Live chat can increase user engagement on your site, but sometimes just adding a 'click to chat' tab isn’t enough. It might require some work to get customers familiar with the chat function and to help them understand that a real human is standing by, ready to answer questions.
The following are a few ways to proactively start a conversation with visitors browsing your site and help them find what they’re looking for.
There are three basic ways to connect with your site visitors and let them know you’re available to start a conversation:- Initiate a chat with any visitor via the buddy list
- The Olark Greeter utility
- Targeted chat (the Greeter on steroids!)
Initiate a chat with any visitor via the buddy list:
Initiating a chat with visitors is as easy as clicking on their name in your buddy list to reach out and start a chat.
We recommend starting the conversation with a friendly hello and reminder that a real person is there to help — something not pushy. Remember, your conversation will appear out of nowhere for the user. Users might be skeptical about someone suddenly starting to chat them, or might even react negatively if they don’t need help.
It’s a fine line to walk, but if you think you can help, or if you identify the user as a repeat visitor and someone you know won’t mind (the buddy list user info is powerful Kung-fu!), start that chat.
The Greeter:
The Greeter is a cool utility that allows you to set a timer wherein a chat box will pop up for a visitor (once per visit, not every time they navigate to a new page) with a message you create.
For example: A greeter can be set to pop up when a user has been on your website for more than (i.e., =/>) :25 seconds. The greeter could say, "Hey there, can I answer any questions you might have?"
It’s simple to set up and many of our customers report up to 300% more chats when they employ the Greeter. You can find The Greeter from the customize tab in your Olark.com dashboard.
Targeted Chat:
Targeted Chat is essentially The Greeter on steroids and a high protein diet. You can employ Targeted Chat to get completely granular with the scenarios in which the chat box is shown, and engages visitors.
A couple of example of things you can do using Targeted Chat rules:
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If a user is on say, his 3rd visit to Olark, expand the chat with this message: “Welcome back, can we help you out, do you have any questions?” and change his nickname in the buddy list to “repeat visitor”
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If a visitor has been on “this page” for the second time in one session, expand the chat with his message: “Are you having any difficulties with the download process? Can I help you?”
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Highlight returning visitors in my buddy list
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Target French visitors by sending a custom message in their language. If the visitor’s country is France, send this message: “Bonjour, Comment allez-vous?”
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If a visitor is viewing the Targeted Chat page, for example, expand the box with this message: “Any feedback on Targeted Chat you’d like to share with us?”
You get the idea, the only limits are your own creativity in interacting with your customers and visitors. You can turn the rules off and on as needed and really test out which messaging works best. This is powerful Juju in helping you to make the most of your live chat offering.
Have fun and be sure to tell us of creative ways you’ve found to use targeted chat to ramp up chatting with your site’s visitors.
