For many businesses, the primary objective of a live engagement strategy is an increase in conversion rate.
It’s a clear correlation. When an agent talks to a customer – offering advice or assistance – there is a greater likelihood of a sale taking place. Thus the conversion rate rises and the benefit goes straight to the bottom line.
But an increase in the number of transactions is not the only benefit delivered by live engagement. Targeted engagement with customers can also have a significant impact on the average value of individual conversions. For instance, when airline and holiday company Virgin Atlantic adopted proactively targeted live chat as a means to answer customer queries efficiently and boost ticket sales, conversion rate for “chat-assisted” customers rose to 3.5 times the level of those who self served. That in itself was an important metric, but the airline also noted a 15% rise in average order values among the chat-assisted group.
As in an offline store, an agent talking directly to a customer can influence the final purchase choices, and there are clear opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling. Left to his or her own devices, a customer may well purchase a single item. With an agent on hand to provide advice, there is a greater likelihood of the customer adding complementary items – a case to go with a camera, software to go with a computer. Equally, the customer may opt to go up a price point on the advice of the agent.
Simply intervening to help customers should push up conversion rate and average order values, but if a higher AOV is a primary target, it’s important to factor that into your live engagement tactics. But what does that mean in practice?
Hot leads
The key is to identify hot leads. Not all customers will be receptive to cross selling or up selling. The key is to target engagement on customers whose behaviour or profile indicates a genuine intention to make a purchase and – by extension – a willingness to consider a range of options.
There are various ways to pinpoint these consumers. Those who come through search engines or price comparison sites can be considered hot leads as their arrival on your site is a result of preparation and research. Once they’ve arrived, their behaviour provides vital clues. For instance, those who click on multiple examples of the same class of products – say cameras – are clearly researching and open to options. Previous purchase history can also be factored in as can location. All this data can be tracked and analysed within the HelpDesk247 platform to improve targeting.
Up-sell and cross-sell tactics
Once talking to a customer – and that might be through chat, by phone or using multi-media tools – the role of the agent is provide assistance leading to a sale. In terms of cross-selling and up-selling, that could mean offering a bundle (say the product plus accessories) or advising on exactly the right product. In many cases this will mean a better alternative at a higher price point. Using the data, agents can also target offers based on geography, or the market segment.
It shouldn’t be a hard sell. While the role of the sales agent is to nudge the consumer towards a transaction, the best way of doing this is to help the customer make an informed choice that he or she can feel comfortable with. But in providing that kind of assistance, businesses can also push up their order values. It’s a virtuous circle.