned responses at the beginning of a chat as it will help save time while managing multiple chats at the same time. 

Always remember that 41% of the customers prefer this channel to contact the support teams. Moreover, greeting must be in a friendly yet professional tone. For example, “Hi Kanika, Thanks for reaching out to us, how can I help you today?” 

This is particularly important in case you are offering consumer service as a part of being expert is also being friendly and respectful. Do not abandon your basic manner such as saying thank you as well as please and greeting the recipient etc. Also, if you are communicating with a person for the first time, give your introduction instead of quickly making the request. 

3.  Remember that it is a chat –It is not the transaction, list of terms and conditions, or letter from the lawyer, it is just a chat. This is the major reason why it should sound like the natural communication between 2 people. However, one of the major problems faced by the live chat agents is that they become way too formal over the chat. Regarding the same, it is suggested that they should ask themselves “Would I say this at home?” before pressing the Send button. 

Avoid using sentences which have many jargons, are very formal, and too long as these factors make the visitors feel as if they are interacting with the robot. After all, why shouldn’t the agents write what they would be willing to say? This is, by far, the number 1 rule for a live chat agent while communicating on a platform that has the topmost rate of customer satisfaction i.e., 92%. The sentences in your chat must be like you were chatting with the client in real life or over a phone call. This means, keeping it short and simple is the best way for keeping it effective. 

4.  Empathize with your customer – Empathy is as relevant on the platform of live chat as it is while speaking to the client on your phone, however, it is something easy to overlook. Furthermore, it might be simple to jump into the fix or a solution when the client has said something upsetting or significant to the agent. In a situation like this, however, your priority should be showing empathy. 

Empathy is an important professional live chat skill for each consumer support expert. If he can empathize with the situation of a customer by putting himself in the latter’s place, then you will have better chances of having the good outcome. Never forget that 63% of the consumers who use live chat on a site have more chance of returning to it. 

It would be simple for the agents to let the dignity slip and reply in the same tone to rude, stressed, or angry customers. Rather, you must master the art of empathy. Trying to look at the things from the client’s perspective is imperative as it makes clients easier to handle, which also controls the chat time. Use the empathetic statements like – 

• Yeah, Me too
• You are right
• I can see your point
• Sure, I can understand
• Oh, that sounds difficult

5. Adopt the customer’s way of talking – Just like while building the rapport over a phone call, mirroring the language during live chat is a good way for talking with the customers. An added perk to this platform is that if your website visitor uses emoticons, then you can use it too. 

It makes the huge difference whether you are interacting with a senior citizen or the digital native. In a one-to-one conversation, you are well-aware of the tone to strike only by looking at the other person. But when it comes to live chat, things are different. That is why it would be best for you to begin the chat on a neutral note as well as adjust your chatting style to the chat partner. Never underestimate the importance of live chat skills as 70% of the consumers prefer to interact with the human agents as compared to chatbots. 

When your chat partner interacts casually, using a lot of emoticons and short sentences, follow the lead. In case the other person is taking things formally, the agent should also adopt the more reserved style himself. 

6.  Signal to your client when he needs to wait – You will not always have a solution for every query consumers ask over the chat. In a situation like this, you must take some time for researching the solution so that you can offer the correct answer to the customer’s query. In case you feel that the subject could require a bit of investigation or you have to discuss the same with an engineer or a professional, interact about the same with the client. Furthermore, more than 70% of the businesses believe that online chat would come on the top by 2021. 

Gather every piece of information needed from the consumer to make 

sure that you or the next chat agent who will follow up with the client contains all the data they require for investigation and get back to the client. If you need cannot solve the customer’s issue on that instant or need to keep him waiting, update them about what is happening. One of the major things to keep in mind while indulging in Professional communication during the live chat session is that you should answer the consumer as soon as possible. In case you need a bit of time, let him know that you are working on his problem and will return to him in just a matter of minutes. 

7.  Get the help when required – While it is best to resolve a problem in the single live chat session, at times, the most suitable way for helping the consumer is to have some assistance. In case a client explains an issue or a term a few time but you still do not know its meaning, get the colleague for taking a look at it before you ask the customer for repeating themselves.  

