5 Rules for a Perfect Use of Chat in a Customer Contact Center

Even though the telephone remains the preferred mode of communication in customer contact centers, chat continues to gain popularity among customers. A study by Softwareadvice.com shows that more than 50% of customers aged 18 to 34 regularly use chat to reach a customer service agent.

In this article, you will learn the following reasons explaining this phenomenon according to the study. A study by Software Advice shows that more than 50% of customers aged 18 to 34 regularly use chat to reach a customer service agent. In this article, you will learn the following reasons explaining this phenomenon according to the study.

The Benefits of Chat for Customers

• Can be used at school and at work
• Quick response with little to no wait times
• The ability to perform multiple tasks at once
• Easy to use and fast
• Allows you to keep written archives of discussions

Reasons why Clients use Chat

Depending on their needs, customers seem to prefer one mode of contact to another. Phone and chat for simple inquiries, phone and emails for more complex inquiries and emails for difficult queries.

Clients seem to like chatting because it allows a quick response to a simple question, while continuing daily activities.

The 5 Rules of Chat

It is necessary to aim for simplicity and efficiency in these interactions while reducing the effort of the customer. Here are five rules to help achieve this.

1. Be brief and precise

Overloaded messages or ambiguous responses can cause confusion. In such a case, the customer would have to ask his question again or request further clarification. To respect this first rule, messages must:

• Contain a maximum of one or two ideas
• Start with the most important element
• Contain a maximum of 160 characters

2. Structure your text and use proper grammar

A message that is poorly structured or contains typos may be improperly interpreted by the customer. It is important to;

• Start the sentences with a capital and end them with a period
• Bind two elements using a conjunction (but, then, etc.) preceded by a comma
• Avoid any spelling errors

3. Express the company’s style and dynamism

Unlike face-to-face or telephone contacts, it is difficult for the client to detect the mood or dynamism of the agent. To prevent the client’s impression of conversing with a robot:

• Use the tone of the company (formal, familiar, etc.)
• Formulate Active sentences rather than passive ones to show more engagement in the conversation
• Avoid negations and negative expressions
• Do not limit responses to Yes, No, ok
• Occasionally use exclamation marks (!)

4. Avoid all jargon or abbreviations

Jargon and expressions are not always understood by everyone. To avoid confusion that requires the client asking for clarification, it is advisable to:

• Avoid using expressions that are region or age group specific
• Do not use abbreviation or use internal jargon
• Eliminate any unnecessary technical terms

5. Personalize the conversation

In order to create a positive customer experience, LOEM suggests taking a few extra seconds to personalize the conversation. Here are some tips to help you get it right:

• Refer to the customer by their first or last name as often as possible
• Use the information obtained in the conversation to customize the answers
• Demonstrate attention to the customer even when performing several simultaneous tasks

Conclusion

We can help you set up or optimize chat in your customer contact center. Training is also available to educate and empower your agents to interact perfectly every time.