click4assistanceuk-blog

[click4assistanceuk-blog]

Improving Online Business

Your website is the shop front for your business. Your homepage is the window display attracting individuals to take a closer look. Ensuring your website is optimised to serve visitors is the key to improving online business.

Converse, Monitor, Engage

During the visitor’s time browsing on your website, they may have a small question or a complex enquiry. Enable them to gain instant answers with an array of communication channels.

Analyse visitors’ behaviour whilst they browse, detecting key information such as their location, device use and viewing as they change pages in real-time. This allows you to identify individuals meeting a specific trend e.g. visiting certain pages that usually result in a conversion.

Automatically invite visitors to interact with your company in several ways, using triggers based on the rules you specify.

Online Communication Channels

Live Chat

Live chat is a very popular tool to add to your website. The communication channel instantly connects website visitors to customer service representatives to engage in real-time. This allows them to quickly gain answers to their questions.

Chatbots

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest technology to be integrated within customer service. Chatbots are available 24/7 and can ask questions to identify the visitor, answer any enquiries it has learnt and/or transfer to a real agent.

Video Chat

Video Chat capabilities are also making more of an appearance within organisations, allowing a one or two way live video and voice stream. Agents are able to read into the enquirer’s body language enabling them to advise based on how receptive the visitor is.

Click2Call

With many consumers using mobile phones over a landline, it can be expensive for an individual to make a phone call to a company, especially if they are located overseas. Click2Call enables website visitors to request a free instant phone call over the normal phone network.

smartContact

It is now easier than ever to add any type of data capturing form to your website. smartContact provides customisable enquiry forms, allowing your company to collate anything from gaining natural sign-ups for your mailing list or booking an appointment, to requesting your latest whitepaper or product brochure.

Virtual Meeting Rooms

Collaborate with multiple participants within a digital text-based environment, regardless of physical location. Host support groups, Q and A sessions, live bids or open days etc. with complete moderation and entry restrictions if required.

Promotions

Display your latest information, special offers or important news and automatically redirect your visitors’ browser to a relating page for more details.

The Control Centre

All of these channels need somewhere for agents to handle the enquiries. The Click4Assistance Dashboard provides a powerful and personalised omni-channel control centre to manage all of these communications tools.

Management Information

Another module within the Click4Assistance solution is the Reporting Suite. Managers can analyse performance to optimise operations, identifying training needs and requirements for extra coverage.

Security

The EU’s laws around security were shaken up last year, meaning companies had to review their data processing procedures and rewrite their privacy policies to conform to GDPR. As data security is our top priority, we regularly share how organisations can remain compliant when using our online communication channels.

Branding

Personalising your online communication channels can make all the difference with engagement uptake rates. If the contact method looks like a seamless part of your website, visitors are more confident to use the service as they know they are speaking with a representative from your company.

Also with the increased internet use via a mobile phone, it is important that the communication channels are responsive to ensure that the user experience remains smooth and consistent across all devices. This helps reduce frustration for website visitors.

Sectors Improving Online Business with Click4Assistance

Many types of organisations are using at least one of these communication channels to improve their online business and streamline their operations:

SME – Increasing sales and leads for small/medium businesses

Corporate – Meeting the specific needs of large organisations

Public Sector – Digitally transforming public sector communications

Contact Centres – Functionality to support the largest operations

Estate Agents – Complimenting the online estate agent experience

Finance – Making financial organisations for accessible

Healthcare – Changing communication within the healthcare industry

Local Authorities – Supporting councils and residents with digital transformation

Retail – Providing innovative ways to increase eCommerce sales

Travel – Delivering the high street travel agency experience online

Universities – Improving student engagement with UK universities

Click4Assistance

From humble beginnings 15 years ago, an Essex developer with a vision wanted to ensure businesses could offer a personal service and improve online communication. Today, Click4Assistance is the leading UK provider of live chat software, offering a single solution with multiple communication tools.

To see the software in action, book a free personalised demonstration, where our team will take you through a tailored walkthrough of the solution and advise how best to use the system to meet your business requirements.

Alternatively, we have a free no obligation, 21 day trial if you wish to evaluate the solution.

[click4assistanceuk-blog]

Why Ageism in Technology Isn’t Valid

Recently I shared an article on LinkedIn, it attracted one individual to start a discussion with myself. One of their points was “the elderly aren’t even going to use these chatbots” regardless that my article wasn’t even about chatbots and regarded councils using live chat software to improve their services to residents whilst they are affected by stringent budget cuts. The fact is they jumped straight to tarring one generation with a brush, what evidence did they have that the elderly wouldn’t use them? They justify this with the idea that the necessary skills don’t come with age.

However, older demographics are surprising us; Ofcom reported that the over 65s’ internet use is growing. But why? Firstly, as the digital era continues society identified that there needed to be services available to teach anyone, not just the elderly with the basic skills of using a computer/internet etc. This includes banks and libraries who offer these life skill courses.

Seniors tend to have family and friends with younger individuals who can help them complete computer tasks. I spent many weekends at my Nan’s during my teenage years, building on the basic computer skills she had learnt whilst working and teaching her how to use the internet to listen to music on YouTube or make a purchase on Amazon etc. Over the last 10 years, she has been competent enough to do this without my help, allowing her to enjoy even more of the world today.

Touching on the fact that 10 years have passed, each generation is ageing therefore in another 20, 30 years more people would have experienced some interaction with all sorts of devices (mobile phones, smart TVs, game consoles etc.), and the internet, therefore making us a more connected and tech-savvy country.

Websites Aimed Specifically for the Older Demographic 

There are many retailers who target an audience of a certain age, Cotton Traders, Bonmarche, Marks and Spencers just to name a few. All these companies have an internet presence, allowing anyone to browse and purchase their products. If the older generations couldn’t use the internet then they would be marketing online to the incorrect age groups. 

One of the retailers mentioned ran a pilot a few years ago to see whether their target audience of over 50’s would use live chat software to speak with representatives when they have questions or run into an issue. The results were surprising with the online store experiencing a 55% chat uptake. 

This allowed the retailer to discover that their online visitors were tech-savvy and can embrace new communication channels, allowing them to adapt their website to keep up with today’s modern world. 

One of the other surprising aspects was that their audience initially provided negative feedback about the size of the button, where the retailer had misjudged that they would need to have a bigger button to attract their visitor’s attention to the communication channel. However, the feedback was that it was too large and interfered with the user experience when browsing the site. Therefore the company amended the button so that it could be minimised to a smaller size when it wasn’t in use, which contributed to the impressive uptake.

We are wrong to quickly judge a whole demographic just because we think they would prefer something one way, or we don’t believe they can achieve something else. Getting facts and using trial and error to receive feedback are the best ways to actually see how a demographic react to anything such as new technology. What’s surprised you and proved you wrong in the past? Let me know in the comments.