9 Tips for Effective Live Chat - Multichannel Merchant

In order to execute live chat correctly, Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, recommends the following:

1. Involve key stakeholders in the organization, approaching technology with a team mindset and leveraging unique skill sets.

2. Establish internal goals that allow you to deliver a strong experience to your visitors.

3. Determine the right experience for your brand and level of training that is required to meet those objectives.

4. Explore 24/7 deployment or an on/off switch based on availability and predetermined triggers.

5. Create scripts that support your brand and customer base, and ensure that you can report on the relative effectiveness of the scripts over time.

6. Know when to route chatters to specialists to optimize the experience.

7. Monitor chats to continually build on your knowledge base, fine-tuning the chatting experience for your customers.

8. Strategically deploy proactive chat when customers are in a close mindset.

9. Consider starting small to gauge agent receptivity and to control volume. Live chat is very easy to scale up, so this approach often makes sense.