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  • Choosing Between Free and Managed Live Chat: What’s Best for Your Business? | Greechat

    Freelive Chat: Does It Add Value to Your Business?

    Live chat services are becoming increasingly popular for businesses looking to bring their customer service to the next level. With live chat, customers can quickly and easily get answers to their questions and concerns, no matter their location. But when it comes to deciding between free live chat and a fully managed live chat service, there are both pros and cons to consider. 

    While free services may initially seem like the more cost-effective option, fully managed services can come with a range of additional benefits. In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of both free live chat and fully managed live chat services and explore which option is the better choice for your business.

    Table of Contents

    What is live chat?

    Live chat is an online feature that allows customers to communicate with your company in real time over a virtual chat platform. Not only does live chat provide customers with an easy way to ask questions, but it also enables your team to better engage with your customers and solve issues more quickly. 

    Furthermore, live chat can help you track and analyse customer service trends, identify potential issues, and provide more personalised service. Live chat can be especially useful for businesses that offer personalised products or are B2C. 

    When customers can quickly connect with a live person, they are less likely to leave without making a purchase. With live chat, your team can also more effectively manage the flow of communication and ensure every customer gets the attention they need.

    💡KEY TAKEAWAY: Live chat allows customers to ask enquiries and helps your team communicate with them and resolve issues faster.

    Pros and cons of free live chat

    Free live chat is a tempting option since it doesn’t cost anything upfront. With the right strategies and a little patience, you can easily get by with a free live chat service. But before you commit to a free live chat software or plugin, be aware that there are some drawbacks to consider. 

    Free live chat typically has limitations on the number of concurrent chats and functionality. This means your team will have a limited number of chats at any given time and limited functionality. You also won’t have access to any customer data or analytics. And the more you scale up, the more you will be hindered by these limitations.

    Moreover, even if you install live chat for free, you would still have to hire and train a new set of team members to support and manage your live chat service, which will cost you a lot of both time and money.

    💡KEY TAKEAWAY: Free live chat can be a cost-friendly solution if used appropriately. However, it limits concurrent talks and functionality and you will still need to employ and train a new workforce to support and manage it, which will take time and money. 

    Pros and cons of fully managed live chat services

    Fully managed live chat services are services that come with extra benefits. With a fully managed live chat service, you’ll have access to more features, more chats going on at the same time, and more detailed information about your customers. 

    More importantly, the reason why they’re called ‘fully managed’ is that they come with a dedicated team of live agents who are responsible for all aspects of the live chat services. This includes responding to customer inquiries, providing technical support, and offering product or service recommendations.

    A team of managers would also be responsible for monitoring the conversations between customers and the company, as well as providing insights and analytics from the chats. Fully managed live chat services can help businesses increase customer satisfaction by providing timely, accurate, and personalised customer service.

    💡KEY TAKEAWAY: A fully managed live chat solution gives you more features, more concurrent chats, and more client data, plus a dedicated team of live agents who handle all live chat services. 

    What is the better option?

    A live chat service is much more valuable. Although free live chat can be tempting, it comes with limitations. And while live chat software is an important tool for customer service, it shouldn’t be the only one. After all, the goal is to engage and retain customers in a meaningful way.

    When you have a fully managed live chat service, you can do so in a number of ways. Trained and professional agents can use the live chat functionality to answer basic questions, provide information about products, and even encourage customers to leave reviews.

    And with detailed customer data and analytics tool integration options, you can make more informed decisions about how to improve your overall customer experience and service.

    By engaging in more effective communication, you can ensure all customers receive the experience they deserve and receive a positive perception of your business. When you make live chat more personal, you can provide each customer with the attention they need, regardless of the nature of their enquiry. Finally, by increasing brand visibility, you can help improve customer satisfaction and engagement, which can lead to more sales and positive reviews.

    💡KEY TAKEAWAY: Better communication can provide customers with a good picture of your business which you need more than just software to accomplish. Live chat services provide more value than free live chat. 

    As we all know, it’s essential for each business to have a strong online presence in order to be successful in today’s crowded marketplace. To stand out from the competition, companies need to do everything they can to create an engaging experience for their visitors by making sure their websites are easy-to-navigate and provide helpful information about their products or services at every stage of the buying process. 

    If you’re looking to use chat as a way to improve your business, invest in a live chat team that knows how to do it right.

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    With our insights and tips on how to drive more sales with the same traffic, we remove the guesswork from growing your business. 

    Greechat’s proactive sales team help businesses keep in touch with customers through live chat, leading to more engagement and stronger sales.