Live Chat Services: How To Hire, Manage And Retain A Support Team

Gone are the days when clients could not communicate with the businesses from which they were purchasing goods or services. Today, customers can interact with companies more frequently with the help of different channels. Customers can now interact via email, social media, and live chat services, in addition to traditional phone calls. However, live chat services are gaining popularity due to their exceptional features and utility. Additionally, most enterprises, from small to large, are turning to live chat support services to provide better customer service. 

You can use the live chat service to share links, collect information, and store customer data for future reference. Thus, live chat services can increase productivity while improving overall customer loyalty and satisfaction. 

In this article, we will discuss how to hire, manage, and retain live chat services. Additionally, we will discuss who you should hire and the benefits of live chat services. But first, let us define live chat services. Let’s begin by exploring what live chat services are.

What are Live Chat Services?

Live chat services enable customers to interact with the company in real-time. A knowledgeable and experienced customer service representative responds to the customer’s inquiries. However, it is a two-way communication in real time where the customer can ask about their issues to a real human representative. Additionally, the live chat support is different from instant messaging services.

Live chat is session-based, where the conversation history vanishes once the chat is over or the problem is fixed. Whereas in instant messaging, the system stores the chat for future reference. These days, the majority of companies offer live chat assistance on their websites.

Still, it is very difficult to find a website without a pop-up that says something like “Talk to us or chat with us.” Customers can share files, ask questions, and get prompt answers with these services. But because live chat support is quick and efficient, the customer prefers it. 

Who Should You Hire for Customer Support? Live Chat Services

You need to choose who to hire before we can talk about how to manage, hire, and keep chat agents. Whether you are a new or established business, adding live chat services to your website can significantly improve your customer experience. Moreover, hiring the right chat agent is a crucial step for any size of business. Therefore, if you are adding customer support and live chat agents, you should consider the following characteristics:

1. A live chat agent must have strong written communication skills to effectively interact with customers via the chat interface.
2. The ability to empathize with customers and remain patient in difficult situations is essential for chat agents.
3. A live chat agent must quickly assess customer issues and provide timely and effective solutions while demonstrating strong problem-solving abilities.
4. A thorough understanding of the company’s products or services is required to respond accurately to customer inquiries.
5. Live chat agents often handle multiple customer inquiries simultaneously. The ability to multitask efficiently without compromising the quality of responses is important.
6. Customer queries can vary widely. A good live chat agent should be adaptable and able to handle diverse topics and situations with ease.
7. Precision in comprehending and responding to customer inquiries is critical. Additionally, attention to detail ensures that information is accurate and solutions are tailored to each customer’s needs.
8. Efficient response times and prompt handling of customer inquiries contribute to overall customer satisfaction. 
9. Familiarity with the live chat platform and any other tools used in customer support is necessary. A live chat agent should be comfortable navigating various digital interfaces.
10. Maintaining a positive and friendly attitude as a live chat agent can greatly influence the customer’s perception of the company.

How Do You Hire a Live Chat Services Team?

Live chat services can improve your overall productivity and enhance customer loyalty. Therefore, it’s quite critical to hire the Live Chat support team carefully. With live chat assistance, you can attract new customers and convert them into potential sales. Additionally, proper live chat support can also help you retain new customers. 

According to online statistics, live chat support has the highest customer satisfaction and loyalty among all customer support services. Hiring the right live chat support team can be more difficult the first time around. But there is no need to worry! Here, we will share some tips to help you hire a live chat support team for your business. 

1. Assess Your Needs:

Assessing your needs before hiring a live chat support team is critical. However, it is the first step to determining the level of support you need. For example, you might need specific hours or 24/7 support services. Therefore, you need to assess your needs for support services. Additionally, how many agents can assist with your business needs? For example, 4-5 chat agents can help a small business, but 10 or more agents may be required for a large business. Therefore, assess your chat support needs before hiring any team. 

2. Advertise Job Openings:

Once you have identified your live chat service requirements, you can proceed to the next step, which is advertising the job. When posting a job advertisement, it is crucial to choose a location where job seekers are actively seeking employment. You can find the right candidates without wasting time or money if you advertise job openings in the right places. However, there are numerous places where you can post your job advertisement, including LinkedIn and Facebook. To reach a wider audience, you can advertise your job opening on job boards and job portals.

3. Required skills:

If your requirements for live chat support have been evaluated and you are ready to post them to start the hiring process. You must concentrate on the necessary skills for live chat agents. However, you should have a better understanding of the issues the agents will face. Therefore, hire agents with the specific skill set to combat your needs. Additionally, the chat agents must have great communication and writing skills. However, with better communication, they will be able to resolve the issue without any hassle. Additionally, check your analytical and technological skills; attention to detail is an excellent tool for customer service satisfaction.

4. Examine Applicants:

Advertising your job posting in the right places with the accurate information and skills required will allow you to hire the best live chat team. When you have a large number of resumes in front of you, sort them by selecting the ones with the best skills and experience. Now you need to take an assessment test to determine whether the candidates fulfill your requirements or not. However, this will enable you to shortlist the right candidate to move forward.

For example, you can conduct a live chat simulation assessment. With live chat simulation assessment, you can measure the ability of candidates to handle multiple chats effectively. However, this will also validate a candidate’s stress management and situational handling. During these assessments, applicants are typically given support queries and evaluated on their ability to provide quality responses on time.

5. Onboarding and Trial Shifts:

Examining candidates with a live chat simulation will allow you to onboard the best candidates and start with the trail shifts. However, if your trail shift is successful, you will be assigned the live chat services team you were looking for. Furthermore, you must exercise extreme caution when assessing their trial progress, how they work, absorb pressure, and handle customer inquiries. The candidates who will be best through the trial process can be onboarded for permanent positions. Before confirming them, make sure you provide them with proper training and knowledge about the job and company. 

