Live chat is typically used to support sales or customer service activities, but it can also be used to increase marketing ROI. This is because it offers a direct line of communication to visitors, so when someone visits your website, it gives them a chance to instantly ask questions. They may not be committed enough to call or email, but live chat provides an informal way of moving their journey along, with minimal much effort from them. 

At Moneypenny we spoke to Joe Dearbonne, director of demand generation for SnapEngage, to find out 10 ways that you can use live chat to increase ROI from your marketing. 

(To hear more from Joe on how live chat can help with B2B lead generation you can watch our Supercharged Lead Gen interview

here

.) 

1. Increased lead conversion

Chat is immediate, driving much higher lead conversion. The average chat response time is 11 seconds, compared to two to three hours for an email response. 

2. Greater customer satisfaction

Live chat increases satisfaction due to its instant and expert responses. At 83%, live chat boasts one of the highest customer satisfaction rates (Forbes). 

3. Scale, scale, scale

We can’t emphasise this enough. A live chat agent can manage up to three live chats at once, instead of being able to handle one phone call at a time. 

4. Integrated user experience

A chat platform integrates well with most websites, CRMs and help desks. This allows you to keep all client data unified, while lowering your overall cost. 

5. Convenience

Customers want to talk on their own terms. This could be web chat, social media, or SMS and WhatsApp – having a multi-channel chat option is key. 

6. Increased revenue

A recent survey showed that 63% of people who use live chat are likely to return to the website. The more engaged conversations you have, the higher the chances of gaining a long-term loyal customer. 

7. A speedy first contact

A customised, proactive outreach has a 33% better response rate from site visitors. You can easily link automated proactive chat outreach to your live chat option and drive a quicker response to first contact.

8. 24/7 lead generation

Creating a mix of humans and bots can transform your business. Pairing chat bots with live chat fills gaps in coverage, whether this is for backup, or as the frontline, or for weekend support. 

9. Increased cross-sell and upsell

Engagement goes through the roof when you acknowledge a visitor with context. For example, via a proactive chat suggesting products based on the product they are looking at: ‘if you like this, you might also like this.’

10. Supercharged content

One of the most powerful features of live chat is the ability to customise welcome messages depending on the visitor’s location on your site. For example, you could provide a proactive message on a blog article that drives conversions.

These are just some of the many

benefits of a managed live chat service

. If you have a moderate to high volume of website visitors, installing live chat onto your site could be a no-brainer. The Moneypenny website has certainly benefited from the tool over the past few years. 

We started using live chat on our website in spring 2017, and we saw a 10% increase in conversion rates in the following six months. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength.

If you are interested in driving more leads and ROI through your marketing activity, check out our

Supercharged Lead Gen series

, where our digital marketing manager, Daniel Marshall, speaks to some of the greatest minds in marketing and gets their top tips for supercharging lead generation.