Proactive vs. Reactive Live Chat: What are the differences?

Why Is Live Chat so Important?

Live chat is an important addition to any company website. It makes things easier for everyone. Without any doubt, live chat benefits both the business and its clients. For many online service providers live chat is an absolute necessity. For others it isn’t, but it still can be a great vehicle toward a successful online presence and increased trust.

User statistics clearly show that live chat increases the credibility of a company, helps build better connection with the clients, provides back and forth interaction with the users. In turn, this feedback helps keep the services relevant and aligned with the customers’ needs and helps resolve any potential issues in a timely manner. Lastly, the modern live chat applications of today provide an invaluable insight in the ways people interact with a web page and about their points of interest.

Compared to email or phone support, live chat brings much greater benefits.

The Differences Between Proactive and Reactive Live Chat

One of the things unique to live chat is the fact that it can be offered proactively to the people visiting your web page. Neither email, nor phone are suitable for such service.

These differences between proactive and reactive chat are significant and should be checked carefully. They can be summed up in a few categories. To find out which offers better customer experience, greater satisfaction and potential for conversion, a statistical analysis must be completed.

First of all, reactive live chat is there when the customers ask for it. Proactive, on the other hand, occurs when the communication is initiated by the chat operator, who offers assistance before the visitor has requested help.

When it comes to speed, things are a bit blurry. Reactive is fast, this much is undeniable; on average, a chat request is addressed within 23 seconds. It is infinitely faster than email and considerably faster than phone, in most cases.

Then again, how do you measure the speed of a proactive chat?.

Reactive chat is good for the customers. They usually remain happy, with an engagement rate around 7.8%.

But things get even better for the proactive chat. The engagement rate is only 2%, but customers approached proactively are 6.3 times more likely to make a purchase than those left to their own devices.

Sounds amazing, does it not?

But there is more. If you use proactive chat together with a reactive chat service, the results will be magnificent. The number of satisfied customers and volume of purchases can increase anywhere from 40% to 100%.

All of this is possible, thanks to a few simple implementations, as the best live chat applications can be put to a good use within hours.

It is important to realize just how valuable live chat can be. It is vital to understand fully how it works and what the different types are.

Once you obtain that knowledge, you can use it and achieve great results for yourself and your business.

No matter what your website looks like, live chat has the potential to increase greatly the customers’ satisfaction and engagement. Check out this awesome live chat infographic for more information.