Every business that relies on websites as a customer engagement platform is always trying to find ways to increase visitors numbers on their website. There are two ways to achieve this𑁋sitting idly and just waiting and answering customer’s questions and complaints when they ask you or show your initiative before your customers reach you. While you ponder which ways are better, you should know that the second option, you can show your initiative before the customer asks for it. This explains how proactive live chat works.

You can definitely pick whatever approach you want, but reaching the customer first before any problems arise to show that you can deal with a potential problem as a result and will be more effective. The customer will get a detailed response and feels valued. So, how is proactive chat explained and how can it grow your business?

What is a proactive chat?

Proactive chat is the ability to target website visitors and then, using curated visual cues and sound effects, deliberately invite those visitors to participate in live chat interactions. In other ways, proactive chat messages are automated messages that invite your site visitors to start a conversation. This feature helps the live chat agent to take the lead, show interest, and willingness to solve customer problems as quickly as possible.

Much like an actual store salesperson, customer support experts invite visitors to talk. Taking the first steps with proactive chat software is now easier than it was years ago. Want to see some proactive chat best practices to use in your business? It's the next stop here.

Proactive chat best practices

Proactive chat is the perfect chance to show customers how much you care. It's a lot more effective to reach out to a client first and show that you can give a solution before problems arise or before complaints come.

There are several tactics that allow you to interact with customers instead of frustrating them. Now let's find out the do's and don'ts of proactive live chat, and pay attention to what you should and shouldn't do to make proactive messages work amazingly:

1. Know your time

For starters, set the message trigger to 1 minute. In general, you don't want to charge visitors all at once, give them time to look around. But how do you know which time is the right one? So, you can check the average time spent on the page using Google Analytics or other similar tools, and determine when a customer is aware of the content but will leave. Next, send a proactive chat message offering assistance.

For example, you see a customer completing an order for one minute. Run a proactive message under 1 minute, saying "Hi! Do you need help with your order? I’ll be happy to answer any questions."

2. Make your proactive conversation personal

With this type of chat, there's no point hiding behind a mask. Show your clients who you are, introduce yourself, and have friendly conversations. Try to avoid common yes / no questions and make sure your conversation is meaningful. You can also configure your messages according to the country, city, or language of the customer's current browser using a dedicated chat engine for that.

3. Keep the conversation specific and relevant

Use two different methods when someone is browsing pricing pages or technical support pages. For example, starting a sales presentation if the customer is facing some technical problem is not the best scenario. The customer is waiting for a solution, not another agreement. Since your goal is to provide service, prioritize customer needs. Choose their preference, and send a proactive message with several options in it.

For example, instead of "Do you need help?" Say "Hey! Need help choosing great leather handbags?"

4. Know your limits

Allow your customers to close chat windows or ignore conversations when they want to. Make sure that your help is adequate and that you don't annoy clients. For example, the message "Hi, I have added 1 item to your cart. Continue to the Payments section.” This message can sound too pushy. Also, don't put flashy live chat windows on every page of the site. Select a few pages instead, make the most of it there.

5. Limit the number of Proactive Messages

There is a trigger that lets you monitor how many preemptive chat invitations you have actually sent. Set it up if you don't want to bombard customers with multiple messages per page. This rule is the "number of preemptive invitations sent" and "the time since the last proactive invitation".

OneTalk offers you some features that allow you to reach customers before problems arise. One of them is Start New Conversation feature that allows you to start a case so that your business can reach your customer first. You can use this feature just by entering your destination number. Practicing Proactive Chat can also be done by another feature by OneTalk, Broadcast Message. You can reach a lot of customers all at once by sending proactive messages. You don’t even need to worry about sending messages that are too long to read, because this feature allows you to preview your messages before you hit send. Reaching your customer through broadcast messages can enhance your performance as a proactive business. 

We currently offer 14 days free trial (no credit card required). Let's reach your customers using OneTalk, contact us at sales@taptalk.io, or visit our website for more info!