HelpFlow Blog

Live chat can be an amazing tool to provide human help if used correctly. In fact, it can be even better than in-person retail help if you know how to use it right. The challenge is that some of the default functionality you have in your live chat software might not be set to maximize customer experience.

There are a few key principles to get right with chat, and a few ways to supercharge results. At HelpFlow, we provide 24/7 live chat teams to over 100 brands and have done millions of chats that have driven over $10 million in sales. We’ve developed best practices over time and will walk you through how to provide an awesome customer experience with chat in this post.

Even if you don’t end up working with us, there will be a lot here that you can apply with your team. So let’s get into it…

Customer service software typically provides a whole range of analytics you can use to measure how things are going.

While these are sometimes fun to explore, it can be overwhelming to figure out which of these metrics truly matter and should be used to manage the customer service department. Even if you do know what numbers to use to measure customer service, it could be overwhelming to figure out how often to review the numbers and what the right timing is to act on them to improve certain issues you see.
Even with the craziness of customer service, it’s possible to create a predictable workflow and eliminate the feeling of fire fighting each day. You can have a clear time that everything gets addressed throughout the day and throughout the week, which makes for a much better work environment and the ability to do overall better quality work.

The customer service department has a fluctuating workload and a lot of fires to put out throughout the week. Without a clear meeting routine, you’ll typically feel like a firefighter all the time and it’s only getting worse as you grow. Not only is this a frustrating environment to work in, but it also won’t leave you time for deep work that moves the business forward.

Even with the craziness of customer service, it’s possible to create a predictable workflow and eliminate the feeling of fire fighting each day. You can have a clear time that everything gets addressed throughout the day and throughout the week, which makes for a much better work environment and the ability to do overall better quality work.

Customer service spikes can happen in many ways. You might have some unforeseen publicity opportunities or an ad that performs better than expected, both of which can drive a lot of questions. On the fulfillment side, you might have order processing issues that cause an increase in the number of questions per order. And, of course, spikes can happen simply due to seasonality and holidays.

It’s tough to hire someone good for any role if you don’t clearly define the skill sets needed for success. When hiring customer service agents, you’re probably aware of a few skills that are important for success. But evaluating that upfront in the recruitment process can be difficult. On top of that, when you need a new customer service agent, you typically need them quickly. So hiring speed matters.

Building an e-commerce business is challenging. Once you’ve got a great product, the tough part is not over once you’ve cracked how to drive traffic and sales through advertising, influencers, or some other growth channel. As you start to ramp up, you have to figure out how to scale the people side of your business in customer service.