We killed the email form! here’s why.
Goodbye email, hello live chat messaging!
When we made the reflection on how many times we have used an email form on a website to request info in the last year, we were kind of surprised. Today there are numerous of other methods of interacting with a business often faster, more personal and efficient. Live chat messaging being one of them.
Messaging the new norm of communication
Would you rather fill in a dreadful email form, with in some cases more mandatory fields than a birth-certificate, waiting hours/days on an answer you probably want right away? Or have a chat with a real person or bot that provides you the info you need moments later?
With the digital generation dismissing email as for old people and companies like WhatsApp and Facebook setting new standards for communication through messaging and direct chat. They are shifting the paradigm from email to instant messaging. Something people been using email for in the past few years.
Hi, quick question. Where can I find those files we talked about yesterday? Thanks!” — Is not an email, it’s a message.
With this in mind, we decided to bury the email form and introduced a live chat to our site. We went with tawk.to, they offer an opensource solution, allowing basically anyone to add a live chat client to their website without any real technical knowledge. They also support integration with commonly known website platforms like Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal. With their app you can chat with visitors anytime, anywhere!
End of unpaid advertisement — A happy customer
Get in personal with your customers
A chat just gives you that little extra feeling with your customer as it is conversational. If you do not run an e-commerce business but are only using your website for online presence and information sharing, a live chat can become an additional sales channel without too much effort.
When customers visit your website for information, you can proactively talk with them while they are browsing your product or services page. This way you could ask them if they need any assistance or get a better understanding of their needs.
An email just doesn’t create that opportunity and connection, it’s an easy and a lazy way for a business to communicate with its customers. And for those who are thinking that live chat messaging is going to be a time consuming activity, it’s not. It’s like asking a question to a shop clerk on where to find the gluten free pasta. The answer is short and personal, because you can get more context out of a conversation. But when you reply to an email, you often over complicate the answer and in the end sometimes not even providing the desired answer due to the lack of information.
So what do you guys think on emails vs chat and messaging. Would you rather chat or just stick with the email?
Written by Sammy De Moor.
