“How do I do online service on my website?” Know the answer now!

"How do I do online service on my website?” This is a question asked by many business owners or managers who know the importance of modernize your internal management processes, but have no idea where to start and which tools to choose.

That's why we made the decision to produce this content that explains how online service works, its importance, benefits and also what steps you should take to adopt one today. Come on?

What is online service?

Online service takes place through digital channels and aims to establish direct, practical and fast contact with the public.. Therefore, one of the most used ways to provide this type of service is the chat, as it is a format that everyone knows and is already used to using.

Social networks have also played this role in recent times. Facebook Messenger, Direct do Instagram ou WhatsApp, for example, are commonly used by companies to establish communication with those who seek them. However, as the website is the main channel of an online strategy, it is essential that it also has a chat so that your audience can use it to ask questions or close new deals.

Let's analyze an example to see its practicality. After performing a Google search, a person lands on your website and sees information about the service or product you offer. However, he feels the need to raise some questions before making the purchase.

At the bottom left of the site, a chat popup appears. By asking a few simple questions, it is answered by the chatbot. However, when bringing more specific questions, it is forwarded to a company representative who follows the service.

How important is online service?

There was a time when the main form of contact with companies was the telephone, so all websites and communication channels had the number highlighted, especially when it was 0800.

Some tips from that time are still valid today, such as: offering quality and fast service, in addition to knowing your audience well enough to define the type of communication to be used (formal, informal or in-between).

As much as the phone is still widely used, times have changed and smartphones are now preferred for internet access and application use, which ends up conditioning the use of chats.

After all, this type of service can be done anywhere: at home, at work and even on the street while you are on the move. As many of us do a series of activities on a daily basis, using the chat service is more comfortable and simple, as you can do this while performing other routine actions such as answering emails or sign a contract with a customer.

The speed of communication via chat also facilitates both sides. You know when we call a switchboard and are served by the virtual assistant who presents us with a bunch of options and it takes us around five minutes or more to get to the one that really interests us? 

In chat, this process is more dynamic, as the chatbot's virtual service presents the options on the screen in text form so that you don't waste time listening to all the options during the call.

In addition, even situations in which the person served has to wait a little are less time consuming in the chat. If the agent needs to look up information, you are notified by chat when a new message arrives, which is more pleasant than being stuck on the phone listening to music on hold.

What are the benefits of online service?

Here we point out three advantages that you have when adopting online service.

Get to know the customer profile better

Nowadays, people don't buy a product or hire a service just because they like the brand or because it is famous, but because it solves a problem they have. For this reason, customer service needs to be increasingly personalized and individual and, for that, you must know the profile of each customer well.

Chat is a great ally in this regard, as it is possible to insert a form before the service starts in which people must inform their name, contact details and which questions they want to solve.

This information is very important for the agent to know who they are talking to and how they can help. You know those calls where we are transferred several times to someone different and we need to introduce ourselves and explain our problem individually to everyone? This is a bad experience that, luckily, doesn't happen in chat.

Make contact with the customer at the immediate moment of interest

Two digital ways people use to contact companies are email and form. Both are practical and efficient as they allow people to leave a customized message about the type of help they need. Once the submission has been made, all you have to do is wait for the company to respond with a solution to the raised topic.

As much as many offer a response time of up to 24 hours to not keep the public waiting too long, depending on each person's level of urgency, this period can be too long.

For example: an online store whose server goes down and prevents visitors from being able to buy its products. This is urgent and needs to be resolved more quickly than a one-off question that can be easily answered the next day, right?  

So, this is another benefit of chat: the service is done in real time, which is essential to keep your customer base. After all, if you have a long-term return, but your competitor doesn't, who will your audience choose?

More security and trust

In 2020, Brazil had a record 2,26 million new companies from the most varied segments. This leaves us on the verge of being impacted by new offers and also leads some of us to the following thought: “Should I trust a brand I don't know yet”?

To get the answer, you need to know more information about the company and get in touch with it. From the moment we receive a prompt response, we have more credibility when we see that this is a serious business with active service.

In fact, this is important even for those who are already present in the market. Proof of this is the disdain that the public starts to have of brands that delay or simply do not respond to challenges as we can see on sites like "Reclame Aqui".

Therefore, by making the chat available on your website (and serving you with the greatest agility and precision), your audience will feel confident in doing business with you, in addition to referring you to other potential customers.

⚠️ Also check out these related articles 👇

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➡️ Online service on WordPress: discover the best plugins

After all, how do I do online service on my website?

Let's now go through the six steps necessary to implement a quality online service on your website.

1. Install an online chat tool

The first step to providing online service is to install a chat on your website. There are several tools on the market that fulfill this function, we highlight some of them here:

• Intercom: in addition to having a very intuitive layout, it also brings more informal elements to the conversation, such as emojis and GIFs.
• Zendesk: is one of the most popular online service solutions on the market, it notifies site visitors that they can be served by chat.
• omnize: this platform not only works with chat, but also with other service channels such as email, SMS and WhatsApp.
• neoassist: like the previous one, it is a complete solution that brings together all channels, in addition to generating reports on the services provided.

2. Use message templates

Although automated message templates are left to chatbots, that doesn't stop you from using templates too, especially if the questions your audience asks are almost always the same. 

For example: if someone looks for you in the chat to find out how to hire your service, you won't always type the same answer, right? Therefore, create a document with some message templates so that you can copy and paste, taking the only care to insert the name of the person you are attending.

3. Use pre-chat forms

These forms have the function of capturing information about the person who arrives at the chat, such as: name, e-mail, type of service (support, financial, commercial, among others) and a free message field.

That way, when the chat starts, you'll already have enough information to get straight to the point, this will make the service more efficient, in addition to being a time saver for both sides.

4. Be careful with Portuguese

As much as some people don't care about the good use of the language, others care a lot. For this reason, be very careful not to make mistakes in Portuguese during the call.

If the chat tool allows access to automatic brokers like the ones we have in browsers and cellular, it's half the battle. If in doubt, consult a Dictionary Online not to write nonsense.

After all, it's your company we're talking about. Put yourself in the role of a customer: you wouldn't feel comfortable closing a deal with someone who writes, for example, "we'll go", would you?

5. Keep polite during attendance

In these times of cancellations where people hide behind avatars on a screen, it is common for not everyone to be cordial when talking to you through chat. At some point, someone will come along who will stress, get angry and even curse at you.

At these times, take a deep breath and maintain education during service. Remember that rarely a person gets angry for free, something happened to make him that way.

So, in times like these, be empathetic, try to understand the problem and make it clear that you are there to help. Reinforcing this will calm you down and everything will be fine.

6. Ask for customer service feedback

Finally, get feedback from the service provided. You don't need to do this manually as most chat platforms offer this function for the audience to leave a review and, if they want, a message once the conversation is over.

Analyze these feedbacks carefully, as they are of paramount importance to make the service better and better. It's great to receive good reviews, but the bad ones serve to remind you that there are points that need to be improved.

By following the points we raised above, you will no longer have difficulties in serving your audience on the internet and will no longer have to ask yourself: “how do I provide online service on my website?”

If you know someone who is going through the same difficulty and you believe this content will be useful, share it on your social networks!