Everyone has a website these days. Whether you’re an individual with a blog or a business that needs to draw in new clients, having a website is imperative in this day and age.
Despite the prevalence of well-designed sites, many people who make and commission websites aren’t aware of the importance and benefits of having a live chat feature.
A live chat is a powerful platform that allows you and your potential animation clients to communicate in real-time without any expenses.
People can use the live chat feature on a website just as they’d use instant messaging apps and websites such as Messenger, Instagram, and Twitter.
When it comes to live chat software and programs, there are plenty to choose from. If you’re considering adding one to your animation website (and you should), you’ll need to look into the features each program offers.
Some, for example, allow you to send not only text, but photos and other files. Some have a cost. Some are completely customizable.
If you’re thinking of adding a chat feature to your site but you aren’t fully convinced, this article is a great place to start. We’ve laid out all the reasons you should get a live chat feature for your animation website.
1) Reduce Your Expenses
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Calling and texting clients has been the norm for many businesses and individuals for a while now, but it is a big contribution to monthly expenses. Not only do you have to pay for a call, but you also have to maintain the number you’re using, cover charges for every call and text.
Talking to a client won’t be a one-time thing, so you will have to continually make expenses for communication. When added up, your phone call and text message expenses can reach up to hundreds and thousands of dollars. Not to mention, this is time you could spend on your work!
Fortunately, using live chat via the internet won’t cost you that much compared to using phone support.
According to research from Forrester, giving customer service via live chat is 17-30% cheaper than having a phone call. Live chat enables you to talk to several clients at the same time. You will no longer have to worry about spending too much time and money talking over the phone.
2) Increase Income
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Studies show that having a live chat feature significantly increases sales on a website. It can drive 3-5x more conversions and deliver up to 6,000% Return of Investment (ROI).
Also, customers who use live chat are more likely to buy a product or a service from an individual professional or business compared to those who don’t use live chat.
Live chat increases sales because you are able to talk to your potential animation clients who are interested in what you can offer and are going through your website in real-time.
3) Improve Your Customer Service
According to the eDigital Customer Service survey, out of 2,000 customers, it was found that live chat gave the highest customer satisfaction level at 73% compared to 61% for email and 44% for phone support.
These days, the average response time of businesses and professional individuals to clients is 12 hours. Your clients will expect a shorter response time than that.
Now that we are in a digital era where we want everything instantly, speed is the most important thing to consider when giving customer service. The shorter your response time, the higher your customer’s satisfaction will be.
Don’t follow the footsteps of those companies and individual professionals who fail to meet the expectations of their customers. This can make you lose potential clients and income.
Responding to your customers more than 24 hours after they reached out does not make you look good as a business owner or contractor.
Long response times simply won’t be accepted by businesses and individuals, especially if they’re busy and need information as soon as possible. They might end up going with someone else, meaning your long response time will have lost you a sale or client.
Live chat eliminates this issue. With this feature, you can also ask clients how they think your animation services can improve, how your website can improve, and many more questions. This way, you will know what to offer your clients and how to approach them the next time that you communicate with them.
By talking to your potential animation clients at the times when they need you will make them feel that you are trustworthy, easy to communicate with, and genuinely care about their needs. Not to mention, it’s quicker and more convenient for both you and your customers.
4) Solve Problems Easier
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Gone are the days of talking to your clients about their problems via phone call, text, or email and talking to them for hours.
With the help of live chat, you can now send website links to your clients which help give support to your customers and answer their questions.
Some clients may not have that much time or patience to go through all of your images, videos, and text on your website, so having a live chat will help you give them answers in less time.
If you have documents or photos that will help solve your clients’ problems or concerns, you can easily send them via the live chat feature.
If you are referring to a piece of information on a page on your website, you can share your screen or send a link for visual assistance. That is something you cannot provide your clients with by text message, email, or phone call.
5) Gain Competitive Advantage
A study by TELUS International shows that many big businesses still don’t use any live chat for their websites. Only 9% out of 1,000 websites use live chat to give real-time support to their clients.
If you choose to add live chat to your animation website, chances are high that you will get more animation clients compared to creative professionals and businesses. You will be able to answer your clients’ questions even before your competitors do.
6) Reach Out to More Customers
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As mentioned earlier, phone calls and text messages are costly. If you don’t have a live chat, your international clients won’t probably bother calling you because of the costly international phone call rates.
However, if you offer your animation services to clients internationally and have a live chat on your animation website, it will help bring in more clients. Even people thousands of miles away from you can be able to contact you, make inquiries, and hire you to be their animator right away.
With live chat, you can talk to someone who’s on the other side of the globe just as you would talk to a client who lives in your city.
7) Keep In Touch With Website Visitors
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Take note that not every person who visits your website and communicates with you via live chat will hire you to be their animator. This is where live chat comes in handy: the live chat feature allows you to save the potential clients information for later.
Whenever a customer does a live chat with you, ask the user for their contact information and other necessary questions related to their concern. This will give them a better customer experience and will help you increase sales.
If someone isn’t your current client yet, apply your marketing and sales strategies by asking them if they would be interested in receiving emails from you in the future about your animation services.
They may not hire you today, but by having their information, you will be able to contact them again in the future and eventually turn them into a client.
Don’t forget to use live chat even on pages that have been deleted. Customers usually leave a page or a website when they get to a deleted page.
A live chat will help them know and see what they’re looking for without any frustrations or wasted efforts. At the same time, people will spend more time on your website which will help you rank higher on SEO.
Conclusion
Now that you know the reasons why you should use live chat on your animation website, take action. You will reduce costs, increase income, improve your customer service, and solve problems easier.
This will give you an advantage over competitors and help you reach out to more customers and keep in touch with your website visitors.
If you want to get animation clients and give them what they need, don’t ignore or delay getting a live chat software for your animation website.
Remember that live chat is what customers prefer to communicate with you. By adding that to your website, you can give them a good experience, and later on, turn them into your regular clients.
For more business tips about your animation career, don’t forget to sign up for our masterclass and get a copy of our free marketing handbook.
