Whenever I talk to PTs about adding live chat to their websites I always recommend that they set up at least one greeting. Before I explain more, let me just say that if you’re NOT using live chat on your website then you really should be! I do appreciate that for some – particularly solo PTs – it’s difficult to run live chat consistently and is something that you are delaying until you have an admin assistant, but even if you can only run it for a few hours a week you will likely find that it pays for itself many times over because it provides an easy way for prospective patients to make initial contact with you (remember, some people don’t like talking on the phone or may be viewing your website while they’re at work and unable to call you) and it encourages immediate action.
So… What Are Greeting and Triggers?
Basically a greeting is a chat window that opens automatically and invites the visitor to chat and it’s triggered by certain customizable conditions.
Think about your experience walking into a bricks and mortar store that you haven’t been into before. You don’t know where anything is and maybe you feel a bit uncomfortable because you’re not even sure you’re in the right store – so you look around for a store guide or some clue as to where to find the item you’re looking for. Well since you walked in to the store a well-trained assistant has been observing you and after 20 seconds they approach you and ask if they can help. Even if you’d rather shop on your own, you are left with the feeling that if you eventually do need help, the store assistant is there for you.
Greetings are an online version of such an approach – they pop-up on your website inviting customers to chat and they do it automatically when certain criteria are met. They are triggered automatically!
The most common greeting is the one that happens when a visitor has been on your website for about 20 seconds – long enough for them to have decided they could be in the right place and may just be wondering where they can find the info they came for. Above is an example from Benchmark Physio in Sydney and I picked this one because I really like the language they used – rather than simply asking “do you need any help?” their greeting asks an either-or question…
Is it an appointment you need, or can I help you with some advice?
How Does This Work in Practice?
This initial greeting is set to trigger when a visitor has been on the website (any page) for 20 seconds. Remember, it triggers automatically – it requires zero human input at this point. From the visitor’s point of view though, someone (in this case Nick whom they can see in the little photo) is asking them a simple question which is difficult to ignore. If the visitor decides to respond, Nick (or whoever is logged in to the live chat software) will get an instant notification on their computer (or tablet or phone) that a website visitor wants to chat and they simply continue the conversation in real-time… the greeting has done its job and now it’s over to the human to handle the inquiry and try to get the visitor to talk on the phone.
Other Trigger Examples
Imagine that the visitor was initially cautious/nervous/shy and didn’t respond to the first greeting. Maybe they came to the website looking for information about back pain so they found their way to the back pain page of the website. Great! Now the live chat system knows they’re interested in back pain info (it can tell which page they’re looking at) so after a set amount of time it can try again with a more targeted greeting… how about something like
“If you need help with back pain did you know that you can talk to one of our specialists on the phone for free?”
– how powerful is that? 🙂
You can set up triggers with all kinds of clever criteria – keep it simple or get creative, it’s up to you!
With greetings, you will:
- Get more chats – the more personalized and targeted your chat invitation is, the higher the possibility of chatting with visitors.
- Turn visitors into customers – according to a report by LiveChat Inc., visitors invited to chat are “6.3 times more likely to convert into customers than the ones who don’t chat; 61% of those customers convert within the first chat”.
- Increase visitor satisfaction – your visitor will leave your site happy and willing to return; they can tell their friends and colleagues about the great experience they had, gaining you some new visitors.
- Get more leads – the more chances you have, the higher number of leads you will eventually get.
And remember, one of the many brilliant things about live chat is that initially it feels like a zero commitment engagement but once someone starts chatting they often find it hard to simply stop and walk away!
What Are You Waiting For???
So if you haven’t already got live chat on your website, add it today!!! It’s really simple to add and you can be up and running within minutes!
Click the banner below to get 60 days free trial (instead of the usual 30 days) and in case you’re wondering about the price, it’s ridiculously cheap – from just $19 per month 🙂
Try it for free for 60 days - you have nothing to lose! (And I bet you will gain some new customers!) Just click the link above to get started 🙂
Flemming Arnott
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