What You Need To Know About E-Commerce Live Chat Outsourcing

E-commerce businesses are constantly growing and evolving, and today’s e-commerce businesses need live chat services on their websites for their customers. With live chat services, your customers can enjoy 24/7 customer service, immediate answers to their questions, and the satisfaction of knowing they’re supporting a business that cares about their needs.

But there isn’t an e-commerce business whose owners can be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, how can this issue be resolved?

Live Chat Services: Why Outsource Them?

Outsourcing your e-commerce business’s live chat services will allow your company to handle customer concerns and complaints in real time without hiring around-the-clock “inside” help. Using the outsourcing method will improve your company’s efficiency (as it will be cheaper to outsource your services overseas than to hire domestic workers).

The Top Benefits of Outsourcing Your E-Commerce Live Chat

Outsourcing your e-commerce live chat has several benefits.

Analytics & Reporting

Working with an outsourcing company for your e-commerce live chat will provide you with a unique opportunity to receive analytics and reporting about your customers. The outsourcing company will tell you things like:

• How many customers checked in on your e-commerce site
• How many customers asked questions
• What type of questions your customers asked
• Customer satisfaction with the services provided 

Technology & Infrastructure

Investing in live chat software is an expense your company may not necessarily need or can’t reasonably afford. When your e-commerce business outsources the live chat support, the cost incurred won’t be as great – and you can rest assured that the technology and infrastructure available will be state-of-the-art.

Multilingual Support

Today’s customers are global, speaking various languages and expecting customer service in those same languages. While some e-commerce owners are multilingual, just as many are not—and can’t provide much-needed support for non-English-speaking customers. That, however, is where an outsourced live chat company comes in: the support staff can provide multilingual support to various customers, ensuring customer satisfaction in every language.

Focus on Core Activities

Today’s e-commerce businesses are SMBs (small-to-medium businesses), and there may not be enough staffing to handle live chat customer support. Several e-commerce businesses have learned that they must take one employee off their essential duties to handle the live chat while keeping it in-house, but that’s not the case with outsourcing. By outsourcing the live chat customer support, e-commerce businesses can keep their employees focused on their core activities, which increases productivity.

Specialized Expertise

When your e-commerce business outsources its live chat services, you’ll be working with a company that only works on live chat services. That’s all it does, and that’s all it will ever do.

Improves Business Scalability

When your live chat needs are handled, it leaves room for your company to improve its scalability. This means your company can grow how it needs – and wants – to, and your specialties can remain your own.

Savings

Above all else, live chat outsourcing is an economically sound decision for your e-commerce business. Outsourcing your live chat support is cheaper than hiring people “in-house” to handle the matter.

How Do Customers Feel About Live Chat?

Today’s customers are very savvy and want the support that live chat can provide them. According to 360 Research Reports, today’s customers enjoy the live chat feature so much that the market is expected to grow to $1.36 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.84 percent.

And there are many reasons why, according to the report, the market is exploding:

• The technology complies with government regulations. Live chat software complies with many governmental rules and regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), passed by the European Union that governs consumer privacy.
• Technology is in demand in many different industries. E-commerce businesses don’t just deploy live chat software. Law, medicine, and real estate are just a few industries using live chat software. Even major corporations, like Walmart and Target, have deployed live chat software on their websites.
• Customers are aware of the benefits. The report suggests that customers know the benefits of live chat software and are now actively looking for it on any e-commerce site they visit.
• Live chat software can be integrated into social media technology. Social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives, and customers often take to their preferred platform of choice to get help from a live agent if they cannot find it on the phone or the website. Today’s live chat software is often integrated with social media, too, which makes it desirable for younger consumers.
• Live chat technology is constantly evolving. Today’s live chat technology isn’t static; it is growing daily and has even started integrating artificial intelligence (AI) for improved customer satisfaction and business growth.

When Is the Time to Outsource Your Live Chat?

It may not be immediately apparent when it’s time to outsource your live chat, but there will be signs. For example:

• Your e-commerce business needs to expand. To do so, you’ll need to start outsourcing—including your live chat.
• It’s a stressful time of year. Any major holiday—especially Christmas—will require an additional workforce and an “all hands on deck” approach to your business, which will necessitate outsourcing your live chat services.
• Your business needs to compete in the market. As more e-commerce businesses adopt live chat services on their websites, failing to do so will render your business redundant.
• Your business needs to improve in other places to keep up with the live chat needs. Taking a dedicated employee off their “regular” work to handle live chat will only cause your e-commerce business to falter. Instead, put the employee back where they belong and outsource your live chat services to a company specifically designed to handle it.

We understand you may have many questions about outsourcing your live chat services, so we’re here to help. PEAK Outsourcing specializes in providing dedicated outsourcing teams designed to act as a seamless extension of your business. Contact us today to discuss your needs for live chat outsourcing.