Hi there! Wondering how to begin an
effective proactive chat strategy?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. Proactive chat is a mighty tool that is certain to generate increased visitor engagement. But for newer SnapEngage users who may be giving proactive chat a try for the first time, it’s a good idea to keep these fundamental tips in mind to ensure a high success rate.
Timing is Key
Though the phrase has been said countless times over, we’ll say it again: timing is everything! When it comes to your proactive chat strategy, it’s critical to fine-tune the timing of your proactive triggers in order to generate higher engagement rates. In today’s rushed environment, website visitors make split decisions about the product or service they’re viewing online within mere minutes, even seconds. This is where proactive chat can play a huge role in your company’s overarching outreach strategy. Sales agents no longer need to waste time manually reaching out to various prospects on your website, hoping that they will catch the prospect before they lose interest and leave the site.
Proactive chat allows admins to streamline the entire process and send automated chat invitations at pre-determined time intervals using advanced triggers. Each organization will need to do a little homework to see exactly which timing is most effective for them. When first starting out, we’d recommend setting up various proactive chat triggers on a few different URL’s within your website that prompt the visitor at between 30 seconds to 1 minute. The goal is to find a time which allows the visitor to browse just long enough to become interested, but also grabs them before their attention span dwindles. When Susie Q. visits your website you can fire over an inviting, well-crafted message when she’s been browsing for precisely 45 seconds. By tracking your proactive tests with our native analytics and also integrating with Google Analytics to track your proactive engagement rate, you’ll be able to see what is most effective for your site.
The Power of a Simple Question 
When an interested prospect visits your website, it’s often highly effective to craft your proactive messaging in the form of a question. For website visitors not yet in the know about how proactive chat works, they will be led to believe that your agents are reaching out directly to them and offering their help (which is exactly what you want visitors to think!). When a question is posed to a visitor instead of a statement, they will be more tempted to engage in conversation. It’s simply how we’re programmed. Better yet, use the advanced proactive metrics to reach out to visitors with specific questions that directly relate to their specific scenario. Here are a few examples:
- “I noticed you’re chatting from Boulder; did you know we’re offering a local discount to Colorado companies this week?”
- “You haven’t signed up for our free trial yet. Do you have any lingering questions about our service?”
- “Hi there! Would you like me to tell you more about our newest features?”
Connect Prospects with the Right Person
Ok, so you’ve crafted some effective messaging for your prospects and you’ve put some thought behind the timing of these messages. Now you need to ensure that once the visitor engages in the chat, they reach the person who is the best-suited to assist them. After all, you don’t want your prospect to have to flounder through multiple interactions with multiple agents before they finally reach the person who can meet their needs.
Instead, use a chat program that offers the ability to automatically detect things like language, location, URL, and more in order to get visitors connected with the right person. Perhaps you sell your product in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Set up specific proactive chat messages that use the advanced agent routing feature so that when a prospect from Mexico with a Spanish-enabled browser answers a proactive chat invitation, they will be immediately routed to only Spanish-speaking agents to facilitate a smooth and productive conversation. Or perhaps you have a set of chat agents that specialize in a highly unique, niche offering from your company. Set up proactive invitations that will come from these agents only, so that interested prospects will automatically connect with the right set of agents while browsing this offering on your site.
For in-depth instructions on setting up proactive chat, check out this helpful guide!
