Last week we covered the most important tips and tricks dedicated to chat agents. So here we are again with the last 20 tips that every business needs to follow in order to make their chat platform work for them, this time related to the management of the agents and the way management can support chat.
- Ensure all chat agents have been properly trained before putting them online. All agents must develop certain skills and knowledge before going online on live chat, because they manage your company’s reputation.
- Constantly organize trainings, as the training process is progressive, continuous. Everything around us evolves and changes, so make sure that chat agents continue to learn.
- Train chat agents to manage multiple chats simultaneously. This is the biggest advantage that a chat platform has to offer: giving a chat agent the possibility of helping more people at once. This requires special skills and training.
- Save chat transcripts. Make sure each chat transcript is saved and can be checked in case of an unsolved problem.
- Customize the triggers. Raise your level of expertise by providing personalised triggers for every business that you represent.
- Schedule regular meetings with clients to make sure you have all the correct and updated information about their business.
- Make sure the info you are sharing with customers on the chat platform is up-to-date. No matter the field of activity of your client, it is very important only correct information is passed on to their customers.
- Encourage chat agents to make good use of their time when the chat volume is low. Ensure you chat agents take advantage of quiet periods to improve their knowledge and skills.
- Have scripts prepared for the most common questions. There are FAQs in almost every field of activity, so prepare certain scripts to make the work of your agents easier.
- Enable special features, but make sure all agents are qualified and preparted to deal with a situation without using such features. Most chat platforms offer features like spell check or translating – it’s ok for chat agents to use them as long as they don’t rely on them.
- Make sure chats are distributed among agents either evenly or by field of activity they are best at. Not all chat agents have the same strengths, so carefully choose the best chat distribution method.
- Schedule regular meetings between chat agents and encourage them to share their experiences to help each other. As they say, “two heads are better than one”, so encourage the agents to learn from each other’s past chats.
- Pair new agents with experienced agents. The new perspective of a “fresh” agent and the experience of a long-time agent is a great combo!
- Have a team leader coordinating the agents and providing live chat services if chat volume is high. A trained and prepared supervisor or team leader brings value to your business.
- Supervize and monitor the chat agents in order to maintain best services, whether to correct possible slips, but also to encourage and compliment their work.
- Add company logo and/or colours to chat window. It is important to have an integrated look by customizing the chat window.
- Carefully choose the location of the chat button. In our experience, the lower right corner is the ideal placement for the chat window.
- Make sure the chat button is available on every page of the website or at least on certain pages, depending on the field of activity (for example: FAQs, Contact, etc).
- During busy hours, when all chat agents and their team leader are unavailable, have a message prepared for the customer. “We apologize for the waiting time. Our agents are currently busy, please leave a message with your telephone number and email address and we will contact you immediately.”
- Post a special message when offline so that customers know they will be contacted during business hours. Also post working hours so potential customers know the best time to contact you.
So there you have it! We gathered our experience to offer you the best pieces of advice in regard to live chat services. As we said before, live chat works: it increases sales, it lowers costs and it improves customer satisfaction, making it the most popular customer support platform.We hope these 40 tips and tricks lead to positive results! Also, don’t forget: for a job well done, don’t hesitate to contact the experts!
