After adding a live chat feature to your firm’s site, it’s important that you’re able to utilize it in a way that can convert inquires to clients. If your firm is not optimizing their live chat feature, then you could be losing leads. Here’s are some simple ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of your live chat.:

Create Scripts and Templates

Having a script will help make sure those that answer the live chat will ask all the correct information. In the script, make sure contact information is asked for early. As convenient as it is for someone to message your firm using live chat, people often leave for reasons that have nothing to do with your firm. Distractions can cause a positive conversation to go south. By getting contact information, you can continue the conversation elsewhere if needed or follow-up when the conversation suddenly ends.

Take a second to go through questions commonly asked and create template responses for these. It will take less time for your staff to reply if they have to type out answers. You’ll most likely have to customize each template based on the exact question asked, but if the base answer is already there, you’re response time will be much faster and you can make sure no information is left out. The less robotic you sound, the better.

You can use your case management system to use as an intake form as someone chats you. This way, you’ll be sure you get all the correct information needed. We offer our own legal lead and case management system, eLuminate, where you can customize different fields to best suit your firm’s needs.

Quick Reply Time

According to Zendesk, the average first reply time for live chat is 1 minute and 36 seconds. Live Chat Inc., says the industry standard is about 1 minute long. But, this may not be fast enough to keep the visitor engaged. Aiming for a 30 second reply can help make sure no one leaves your firm’s page due to a lack of response or a delay in the response.

If someone has to wait a few minutes for a response, he or she may become upset and think your firm isn’t actually there to help. By quickly responding to their live chat inquiry, you show you care and are excited to work with them. When someone is unavailable to answer live chats, be sure to put up a message in the live chat that it may take some time for someone to answer their question. Being upfront that it may take a few minutes (or hours) is better than leaving them waiting.

Create Greetings

Most chat providers will let you create different greetings for specific triggers. You can set a greeting to be triggered after someone has been on the site for a specific amount of time. Or, if you someone is a first time visitor to your firm’s site, you can set a trigger the chat to automatically pop-up.

You should use a customized opening sentence. You may want something along the lines of “Looking for legal help?” if your firm handles different areas of law. If you only handle one, such as Social Security disability, you can ask something like “Need help applying for Social Security disability benefits?” or “Have a question on disability benefits?”.

If you’re still unsure if live chat is right for your firm, check out our list of pros and cons for adding live chat to your firm’s site.

Source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/live-chat/