Web Chat Tips You Can Apply in Your Contact Center

Looking for a simple web chat etiquette guide your agents can use? Today’s your lucky day.

In a recent blog post, we reported that 37% of customers prefer web chat to other channels. And honestly, as far as channels of communication go, web chat is by far the most efficient. It’s fast, both your agent and customer can get to the point quickly, and it beats the hell out of picking up the phone.

Indeed, chances are you’re already using web chat in your contact or support center.

We recently found a cool little ebook about web chat – with a not-so-cool little statistic: according to the author, 90% of call center agents type with two fingers and are notoriously bad at written communication. Yikes.

But before you start panicking, grab a towel and take a glance at our top tips for using web chat in your contact center.

• Always introduce yourself to your customer. We recommend copying and pasting a pre-existing introduction to save time.
• Don’t do or say anything on web chat that you wouldn’t over the phone. Basically, keep your cool and be professional at all times.
• Use scripts where possible. One perfectly structured and easy-to-understand response can be used to make more than one customer’s life easier, especially if you deal with similar queries often.
• Tone can be misunderstood. Read through your wording carefully to ensure it’s not ambiguous in any way.
• Avoid jargon and acronyms. You and your colleagues may throw them around, but your customer won’t appreciate terms they don’t understand.
• Never resort to slang. It’s tacky.
• Ask questions and offer solutions. i.e., Have you tried hard-refreshing the page?
• Spelling and grammar are important. It’s professional and evokes a sense of expertise. You want your customer to be confident in your abilities.
• Keep it short and to the point and use easy-to-understand words.
• Stay away from negative language. Rephrase sentences positively. (As mentioned in our blog post about call-center scripts.)
• Don’t use text abbreviations like BRB or LOL. The occasional smile emoji is perfectly fine though. 🙂
• Never type in caps. It’s the equivalent of shouting into the phone.
• Remember that your chat will be viewable after the query is resolved. Best not make promises or offers that you can’t commit to.
• Be clear that you’re signing off from the chat in your final response. i.e., Please let me know if you need any more assistance today. Enjoy your day further!

Like what you see? Then pass these along to your agents right away.

According to CCW’s Live Chat Benchmarking Report 2018, companies are receiving more chat queries than ever before (a yearly increase of 85%), proving that customers are increasingly turning to web chat as their preferred channel.

It’s never been more important to focus your efforts on getting this channel right.

Read more top tips about getting the best out of web chat here.