{"id":30369,"date":"2020-06-05T11:59:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T11:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.proprofs.com\/c\/?p=30369"},"modified":"2025-04-30T06:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T06:08:33","slug":"live-chat-vs-phone-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.proprofschat.com\/blog\/live-chat-vs-phone-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Chat vs Phone Support: Which is Better for Your Business?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In<\/i> one of its studies, American Express discovered that for more complicated interactions, such as payment disputes, <\/span><\/i>40% of customers<\/span><\/i><\/a> prefer talking to a real person over the phone.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the tables turned when <\/span>Econsultancy<\/i><\/b> discussed how <\/span>79% of businesses<\/span><\/a> prefer to use live chat at their website instead of email (61%), phone (44%), and social media (48%) platforms to communicate with customers for instant support.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear how customers are moving from phone to chat support. It\u2019s not a statement derived from the two studies above. Forrester acknowledges this fact too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice increasingly evolves as an escalation<\/span><\/i><\/a> \u2014 <\/span><\/i>not a primary service<\/i><\/b> \u2014 channel. Phone use for customer service has steadily decreased over the past six years, and Forrester predicts that it will dip even further as customers increasingly adopt digital channels like web chat.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while the results are crystal clear, we still get to read articles on live chat vs phone support. To help you get a clear picture of how the live chat and phone support debate has shaped so far, we\u2019ve curated an article that will help you arrive at a final conclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s kick-off the article by understanding the evolution of live chat and phone support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Evolution of Live Chat Support<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The <\/span>Digital Transformation<\/span><\/i> of the 1990s enabled brands across industries to flourish worldwide. Business owners eagerly wanted to enter the WorldWideWeb to boost presence in the international market.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while brands pursued their dream to build a strong presence in the market through online exposure, they noticed a sharp hike in questions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers wanted answers, and they wanted them fast<\/i><\/b>. They were yet to become familiar with a lot of things like company offerings, pricing, purchasing process, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to <\/span>Rita McGrath\u2019s<\/span><\/a> latest contribution to Harvard Business Review, \nvarious factors made the customer mind inquisitive and reach out to brands \nfor support.<\/span>\n\n\u201cUnder certain conditions, market transactions often are not satisfactory \nfor individuals: when it is difficult or expensive to get information about \nwhat you want to buy, when bargains are hard to strike because information \nis asymmetrical, and when it\u2019s costly or challenging to enforce agreements.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Customers were encouraged to ask for support from brands as there was a dearth of information on company websites. While this is a great marketing and lead magnet strategy for the business, they had to work a lot harder than expected if seen from the customer service perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it was at the turn of the millennium that people started to become familiar with the concept of <\/span>instant web-based chat<\/i><\/b>. Business owners finally understood that one way to answer questions online is through the use of live chat software.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s when ProProfs Chat<\/a> (formerly known as Live2Support) entered the market.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a promise to deliver state-of-the-art chat capabilities to its customers, ProProfs Chat enabled companies to finally be available for their customers 24X7. And that\u2019s not all. As it developed over the years, it even allowed businesses to attend to customer questions no matter where their operators were.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a nutshell, live support chat software turned out to be a great solution for business owners who wanted to offer instant, delightful support to their customers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Also Read:<\/i><\/b> Live Chat Software: Evolution, Success & Future<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Benefits of Using Real-time Live Chat Support<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I read it somewhere that \u201creal-time\u201d is an overpowering word. If you combine it with other concepts such as support, collaboration, or communication, their meaning changes completely.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s exactly what live chat does to support.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its ability to help your business offer real-time support to customers<\/a> adds a new meaning to the support process in general. Besides this, there are various other benefits that clearly indicate the difference between live chat and phone support.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s explore them below!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benefit #1: Reduces Support Cost<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
While this isn\u2019t the case for phone support, live chat users have found this to be one of the rewarding benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Support cost reduction is an outcome of the ability to manage multiple customers at the same time<\/a> in live chat software. All you have to do is set a chat limit for all your operators.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
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\"real<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
* Chat Limit:<\/i><\/b> It is the number of chat invites an operator can automatically accept. The feature accessibility is available only to admins.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
To set the operator chat limit you need to assess their:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Performance, <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rating, <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Feedback, <\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Answer quality<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    Learn:<\/i><\/b> How to Limit Incoming Chat Request for an Operator<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    Benefit #2: Proactive Support<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    Do you know that <\/span><\/i>68% of consumers<\/span><\/i><\/a> say that a brand\u2019s perception becomes positive when companies send <\/span><\/i>proactive customer service<\/i> notifications to them?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Proactive customer service notifications such as:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Chat triggers<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Chat greetings<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Announcements<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      Help your operators to initiate a chat with customers and try to resolve a problem before it surfaces. Such features help you offer proactive support as you reach customers before they do and indeed change their perception of your brand<\/a> effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      Read More:<\/strong> What is Proactive Customer Service and How to Implement It<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      Benefit #3: Create Support Bundle With Third-Party Integrations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      Various live chat tools in the market<\/a> support powerful third-party integrations to <\/span>help users create their support bundle<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      We\u2019ll be using ProProfs Chat as an example in this case.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n
      \n
      \"proprofs<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
      The live chat software supports <\/span>50+ integrations<\/span><\/i><\/a> that help you create an awesome support bundle for your business. And that\u2019s not all.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      They\u2019ve made integrations with native apps such as <\/span>ProProfs Knowledge Base<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>ProProfs Help Desk<\/span><\/a>, & <\/span>ProProfs Survey Maker<\/span><\/a> possible for their forever free plan users too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      Check out our pricing plans here!<\/a> <\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      With these three in the mix, you can:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Create a self-help repository<\/a> for your customers and help them find instant answers<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Convert missed chats and offline messages into support tickets<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Create detailed pre-chat and post-chat forms<\/a> for your customers to gather more data for improvement<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        Besides these, you can add customer feedback software<\/a> such as Qualaroo and integrate with a third-party CRM platform such as Microsoft Dynamics 365<\/a> to store collected data and assess upsell opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
        Watch Now: How to Integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM with ProProfs Live Chat ?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n