The secret? Make data actionable, then proactively communicate with customers to boost customer satisfaction and benefit the business.
In today’s customer-focused world, it’s not enough to simply manage customer interactions. Yes – engaging the right visitor at the right time can significantly impact customer experience and drive greater revenue.
But more personalized (and satisfying) engagement requires context – knowing who’s on your site and what they’re doing, plus knowledge of previous interactions, account/service issues, and more. Using these details, agents can then proactively offer suggestions that drive the right customer actions.
No crystal ball required
Establishing a proactive support strategy requires knowing your customers. Collecting the following types of details can help determine where an agent should assist, and what type of support is required:
- Where are they are in their customer journey? New customer? Occasional return visitor? Long-time buyer?
- What website page are they on, or which pages do they visit most often?
- How much time have they spent on this page (or others)?
- How often do they visit your website?
- What items are in their cart?
- What service issues have they had before?
For instance, if a customer is new to a product or service, an agent should know this—and be prepared to provide him or her with specific prompts and guides to help resolve first-timer issues. On the other hand, for a long-time customer with a simple service request, a quick-start guide might be a more appropriate and personalized response.
In fact, thanks to the Internet of Things – for example, sensors that gather and transmit information about a product’s health – agents can now predict when a product isn’t working properly, and proactively deploy support, often before the customer even knows they have an issue.
Making all the rules
Rules-based tools can also help agents shift from a reactive to a proactive support strategy. Consider, for example, proactive chat. Powered by an automated rules engine, proactive chat works by sending images or pre-defined messages to website visitors, inviting the recipient to engage in a one-on-one chat when the time is right.
For example, one online retailer of healthy home and allergy relief increased its total website conversions by 8%, and its rules-based proactive chat volume five-fold, by carefully measuring and tweaking its deployment of proactive chat. During this same time, repeat visitors were 70% more likely to accept invitations from the company’s chat agents.
In addition to serving as a major sales channel, proactive support reduces cart abandonment, increases average order value through cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, and significantly enhances customer satisfaction. And by giving customers a helping hand at the exact moment they need one, they’re more likely to repeat purchases and become a valuable brand advocate.
Agents aren’t fortune tellers. But by getting to know customers, and anticipating their needs, they can proactively communicate with and guide customers in real-time through a variety of support channels for better conversions and superior support.
To strike up a conversation – and increased conversions – with your customers, visit Bold360.com and discover the power of proactive chat.
