Live Chat for Real Estate – Best Practice #3: Don’t Ask Too Soon!
Proactive chat can be a great online engagement tool if used correctly. Here at ReadyChat, we totally understand the power behind being able to reach out and grab the attention of website browsers. It really is the most interactive experience you can provide your online customers on the Web.
Unfortunately, we see so many companies and online businesses doing it incorrectly.
Tip: Send proactive chat invites often, but never too soon.
In many industries, live chat has become a must have for online customer service and sales support. When consumers think of live chat, they think of what is called “reactive” live chat, where the customer initiates a chat conversation with a live agent by clicking a “click-to-chat” button. This form of live chat engagement is still highly effective when made visible on a webpage, because it provides online customers convenient access to quick answers for sales and support. However, this form of live chat is no where near as effective as “proactive live chat”, when an operator initiates a chat conversation with a customer by sending a greeting or popup message to the website visitor as they are browsing a webpage. Although highly effective when delivered at the right moment, can also be more damaging than good if done too soon.
Remember the last time you were shopping in a retail store and the sales clerk approached you just as you walked in the front door? Your initial response seems to always be “No thanks, I’m just looking around.” This type of reaction is the result of engaging customers too soon, before they have even gotten the chance to look around. Your website is no different. In this case, engaging your website visitors prematurely may cause them to close the proactive chat invite, or even worse yet, leave your website altogether.
By waiting until after the online customer has had enough time to browse your website to familiarize themselves with your offering, you will enjoy better interaction rates, and increased customer satisfaction that will result higher overall conversions. Do your research and get a real estate lead generation system that offers proactive live chat.