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Cutting on Customer Support Costs With Live Response

by Alex Yumashev · Updated Sep 9 2019

High customer support costs can become hell towards your goal of profit maximization if they consume more of your profits. However, investing in customer support is crucial in boosting your revenue. As a matter of fact, The 2017 Dimension Data Global Customer Experience Benchmarking report reveals that 84% of organizations on the move to improve customer experience see an increase in revenue.

So, providing a great service to your customers is essential in winning their long-term loyalty but it shouldn’t have an alarming impact on your profit margin. That’s why you need a customer support channel that provides efficient support services to your customers at low costs without undermining the service quality.

Here’s the good news: a live customer support software, gives you the golden opportunity of providing your customers/leads with an excellent service at lower costs.

Here’s how live response helps you to cut on your customer support costs:

Allows Multitasking

With traditional customer support channels like the phone, support agents can only serve one customer at a time. Thus, you need a bigger support team to handle all your customers’/leads’ issues on time which is costly. On the other hand, with a customer service app, your support agents can handle different chats at a time. Wondering how? Your support agents can masterfully chat with multiple people at once and work on their inquiries using keyboard shortcuts. This helps in simultaneously handling your customer’s issues on time at lower costs as few agents are employed.

Look at this:

According to a research by Telus International, support agents have a possibility of handling as many as six chats at the same time. What does this mean? You need a smaller customer support team to handle your customer’s issues.

Automates Customer Support Tasks

Live chat software saves you a lot of time in accomplishing customer support tasks. Let me explain: it allows you to set up predefined responses for frequently asked questions. You can use them during a chat with your customers/leads and helps you resolve their issues quickly.

But here’s the kicker: chatbots also play a great role in handling customer issues when the live agent is away. This saves you from employing an extra team to take over when the other team is away. As a matter of fact, chatbots are always 24/7 active and friendly because they can handle any customer even those with the worst behaviors. And aren’t paid a salary, once set up, chatbots are always at your service.

Best of all, according to Grand Review research, 45% of end users choose chatbots as the main channel of communication for customer service. This means chatbots are already popular in the market today. Furthermore, a chatbot saved Amtrack 1 million dollars in customer service email costs in a year. Shocking, right? So you need to embrace them and cut costs.

Involves low startup Costs

Setting up a telephone center for your customer support tends to be expensive and consumes much time. From buying call center equipment, hiring employees to run the call center. As a result, you incur exorbitant costs at just the early stages. But the initial set up of a live support software is in most cases free of charge or involves fewer costs and you only pay for subscription fees. These fees can be paid monthly or annually and are very affordable. Thus, it’s ideal even for startups with small/limited capital.

But wait, there’s more: live support software also allows you to outsource work to freelancers instead of hiring an in-house employee or telephone operator. This saves you from incurring costs involved with permanent employment contracts like allowances and health insurance

Look at this:

In a study conducted by Aberdeen, it was found out that companies who use live customer service on average save up to 50% on customer support when compared to other communication channels.

Has a High First Contact Resolution

First contact resolution refers to solving customer issues the first time they approach you. It’s easier to keep it at a higher level with a live support service for various reasons. And remember a high first contact resolution means a low staff cost because of the high productivity of your support team. Look: A Forrester study reveals that live chat service leads to a 48% rise in revenue per chat hour and 40% increase in conversion rate.

Want to know the best part? With a customer service app, if the support agent can’t handle a customer’s issue, he or she can shift it to another agent who is familiar with it. More so, a pre-chat questionnaire helps you to check whether you have all the required information before starting a conversation. Thus, solving customer problems quickly and ensuring every customer’s issue is solved with a small staff.

For example, Wp Engine reveals that in a few months period after launching live support on its website, it handled over 90% of its customer’s questions and issues. As a result, it cut support costs in less time while making customers happy with a quick service.

No Service Costs Involved

Unlike a telephone center where the equipment needs servicing and in some cases, you might need to purchase new machinery over a given period of time. Well, live response software doesn’t need the servicing once installed. And if there is any need for software updates, the software company provides them and keeps you updated on any developments that might improve your service.

Think about it: imagine enjoying the benefits of a satisfactory customer service tool without worrying about incurring maintenance costs at any time.

Save More On Customer Support.

There isn’t a better deal to cut customer support costs while maintaining its quality than a live support service. It’s the ideal channel for customer support chosen by most customers due to its convenience and immediacy. So, it's not surprising that 79% of customers reveal that they prefer live chat because of its immediacy compared to other channels.

Want to cut on customer support costs? Embrace live response support because according to Forrester research, its 17-30% cheaper than a phone service.