If you are unable to help with the specific problem, it is suggested to transfer it to the other agent who can as the customers expect answers as fast as within 10 minutes. Also, while transferring the chat, fill the other chat agent in on the case first to ensure the fact that the client does not have to repeat himself again and again. In case you are unsure about the specific solution, then discuss the same with your colleagues or manager who can offer you some tips or guide you as per their experience. 

8.  Take care of formatting, spelling, as well as other mechanics – Of course, it is possibly fine for abandoning capitalization while interacting with the customers and the emoticons can prove to be the fun aspect of the chats, according to the communication style of your consumer. However, only because it is the different method of communication does not imply you are free to overlook all grammar standards, like spelling and complete sentences etc.

This is particularly relevant in case you are communicating with end-users or customers. Also, it would be an added benefit for you to learn how one can add the line breaks to his chats (usually Ctrl + Enter). Nobody wishes to go through the huge wall of text. Also, 87% of the businesses adopted live chat for connecting in real-time with the web visitors and it is enough to state the importance of this platform. While the chat is likely a less formal one than the other forms of writing, punctuation errors and spelling mistakes never help in improving communication. 

You surely do not need to write formal, standard sentences in the fast-paced chat, but the need for spelling words and using apostrophes accurately is inevitable. For instance, avoid these simple but drastic mistakes – 

• We will be happy to assist you as well as Ship the items to toronto Canada
• Whats the start as well as end date for the trip?
• Right now, our team is expereincing technical glitch in the system

9. Use Active Voice – Removing the personal pronouns is significantly a tool for denying responsibility and that is why it must not be used during a live chat session. Make it a point that the agents take the personal responsibility for the client’s issue as well as use words like “you” and “I”. This will ensure the fact that the clients feel as if they have someone who is actually inside the company personally doing his best for resolving their issue. 

Moreover, an important expert chatting skill to keep in mind is that just like the agent is motivated for doing on a phone call, use the active verbs for signaling to the client that their problem is a major priority to the business. Stating that “your contact is our priority” will mostly irritate the client, as he will realize the number of contacts an agent handles every day and might think he is being lied to. Hence, an agent must use the active language for showing them instead. Always keep the fact in mind that those businesses which miss out on the live chat option get a much lower rate of customer satisfaction ranging from 82%-84%. 

10.  End the chat with something specific and genuine –Ending your live chat session appropriately is a must. In case you are on the live support chat, you are likely to follow a protocol – thanking the client, making sure that their problem has been solved, and so on. However, everybody has the right to know about when the conversation has come to an end. Do not abandon the chat without a “thanks” and letting the recipient know that you have moved on to the next task. 

In today’s era, 67% of the B2C businesses utilize live chat platform for the customer support. Keeping its demand in mind, end your chat on the high note. Don’t use only a generic closing such as “Anything else I can help you with today?” or a basic sign-off like “Thank you for reaching out to us.” Yes, the above-mentioned are necessary prewritten and polite sentences, it would not harm going beyond the expectations. 

Try to close with a particular reference to the topic that is covered in your chat-

• Thank you for upgrading the account, Marcel. Have a great day!
• I am sorry about the issue you faced with our site today, and I hope…. 
• I am glad that we could assist you to troubleshoot the issues with your modem….

Apart from these, here are some extra tips for a chat agent to master his expert live chat skills – 

• Do not ask for a lot of information in a go – Avoid asking for a lot of information about the client before they even start the chat. This might put them off initiating the chat to start with. 

• Offer your customer a friendly treatment – It is equally relevant for the company to keep the interaction flowing in a personable way. The live chat agents who do this usually get many compliments for never providing with robotic canned replies to their clients. 

• Know about the offer – Be sure of what you are stating about the service or product. The hiring of knowledgeable and well-trained staff is a good method for impressing people. 

According to recent statistics, the highest number of chats takes place from 7 AM to 7 PM. Indulging in the live chat process can be fun, frustrating, productive, and everything in between. You just need to pay attention to these above-mentioned chatting skills for making the most of this platform without having to risk miscommunication or sacrifice professionalism. 

Mastering the art of attaining the most impressive chatting skills might seem a daunting task to you, but with the help of a few tips and tricks as well as practice, anybody can become the chat pro in no time. Remember that be it on the phone, email or chat, your ultimate aim is to offer customers the best service experience. Once you instill this in your mind, it will become a lot easier for you to hone these skills and get the desired results.