How to reduce costs - not only for e-Commerce

by Laura

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published 13 December,2021

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Web-chat je v súčasnosti prakticky bežným nástrojom na komunikáciu so zákazníkom v e-Commerce svete. It has become one of the common methods of communication with the customer.

The time we live in has accelerated this process of becoming aware. Mainly thanks to the Covid pandemic moved business more massively to the online world as well. I believe, the contactless way of social interaction in the store is finding its way.

We have a lot of experience with web-chat communications, the goal of today's article is not to describe the benefits for the customer, but to bring closer the financial advantages of web-chat management on two levels: own web-chat support team applications vs. professional outsourcing with complete services, as we provide them.

The primary goal of a web chat agent is to satisfy both the customer and the Service orderer. Improper balance can cause clearing on both sides. Not surprisingly, miscommunication, a small amount of funding in the 'chat' has a significant impact on the bounce rate of the site, the retention of visitors on the site, the brand itself, but mainly related to the ability to generate the number of leads you can get via web-chat.

It can be said that web-chat is such a small autonomous sales team. If done correctly, the agent has relevant KPIs to generate leads from inbound chats with adequate professional support in the company where he works.

Costs - minimal team vs outsourcing

It is not unusual for a call center or help desk agent to take care of the web chat application. If you are planning a web-chat, before you decide on a way to integrate web-chat care into your business, avoid cumulative rolls.
If your expectations are only customer care and time-wise, the agent can fulfill multiple roles, it's more or less fine. But if part of your expectations is to generate potential business/leads this tactic of pooled roles is not the right choice.

The efficiency and performance of the agent in such a cumulative position does not bring the expected goals, not even in the long term. The most common mistake in the search for efficiency is to think that by changing the management of people, by dedicating more people, by setting up the process, the leads will come. In the case of communication with the customer, we are not talking about a temporary problem, which will be removed by proper management, but about the business spirit and individual business strategy of the agents.

If you operate live chat/online support independently, or in combination with support and helpdesk, you certainly know that the minimum number of employees for such an activity is not 1 or 2, the correct number of people depends on several factors.

For the optimal coverage of "support" 8-10 hours/5 days, it is necessary to dedicate at least 3 employees, the resulting number depends on the number of tickets they have to serve, with a maximum volume of traffic on the site up to 600 visitors per day.
With a higher number of visitors, it is recommended to have more agents available at the same time, so that the potential customer does not have to wait long for the operator. The same recommendation applies if one agent serves more than 4 chats at the same time. You especially need to calculate the costs if you want to provide the service for a longer period of time, on holidays and non-working days.

Which in translation means that it is not enough to have a dedicated team, with an adequate knowledge base and process. An important factor is to have additional people available on an ad-hoc basis so that the service is smooth during peak times and vice versa. Such variability is very expensive to maintain organizationally, but especially financially.

The key is the motivation to serve the visitor, knowledge of buyer behavioral practices and other methodologies in the agents' DNA, which are necessary to obtain a lead, they learn through practice and the right setting and culture in the given area in the team (in the company). From this point of view, when outsourcing the management of the web-chat application, no additional costs arise, you rent the management and quality of the Services as well, but most importantly, the service is continuously online for the customer as per your need and can generate leads.

If you are interested in trying the Services of our web-chat operators, do not hesitate to Contact us. An individual approach and thorough analysis of your needs is guaranteed.

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