Most companies understand how important it is to have an online presence.  Everyone has seen the data or heard how customers shop for products and services on the internet.  Technology, whether it’s a company website, Facebook or LinkedIn page or a tool to help manage customer information, can help companies reach more potential customers even faster than before.  Many businesses will use these tools successfully, but some will only succeed in causing damage to themselves.

Technology can’t replace Customer Service

Some companies, in their rush to use the latest technology, forget that it’s really a two-edged sword.  Being able to reach the masses is great unless it results in unfavorable reviews or lost customers.  You don’t want the message getting out that your company is awful at customer service.  As a business advisor, my suggestion is that companies take a long, hard look at their ability to provide quality customer service before they get in too deep.  There are ways to evaluate if you’re ready to deploy and support different tools and technologies.  It’s better to do an evaluation first (and make improvements, of course) than to let the social network show you how you missed the mark.

Live Chat – Am I seeing a trend?

Lately, I’ve seen several instances where using a Live Chat has made me vow never to do business with a company again.  It doesn’t have anything to do with a particular Live Chat service provider and so far, I haven’t seen anything to indicate that it’s specific to an industry.

• Canned Responses
  Most Live Chats I’ve seen are connected directly to either a Sales or Support department within a company.  When I’ve had a bad experience, one item I’ve observed as a common denominator is that responses are scripted or ‘canned’.  Canned responses are a great way to tell customers that you don’t have the ability to actually listen to them.  And if companies think their potential customers don’t recognize a canned response when they see one, they should think again.
• Un-empowered Staff
  If you were to send someone to meet with a potential client at their office, who would you send?  You probably wouldn’t send the least-experienced person in your organization.  But that’s exactly what you’re doing if you don’t have trained, experienced people managing your chat lines.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is an ‘entry-level’ position.  If they don’t have the experience, knowledge or authority to make a decision on how to address the customer’s concerns, the customers may make their own decision to do business with someone else.
• Complaints vs Opportunities
  Live Chat information flows both ways.  The people in your organization who staff your chat lines are not only the first impression of your company, but they are in a position to hear direct customer feedback.  If you get a great suggestion from a customer on how to improve your product or service, how do you identify and capture that information?  If you don’t have an answer to that question, you’re probably missing out on valuable opportunities to improve service to your customers.

 Summary

• Scripted responses are generally a bad thing when it comes to Live Chats
• Technology doesn’t replace good customer service or well-trained people
• Use your tools to listen as well as to speak and then capitalize on opportunities to improve