Here’s the first place to look when you aren’t converting traffic you’re already paying for

Companies are working harder than ever to get qualified prospects to their websites, investing time and marketing dollars with the goal of driving the highest ROI possible. In most of our introductory conversations with new clients, we find that too often those hard-earned visitors leave with unanswered questions, abandoned forms, or the worst…no interaction at all.

That’s where 24/7 live website chat can quietly become one of the highest-return investments in your marketing strategy, turning anonymous visitors into qualified leads ready for your team to close. In this article, we’ll look at the data behind why live chat works and share what our own clients have experienced after making it part of their growth strategy.

Why We Start Here

Before we recommend spending another dollar on SEO, paid search, social media, or any other lead gen tactics, we first want to know if a website is converting the visitors it’s already getting. More often than not when a conversion rate is low isn’t more traffic, it’s making it easier for a prospect to become a qualified lead.

Not every website visitor is ready to fill out a contact form or pick up the phone. They may want to ask some questions before they submit their contact info. In our experience, website forms or call centers cause these questions to go unanswered because there’s no immediate way to get the info they want. This is why we recommend live website chat so often, it meets prospects at the exact minute they’re most engaged and makes it quick and easy for them to take the next step. 

“I’ve been using BroadBased’s live chat for 3 years now and it’s helped consistently drive new customer leads, especially on weekends and after hours. I am able to customize the questions the agents ask, and we refine it over time as we learn. The live agents are much more engaging than a typical call center and I love that I only pay for chats that result in qualified leads.”

Jon Cummins

Owner of Kitchen Solvers of Jacksonville

Here’s what the data tells us

• 79% of businesses say offering live chat features has positively impacted sales, revenue, and customer loyalty (ltvplus)
• 38% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if they offer live chat support (Kayako)
• On average, live website chat costs companies 33% less than phone support (click4assistance)

The numbers are compelling, but what matters even more is what happens when those statistics play out in the real world.

B2C Client Story: How Live Chat Helps Keep Cool When Prospects Heat Up

When we looked at the call tracking data from one of our home services clients in the HVAC space, we saw that new customer call volume plummeted after-hours. Conversely, we found that there was a high volume of existing customer service calls during the same period. As a test, we launched our live chat widget on their website and saw conversion rates increase over 30% in the first month. Now, this has become their primary lead channel after hours and they’re only paying for chats that result in qualified leads. 

B2B Client Story: The Sales Process Starts Earlier Than Most Companies Think

We recently worked with a technology services firm that saw traffic spike from e-blasts and paid social campaigns, but leads weren’t making it to the bottom of their funnel. We added the live chat to their site and found that prospects used it to answer very specific questions about their individual use cases that either weren’t covered on the website, or hard to find. Once they felt confident that our client’s solution was a fit, they submitted their contact info and meetings started getting booked. This shows how live chat can be the missing link between website traffic and qualified leads because it answers the questions that prevent prospects from reaching out.

Sometimes the Biggest Win Isn’t More Traffic

If you’re investing in SEO, paid search, email marketing, social media, or any other lead generation strategy without giving prospects an easy way to ask questions in real time, there’s a good chance you’re leaving qualified leads on the table every single day. The good news is that fixing the problem doesn’t require a website redesign or a bigger marketing budget. In many cases, adding live website chat is one of the quickest, most cost-effective ways to increase the return on the marketing you’re already doing.

If you’re wondering whether your website has the same blind spot, we’d be happy to take a look and show you exactly what we see. Schedule a consultation here to get started.