Why Chat is Becoming Critical for B2C Brands

It's clear that chat apps and chat bots have become increasingly more popular for businesses over recent years.

Chatbots offer a variety of benefits to the community management and customer services world. Active at all times (day or night) and ready to respond to customer inquiries, when done right chatbots can greatly improve your customer experience and offer an edge to your brand.

Most brands have yet to master the art of the chat bot, and many others don't feel that this method is the right one for them. Either way, chat tools are effective ways of communicating and building relationships with customers.

In a survey conducted by Eptica this year, they found that 72% of consumers believe that chat tools drive greater loyalty, but somehow 85% are often unhappy with the experience. People seemed to be most unhappy with response times.

Even more significant to note is how many more people prefer chat compared to previous years – 65% of consumers say they are happier using chat than five years ago. Even with terrible experiences, people find chat functions helpful. This just means that chat is on the rise, adding to the rising pool of consumers expectations.

Now that nearly 50% of consumer brands offer chat functions, how can you stay on top, meet customer expectations and make sure you impress everyone?

Focus on getting personalized and implementing tools and processes for your staff that will improve your response times.