Why You Need To Start Chatting with Your Customers
Season 2, Episode 2 of the NMR Podcast with CEO, Keegan Edwards on why you need to start chatting with your customers.
Participants:
Keegan Edwards – CEO of New Media Retailer
Video Transcript:
[Please excuse any grammatical errors, transcript is machine generated](00:19):
How ridiculous do you think this sounds? I don’t like talking on the phone, so I don’t have a phone number for my business. Nobody can contact my business over the phone or I don’t like using email, so I don’t have an email for my business. Nobody can email me about anything or I don’t like when people contact me through a website. So I don’t have a website contact form. I don’t want to talk to them. I don’t want to answer their questions if they want to buy from me. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? Well, here’s the thing I want to talk about today. I want to talk about website chat because if you are interested in attracting the next generation of customers, those new millennial home buyers and those generation Z customers who are doing home projects, who are taking up hobbies that they could be buying from your store, are buying new pets, any of those types of things, if you’re in that retail business, 85% of Generation Z customers prefer website chat or automated customer service interactions, like those automated chat interactions over phone calls, right?
Using the website chat feature to connect with younger generations
(01:18):
That’s gonna be different than other generations. However, there’s another important stat to share. 58% of baby boomers use chat and automated tools when they need customer service too. We’re all getting so used to using website chat and chat services, whether it’s automated or whether you’re talking to a live person. The next generation that’s coming that is going to be buying from your store prefers chat over any other channel, right? And that’s really, really important for us to start to wrap our mind around because we wanna keep your business in the best condition possible. We wanna keep you top of mind for your market. We wanna keep you giving your customers the best tools possible so they don’t go seeking doing business elsewhere. And especially amongst that next generation of millennial home buyers and generation Z home buyers and customers, it’s really important that they are interested in buying from you.
(02:13):
You can attract them for a lifetime. But I want you to understand when they come to your business and they don’t see those tools that they are very, very accustomed to using like website chat and automated support in the off hours. It is a turnoff for that generation of customers in the same way that you would be turned off by a business that doesn’t have a phone number or you would be turned off by a business that doesn’t have an email or a way to contact them through a contact form, right? Those things sound ridiculous to me and our generation especially you as a, as a store owner and somebody who does business, you probably wouldn’t wanna work with a business like that, understand that the, this is a new context for that next generation and they look at not having those tools in a similar way, right? So
(02:58):
I’m gonna really encourage you today to think about adding chat to your website. Here’s the great news. As a new media retailer customer, we have this feature built in to your new website platform. So as soon as you upgrade to the, the product catalog, catalyst driven sites, many of you have already made that upgrade. Others of you, I hope are considering it in a strong way. As soon as you do that, you are going to have access to one of the most powerful website chat widgets in existence today. It is included absolutely free with everything that you’re already doing. We’ll set help, set it up for you, enable it on your site, show you how to use it. So I’m gonna talk about that a little bit today. But here’s the thing too. Before I get into just the details of that, one takeaway that I hope you have from this, we get to see the backend of these things as a, as a business, right?
Chat with proven results
(03:47):
So for us, we actually understand the utilization of the website chat across not just your business but tons of businesses. We don’t go in there and we don’t review any private information or conversations with your customers. We can just see customers using it and how many customers using it. And I will tell you what, across the board, across the entire country, across our over 2000 independent retail stores that we work with, there are consistent usage rates of the website chat widget. Your customers will want to talk to you this way, potential new customers and next generation customers will be happy. You have this feature and they will use it for sales and customer service purposes, which will keep them buying from you and keep them doing business with your business. So just wanna mention that cuz we get the, we get the added perspective beginning, see how well these things work across the board.
(04:39):
So what is it, what’s the chat widget goes right on your website. You can talk to your marketing specialists, they’ll send you examples of other stores just like you who have enabled it and then it lets the customers come on and chat with you. Now they can send you a chat. It’s basically going to go into the admin section of your website. You’ll get an alert and if you have the Shopify mobile app on your phone, you’ll actually get a push in notification letting you know that you have a new chat and you can chat right there from the mobile app or you can switch over to your computer and chat right from the computer, which is really nice. It’s customizable for your online store. So there’s certain things you can do to customize it. And then you’re also gonna be able to get insights about how many new conversations you’ve had how often you reply, how quick you are to reply, and then if you are doing anything transactional on your site.
(05:25):
So if you do have store pickup or local delivery, you’ll get to see how many of the people you’re chatting with went ahead and purchased after that too. So it’s a really nice smooth chat widget that you can use on and managed pretty easily on the backend, again, with customizations to make it look like your store. The other thing I really like about it is that we understand that 70% of inbox conversations are with customers who are making a purchasing decision, right? So there is going to be some customer support associated with this just because general customer
(05:56):
Service. But about seven out of 10 people that you’re talking with are in the middle of trying to decide on buying something, whether that’s pet supplies or whether it’s power drills or whether it’s lumber. They’re in the process of making a buying decision. You have the opportunity to start texting with them, right? Messaging is not that different from texting, texting with them in that moment where they’re thinking about buying something from your business. So it’s a great opportunity for you to capture sales. It’s, it’s really, really exciting that this exists and is available in the same way. So if you’re sitting here thinking, well, this seems overwhelming, I’ve got to be live in person to talk to somebody all the time, or I’ve got to deal with these chats, what if I’m busy? Totally get that. But remember the stats I shared that people also just want some automated messaging too.
(06:42):
So we’re gonna understand if it’s 11 o’clock at night that maybe nobody’s gonna be able to talk to me, but it’s still nice to send a message and that message we can give an automated response back to your customer and let them know you’ll follow up by email the next day. So you just captured a customer in the buying process and let them know that you’ll follow up with them the next day to continue that conversation. So the pressure to respond in real time is definitely a challenge, but with Shopify inbox and with this this chat widget tool that we’re delivering for you, you can actually have pre-written messages. They’ll let people know that you’ll get back to them the next day. They thank them for reaching out to you. So you can schedule those things and then you can follow up with email.
(07:23):
So you’ve got automated messages and then the ability to follow up with email. So that’s a couple really nice features of this. If you want some more details, you wanna see it inaction, I encourage you to, to contact your marketing specialist, ask them a little bit more about this. But in 2023, please seriously consider adding website chat to your business website. It might be a little awkward at first trying to get used to when to chat follow up by email. Just like every new thing we do in our business is right. I’m sure the first time we all got emails for our business or probably not phone numbers. Many of us probably weren’t there for that experience, but each of these things is something new to contend with and get used to in our business. But once you do, it becomes like old hat and you’re happy that you have it.
(08:06):
You realize how much it’s adding value for your customers and by adding value for your customers, you’re adding value for your business as well. So please check that out. One last stat I’m gonna leave you with today as we’re thinking about the next generation, 64% of generation g Z shoppers, look up a local businesses’ website before shopping or visiting that website in person 60. Almost 65% of the next generation will look at your website before they go shop at your local business. Keep that in mind. Thanks for choosing new media retailer. Have a great rest of the day.