Chat support is quickly becoming the most preferred channel for customer service. According to a report, 41% of customers prefer chat support, while phone support is preferable amongst 32%.
Email support is becoming outdated as customers expect a fast resolution to whatever issues they’re facing. Even a tech giant like Google offers chat support to its WorkSpace customers.
For small app businesses with a new app on the app stores, chat support can seem like a tall order.
The question is not of development. Tools like AppMySite enable users to make free apps and integrate chat software without coding.
The real challenge is manpower. It is not easy for a small business to train chat executives and make sure they’re ready to answer customer questions at any point in time.
It requires significant investment to offer chat support for your app. So why should you invest in chat support?
Good customer support builds loyalty. The way you deal with customers can affect how your app is perceived and whether you can retain users in the long run.
The following points show how you can leverage chat support to inspire app loyalty.
#1: Chat support plays a role in buying decisions
The most obvious reason to offer chat support is that it plays a role in converting prospects into customers. The numbers back this up as well.
According to a Kayako study, 38% of customers are more inclined to buy a product if there is an option of chat support offered by the seller.
The reason? Think about a purchase decision from the perspective of a customer. The product may appear fine on a smartphone screen, but it is completely different in terms of experience and looks once it arrives.
Furthermore, the risk of product damage during transit is also real.
Customers like access to a channel that enables them to speak directly to the seller. Thus, if an order gets messed up, or some other service offered in an app is not satisfactory, customers can speak directly to the support team.
Having a direct resolution channel basically allows customers to make a purchase with more confidence.
#2: Build loyalty with helpful conversations
Even in the digital age where people make decisions on a screen, real conversation with an actual person is rewarding.
Businesses understand this. That’s why even companies which have completely automated operations tend to offer customer support. The example of Google offering chat support to WorkSpace customers mentioned earlier underlines this point.
Conversations built trust. When someone from your support team takes the time to help a customer, you build a relationship that cannot otherwise be achieved by a one-way knowledge base or a set of FAQ questions.
Loyalty is inspired when you actively seek to build a relationship with your users and customers. Chat support can help achieve this.
Well-trained chat executives have the intelligence to understand and relate to customers and users. They can engage and placate a customer in case there’s a sense of animosity. Every conversation your customers have with a chat executive can be an opportunity to inspire trust and loyalty.
#3: Act on real feedback from customers
When you speak to customers directly, you start to see your app from their eyes. No level of analytics can help you understand the faults in your app better than your customer.
Feedback from customers is crucial to improving your app. Let’s assume you have an LMS app that offers users technical courses. If multiple customers start complaining about the accessibility of a course in the app, you know there’s a problem. This problem can be resolved by escalation to the dev team that can fix the issue.
Similarly, you will identify most of your app issues by speaking to your customers.
Since chat support is more accessible than email, users are more open to telling businesses about their experiences. A greater volume of feedback helps you identify all the core issues of your app.
Many companies struggle at evolving their product and creating a roadmap that actually solves customer issues. Leaning on customer feedback is a great way to create a roadmap that actually serves its purpose and actually improves the way your customer use your app.
#4: Earn a competitive advantage
It is true that many app businesses offer chat support for their users. If you’re in a niche where chat support is uncommon, integrating it with your app can help you gain a competitive advantage.
As mentioned earlier, chat support is a key factor in a typical purchase decision. It is also essential for building customer loyalty.
Even if your competitors already have chat support, integrating it with your app would mean catching up with them. In addition, you can claw out the drawbacks of the chat service they provide.
#5: Fast resolution to customer issues
One of the issues with email support is the time it takes to close an issue. Generally, businesses have a 12-24 hour window to respond and engage over an email request.
This is naturally tedious for customers, but it also makes your support team less efficient. For simple issues which can be resolved quickly, the slow movement of email support becomes a strain on your customer service infrastructure as well.
Live chat support ensures you can deal with customer requests at the earliest possible. You won’t need to deal with support tickets logged in your system for days and weeks.
This will also enable your support team to have more bandwidth to work with other teams to improve the product.
In conclusion
Integrating chat with your app is not a big development challenge anymore. With a no-code app creator like AppMySite, you can easily integrate prominent chat software with your app.
The main challenge is building the resources required to offer chat support. This chiefly involves training personnel to deal with customers on live chat.
While it is not easy to build a chat support team, it can help you achieve a high level of app loyalty.
