Driving additional revenue should be at the heart of your online marketing strategy. After all, the goal of any business — including home care businesses — is to make money. Of course, quality services and compassionate care are all important as well, but from a strictly business standpoint, if you’re not creating revenue, you’re stagnating. There are many ways to drive revenue for your home care website, and one of those is to utilize chat tools.
According to Business Insider, chat tools can help businesses significantly reduce labor costs, resulting in considerable savings and increased use and convenience of your site. Adding visitor chat tools is easy once you get the proper guidance.
What are Chat Tools?
First off, it’s important to define what chat tools are. Chat tools allow you to interact in real time with your audience. Most people these days don’t want to be bothered by phone calls. They want answers to their questions quickly and anonymously. The statistics don’t lie: 63% of people say they are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat over ones that don’t, according to Business 2 Community. Chat tools allow your website to interact seamlessly with customers and potential customers. Your core demographic — 50-something females caring for their aging parents — doesn’t have the time to pick up the phone and call. They are juggling their own careers and families. They want quick answers from a caring, compassionate person. That’s where live chat comes in. Quick resolution with compassionate results: that’s what you’re going for.
Bottom line is, without chat, you’re risking losing potential business.
Benefits of Chat Tools
There are several benefits to incorporating chat tools on your site. Here are just a few of them:
- Immediate access to help: Wait times are lower with live chat than they are with call centers or even just calling the office. Your customers can get immediate attention to their issue while multi-tasking at the same time. They may be on their computers placing an online order on another tab, calling to make a doctor’s appointment for their spouse, or making dinner for the family. No one wants to be connected to a phone trying to navigate a maze of tele-prompts.
- High-resolution numbers: Many people seem to gain closure and satisfaction from live chat. They can get the answers they need without wasting time with chit chat or pressing a bunch of numbers to speak to the right person. Business 2 Community says live chat has resulted in 73% customer satisfaction. Consider that email and phone satisfaction are at 61% and 44% satisfaction rates, respectively.
- Give your customers a voice on THEIR time: Many live chat options allow you to be there for your customers even after hours. This provides a big benefit for those who just can’t devote the time to their query during regular business hours. Perhaps at night is when they are researching home care for Mom and Dad. Maybe they want answers first thing in the morning before heading to work. Whatever the case, be there for them when they need you.
- Save time: Live chat is great for communication but it’s also a huge time saver. Statistics show most issues are resolved in just 42 seconds. That sense of immediacy is why so many people prefer live chats. Best part is, you can use live chat as a springboard for further communication on the phone or in person as part of an initial consultation, for example.
- Everything is in writing: Sometimes it can be confusing getting information on home care over the phone. Unless they’re taking notes, your callers may forget what you told them. Heck, even if they did take notes, they may not be accurate or legible. With many live chat options, you can get a printout of the entire conversation to save for later. This puts everything in black and white — a true value for your demographic. Communication via an online chat means you can easily copy, paste, and save the session for later reference, says Money Crashers.
- Information at their fingertips: It’s always been a challenge of business to have engaging, helpful content and resources on a website, says Search Engine Land. Live chat tools allow your customers to find what they need when they need it. It also empowers you as a business owner to have control over your chat tools and integrate the options and features you want specific to your company.
- Contribute to your bottom line: The more customers that are in contact with you and happy with your service, the more business you will get.
Contact A Servant’s Heart Web Design and Marketing
Here at A Servant’s Heart Web Design and Marketing, we offer insight into chat tools to help you manage your website. Contact us at (760) 227-2720 for a free consultation or to find out more information about our services. Find out more about the chat tools we use here.
