If you know me, I consider myself a nice person. However when I receive terrible service, I try not to complain. I don’t kick and scream, I try to not call the company and complain, I do not try and make a scene.
I’m one of those “nice” clients we hear so much about. All I will tell you is this; I am also the customer who never comes back. Sure, I could tell you off and feel better, but in the long run, I prefer to leave quietly and tell everyone else I know about my experience.
You see, we talk about those nice customers who never complain and we all think they are great. But the sad part is most companies don’t understand there are plenty of people just as “nice” as me. When a “nice” person like me gets fed up, we go to your competitors.
I tell you this because as I was trying to purchase products this week on a company’s websites and could not get any live help. Imagine that? I was trying to buy on an E-Commerce site and could not get help. Well my E-Commerce company – you have lost a great consumer this week and you have no idea how much revenue you lost because you chose not to have chat as an option to help me when I needed it most.
Stats: Last year in the US alone more than 155 million consumers spent more than $165 billion –
Yet, the shopping cart abandonment rate averages 70%. I was one of those people. Why? Because I could not get any help… Wouldn’t it make sense to assist these consumers before they leave without purchasing?
You know the deal, have you ever gone online, found the product you’ve been looking for at what you thought was a great price, but you felt you did not have 100% of the information you needed to put it in your shopping cart? You look for a way to self-serve, ask questions and to your surprise no one is online helping you because the store is not open when you are ready to buy.
I know what you are saying Mr. Webmaster. 95% of the information that consumers are looking for is already on your website. But let me ask you this – is it easy to find? Consumers like me want the information NOW. It’s fast food for the internet – I do not want to look around to get my answer, click 100 times to find the answer- I want someone to help me in real time.
- Nearly one-half of shopping cart abandoners say that they plan to conduct more online research before purchasing in order to get the best price. As people abandon the shopping cart like I did, they are going to competitors who may have chat and will capture their sales. That’s what I did.
- People appreciate live chat for a number of reasons, and time is a key factor. Of those who prefer live chat, 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly and 46% agreed it was the most efficient communication method. https://econsultancy.com/blog/63867-consumers-prefer-live-chat-for-customer-service-stats#i.1kthq2g12uce8n
- As more website visitors become more experienced online, even more visitors will abandon their shopping carts, and online comparison shopping will become ever more commonplace.
- Highly educated, experienced shoppers are more likely to use voucher codes or look for them online. Chat agents can offer the codes for them so there is no more searching and time spent not making the sale and increase AOV.
- Forrester found that web buyers that abandon shopping carts spend more time online than those that don’t.
- More than two-thirds of shopping cart abandoners say they like to shop around before making a purchase. Reiterates how valuable it is to keep customers on your website.
- Look, if you can answer the shoppers questions in real time, do their comparisons for them in real time, keep them on my site and satisfied, they are more likely to make the purchase from me?
- Would you leave your brick and mortar store open without a sales clerk there? Of course not, but you do it every day on your website.
If you do not have Chat or Social media as your solution you can start now it’s never too late.