How to Manage and Retain a Customer Support Team? 

Initially, managing and retaining a customer support team for your live chat services can be a difficult task. However, managing and retaining them enables you to offer prompt and effective customer service to your customers. Therefore, it’s quite important to manage and retain your support team with care. Thus, a customer service manager is responsible for managing and retaining the team with the right tactics. If you are a business owner or manager, you need to follow these tips to manage a chat agent team.

Tips for Effective Team Management:

1. Utilize personality assessments and one-to-one discussions to comprehend staff motivations and thought processes.
2. Foster transparent communication among team members to enhance performance and prevent errors.
3. Ensure new hires receive comprehensive training for skill development and confidence building.
4. Provide easy-to-navigate procedures and job aids for existing employees.
5. Establish a culture of consistent feedback to clarify performance expectations and guide improvement.
6. Demonstrate care for employee welfare through supportive initiatives and policies.
7. Create employee recognition programs to recognize and reward exceptional contributions.
8. Offer flexibility in work arrangements where feasible to accommodate individual needs.
9. Provide pathways for career growth and development to encourage employee retention.
10. Introduce health and wellness initiatives to promote a balanced and healthy work environment.

Tips for Effective Team Retention:

1. Invest in a thorough orientation process for new hires, outlining and emphasizing the company’s core values.
2. Encourage and promote a healthy work-life balance to enhance employee performance and overall productivity.
3. Foster a culture of open communication, encouraging employees to communicate if workloads become challenging.
4. Employees should be recognized and rewarded for their efforts and accomplishments.
5. Regularly provide fair and transparent opportunities for career advancement within the team.
6. Offer job rotation or skill enhancement programs to broaden employees’ skills and experiences.
7. Establish a feedback mechanism to understand employees’ concerns and continuously improve work conditions.
8. Support ongoing professional development to enhance employees’ skills and keep them updated in their respective fields.
9. Provide flexibility in work arrangements to accommodate individual needs and promote work-life balance.
10. Outline clear career paths and growth trajectories, enabling employees to envision their future within the company.

Benefits of Live Chat Services:

Live chat services offer a wide range of benefits for all sizes of businesses. If you own a business and want to take it to the next level, integrate chat services into your website. Here are some of the key benefits of live chat services:

1. Prompt Customer Service:

Implementing live chat support enables you to respond to customer queries more quickly and efficiently. However, this immediate response enhances the customer experience and improves overall productivity. Additionally, these services enable you to engage with customers actively and convert visitors into customers. Moreover, with the help of trained agents, you can guide the customers throughout the sales and service processes.

2. Develop a Relationship with Your Customers:

Developing a relationship with your customers will enable you to reply to them more accurately and efficiently. However, you need to observe the customer’s way of talking and adjust your answers accordingly during live chats. Furthermore, building a relationship with your customers enables you to respond to them in more effective and efficient ways. For example, a friendly but formal relationship will encourage the customer to close the sale process.

3. Repetition-Live Chat Services:

Most of the customers don’t like to repeat their issues again and again. However, some customers will abandon their sales process if they are required to explain the same thing repeatedly. This is where live chat services can help them avoid explaining the same things repeatedly. Additionally, if the agents know their details and issues, they will be able to support customers effectively. Thus, using live chat services, agents can read messages and access all of the customer’s information. They can also view previous chat notes.

4. Enhanced Efficiency:

Live chat support can enhance the overall efficiency of the system. Whether the customer reaches you through your website, social media, or other platforms, they will be able to interact with you. Furthermore, trained agents manage multiple chat conversations at the same time. As a result, customer support operations become more efficient, and overall customer loyalty improves. Additionally, it allows the company to handle a higher volume of inquiries without sacrificing service quality.

5. Low-Cost Solution with 24/7 Availability: 

These services are more cost-effective and are available around the clock. However, with 24/7, you can assist your customers more efficiently and effectively. Thus, this will eliminate the cost of hiring additional staff for customer service. With live chat support, the business can cater to a wider range of customers from different time zones. Furthermore, it ensures that businesses can assist whenever and wherever it is required.

Bottom Line:

The customer experience can be significantly improved by hiring the right live chat support team. However, most customers value live chat support for its quickness and convenience. You can hire the right chat support team by following the mechanism explained above. 

For more information about live chat support and how you can hire the support team, keep following EIDIKO HR. We have a fleet of live chat agents who can assist you in bringing live chat support services to any size company.

FAQs: 

Q1. What are live chat services?

Live chat services enable real-time interaction between customers and a skilled customer service representative. It allows customers to ask questions, share files, and seek quick resolutions.

Q2. Who should you hire for live chat support?

Ideal live chat agents possess strong written communication skills, empathy, patience, problem-solving abilities, product knowledge, multitasking skills, adaptability, attention to detail, time management skills, and a positive attitude.

Q3. How do you hire a live chat services team?

To hire a live chat support team, evaluate your requirements, advertise job openings, prioritize required skills, conduct assessments on applicants, and conduct onboarding and trial shifts for successful candidates.

Q4. How to manage and retain a customer support team?

Effective team management involves utilizing personality assessments, fostering transparent communication, providing training, recognizing achievements, offering flexibility, and promoting health and wellness initiatives. Retention involves investing in orientation, promoting work-life balance, and outlining clear career paths.

Q5. What are the benefits of live chat services?

Live chat services offer prompt customer service, help develop customer relationships, prevent a repetition of issues, enhance efficiency, and provide a low-cost solution with 24/7 availability.