Why is chat support crucial for mobile apps?
If you run an app business, you probably a ton of support and service requests from users all the time. Customer service is essential for any online business as a way to establish trust and reliability with the audience.
From e-commerce stores to major SaaS firms, both small and large businesses offer their customers some kind of support. It is always difficult to convert customers without offering them the insurance of support in case of an issue later.
If you’re making an app for your business, it is vital to think about customer support. You should primarily think about the medium in which you’re going to offer support.
While email support is the easiest medium to start with, you should consider integrating chat in your app. Customers these days prefer chat because it offers ready access to the support team, and significantly lowers resolution time.
A Kayako report shows that 41% of customers prefer live chat for support, as opposed to 32% for call support and 23% for email.
In this article, we discuss why chat support is crucial for your mobile app’s success.
#1: Direct communication with customers
One of the issues with email support is that it can be slow at times. For resolving requests, an easier way is to speak with the customers directly. Email can be a bit cumbersome in case customers are looking for a swift response.
This is where chat support helps. Instead of drafting and sending emails, customers can simply list out their queries and issues in a chat window. An operator from your end can respond to the request and provide an immediate response.
Even if the issue that a customer is highlighting will take time to resolve, the communication regarding the same can be made swiftly over chat. The same discussion over email can take over 1-2 hours.
For app users, chat support is extremely convenient as smartphones are much more conducive to live texting. Additionally, email support over apps isn’t very accessible, which is why app businesses should seriously consider integrating chat with their platform.
A number of prominent chat software offer integration with apps. You can read through the documentation provided by various chat software on integration with Android and iOS apps.
#2: Enhance conversions, retention, and loyalty
The path to customer loyalty seems like a long one. To make it simple, you can view it in three simple steps: conversion, retention, and loyalty.
There is endless literature you can find online on enhancing conversions and retention. Here, let’s discuss how a chat support feature can help.
To convert a first-time customer, you need more than just a good product. You need to reassure your customer that you will provide assistance in case something goes wrong in the future.
Chat support goes a long way in this regard. Customers are more reassured when they know that they can instantly interact with an operator in case their order gets messed up. This kind of reassurance is easy to provide and goes a long way towards enhancing conversions.
Continued chat support also enhances retention as it gives customers less incentive to leave the app. One of the biggest reasons behind app churn is poor support, and a chat feature can help with the same.
With less churn and more retention, you will naturally see customers becoming more loyal to your app. It is obvious that customers will be more loyal to apps that offer swift customer support, something which a chat feature can deliver.
#3: Increase your support team’s efficiency
With typical email support, an operator can only interact with one customer at a given point in time. This reduces their efficiency and actually increases the average response time of your team.
Chat is different because it enables your team to navigate between multiple customer requests at the same time. It makes your support infrastructure much more lean and efficient.
A point to remember here is that some chat software offers greater functionality and flexibility when it comes to interacting on different chats simultaneously. You should first see the tech specs of the software you’re about to use before integrating it with your app.
#4: Offer round-the-clock support
With live chat, you can take your support services to the next level with 24×7 support. This can significantly enhance how confidently customers use your app, and how engaged they are.
Does this mean you have a support team working round the clock? Not necessarily. Many chat software provides automated responses based on the request a customer has. These responses are generally programmed to provide links to support resources.
If you have a knowledge base that answers common questions that your customers have, you can use these automated features to offer 24×7 support. A chat feature combined with a knowledge base can be very powerful and effective.
Programming your chat software to provide automated responses also reduces the workload of your support team. For generic customer requests, an automated bot is a better option. Your support team can then focus on requests which require greater attention.
#5: Get a competitive edge
Offering chat support requires investment. Keeping aside the cost of integrating chat software into your app, there’s also the question of building a support team ready to answer customer requests in real-time.
Like any investment, there’s a payoff as well. Offering chat support can give your app a competitive edge. If you’re in a market segment where your competitors don’t offer chat support, the advantages are obvious. In case most of your competitors already offer chat support, it is vital for you to catch up.
In conclusion
On a global level, the overall satisfaction for live chat stands at 83%. This clearly highlights the overwhelming preference customers have for live chat. Most of the popular apps and websites you frequent tend to offer live chat as a support option.
Even DIY app-making platforms enable users to integrate chat with their app. This shows how important it has become for businesses to offer this as a support option.
Customers now are familiarized with chat and expect it as a support channel when they use a mobile app. Besides helping with user experience and overall team productivity, chat can only enhance the trust customers have for your brand.
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