Email vs Live Chat in Customer Service

When it comes to customer service technologies, two of the most popular options are email support and live chat. Both tools offer their own benefits when it comes to enhancing the customer experience. But which is better for your business?

At Radius Global Solutions, we understand the importance of continuously elevating CX technologies and strategies to outpace the competition. Read on to learn which customer support option is best for your business.

Improving CX with Live Chat Technology

Anyone in a current or past customer service role knows that quick, accurate responses are critical for customer satisfaction. In fact, 82% of consumers expect an immediate reply to sales or marketing questions, according to a report by HubSpot Research.

Live chat technologies provide an instant connection with a customer service representative or AI chatbot. This allows customers to immediately gain a resolution to any concerns or questions they may have.

This helps to reduce the amount of time it takes for customers to receive help and improves overall customer satisfaction. With the help of AI chatbots, your brand can also boast a competitive advantage by offering 24/7 customer support for simpler, more common inquiries.

Live chat and chatbots are particularly beneficial for handling routine inquiries and recurring tasks. This CX technology frees up your human customer service reps to tackle more complex customer needs.

Meet our chatbot, Radius Interactive Virtual Assistant (RIVA), and find out how it can offer scalable customer support:

Effective Email Support for Better Customer Experience

Providing an email for customer service is expected in today’s world. And according to Netomi, 47% of people prefer to contact a company for customer service via email over any other channel. With email support, your organization can provide customers with consistent, efficient service.

Email support gives your customers more control as they can craft their responses whenever is most convenient for their schedule. This is also helpful for your internal teams because they may not have the answer that your customers need right away.

In the hospitality industry, for example, customers may have a question about a hotel that they booked through a third party. Your customer service team would first need to contact that third-party provider before they can offer a response to the customer. Rather than leaving your customer on hold indefinitely to do so, your team can respond via email when they have a resolution.

In short, email support gives your team some more breathing room to find the answers that they need while offering your customers the freedom to contact you at their convenience. Just be sure to set up an automated response that lets your customers know that their inquiry was received and sets response time expectations.

Choosing Between Email and Live Chat in Your CX Strategy

Both email support and live chat can be beneficial when enhancing your CX strategy. Trying to choose between the two? Here’s how to start:

• Understand your customers: The first step is understanding the demographics and preferences of your customer base. For example, typically, a younger target audience would prefer the immediacy of a live chat. Consider conducting a survey to understand what your customers prefer.
• Assess the nature of your inquiries: If your customer inquiries require detailed explanations or are not time-sensitive, email support may be a better option. On the other hand, if your customer queries generally require immediate assistance, live chat would be the best choice.
• Align your tech with your CX goals: If providing instant support and a highly interactive customer experience is your goal, live chat should be your choice. Just make sure you have a person (or persons) available to answer the chat. If you aim for thorough, detailed, and complete responses with more flexibility, email may be the better choice.

At Radius, we recommend offering multiple support channels. Concerned about a lack of resources? An experienced CX outsourcing team can help you scale to meet your customers’ needs.

With omnichannel customer support, your business can provide customers with personalized experiences and offer the help they need in a timely manner – no matter how they prefer to communicate with you.

Offer Omnichannel Support with an Outsourcing Provider

Our outsourced support team is equipped with the customer service technologies necessary to deliver cross-channel support beyond just chat and email. That way, your customers can enjoy the flexibility of contacting your brand via their preferred channels – at any time of day or night, and no matter what time zone they are in.

Contact Radius Global Solutions today to learn more and gain a trusted customer experience outsourcing partner!