Mel Lee-Smith
Content Writer and Strategist, ZyraTalk
Mel Lee-Smith is a content writer and strategist for ZyraTalk, a software company that helps Home Service businesses automate lead generation by AI-powered chat.
FEATURED: Why HVAC Businesses Need Web Chat (And 3 Advanced Features To Take It To The Next Level)
Mel Lee-Smith • August 6, 2020
If there was an automated marketing assistant that helped you provide better customer service and generate more leads, would you use it? Most HVAC businesses wouldn’t hesitate.
Conversational marketing software is essentially a virtual assistant that complements your website. Your HVAC website is your virtual storefront and your 24/7 digital employee. It’s also the cornerstone of an effective digital marketing strategy.
Your site must provide answers to your customers’ questions quickly and accurately. (This is one of the HVAC website basics covered in another post, but it bears repeating.)
Customers don’t just want immediate access to your business. They’ve come to expect it. Web chat allows customers to contact your shop anytime and get instant responses, even outside of business hours.
Let’s take a look at a few more reasons why HVAC businesses need web chat. (Plus a few features you should look for to ensure the best possible ROI.)
3 Reasons Why HVAC Businesses Need Web Chat
Before we dive in, let’s clear up a common misconception: live chat and automated chat are two different things. Live chat is managed by customer service agents, with no intervention from artificial intelligence. Automated chat uses AI to respond instantly to every message.
These are both forms of web chat. What HVAC businesses need is a hybrid solution that combines live and automated chat. (More on hybrid solutions later.)
For now, let’s delve into the top 3 reasons why HVAC businesses need web chat to deliver an outstanding customer experience.
Reach your customers on their preferred platform
With a 92% customer satisfaction rate , live chat has quickly become the leading customer service platform.
Nothing else has revolutionized customer service quite like web chat. In less than 5 years, instant messaging completely reshaped customer expectations. According to 99firms , over half of consumers expect instant answers to their questions. (Yes, instant.) Compare that to over 75% of customers who also expect instant responses when contacting a business through web chat.
It’s no wonder why. Our phones are practically glued to our hands. Messaging apps allow us to connect with our friends and family members instantly. Customers have come to expect that same 24/7 access to businesses.
HVAC businesses that provide that access through web chat generate 3 times more leads, conversions, and booked jobs on average. That’s not just a random statistic — that’s real data from our own clients.
Lets your customers contact your business on their terms
One reason why consumers overwhelmingly prefer web chat is because it gives them time and space to articulate their needs. By comparison, phone calls force people to think on their feet. Sure, there will always be customers who prefer a good old-fashioned phone call. But for others, the phone anxiety is real. (Plus, with DP.Chat , you can add a click-to-call button for those customers who prefer talking on the phone. Two birds, one stone, as the old saying goes.)
Let’s say you’re a family-owned HVAC business based in O’Fallon, Missouri and you’re not using web chat. A customer calls and says their A/C has gone out and wants to know the soonest appointment you have available. They’re understandably a little frazzled, desperate to get it fixed. (Anyone who’s endured a sweltering summer day in STL with no A/C will relate.)
On that phone call, maybe they forget to mention important details because they’re stressed and overheated. Or maybe they simply don’t like talking on the phone. Or maybe they’re squeezing in that call between other important tasks.
But what happens if that customer calls outside of business hours and has to leave a message? And you don’t offer any other ways to contact your shop? Simple: that prospect will do business with one of your competitors. Tough. Better luck next time.
Dialing down the urgency a bit, here’s the takeaway: offering as many possible avenues of communication allows your customers to choose how they contact your business. In other words, it gives your customers more control.
And even when your shop is closed, users can still schedule an appointment through web chat. Not to mention that your chatbot can reassure that stressed-out customer that a member of your team will contact them ASAP.
Increase website traffic and engagement
HVAC live chat solutions are useful for so much more than just customer service. Web chat wears many hats. Aside from generating, capturing, and qualifying leads, web chat can also promote your blog and even advertise job openings. All you need to do is set up custom buttons with links to pages you’d like to promote.
Web chat is also good for SEO. (And when it comes to getting more HVAC leads through your website , SEO is your best friend.) Chatting increases dwell time, or the time users spend on your site. Linking to an informative blog post or page in your chat can reduce bounce rate, or the number of users who visit only one page before exiting.
3 advanced features to take HVAC web chat to the next level
The best HVAC web chat software combines innovative features with less-than-entry-level functionality. You don’t have to know a thing about code to use the dashboard or manage your messages.
Integrations, hybrid chat solutions, and automated text messaging are a few advanced features that conversational marketing platforms use to deliver results and make your marketing goals easier to achieve. Let’s dive into each one in more detail.
Integrations
Your chat log is a treasure trove of data. What’s the use in having standalone chat software? Viewing chat data in isolation just makes your job harder and more time-consuming. Integrations with third-party apps allow you to analyze that data in context to your marketing goals.
Connect your web chat software with Google Analytics and review UTM tracking data to assess the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. Integrations with Facebook Messenger allow you to set up a Messenger chatbot and manage all your messages from a single dashboard. Plug into your CRM software to automatically log qualified lead data.
These are just 3 examples of how integrations allow you to view your chat data in context.
Hybrid chat
Some businesses might be worried that using a chatbot will scare off customers. Contrary to popular belief, customers don’t mind chatting with bots. But there will be times when they might prefer to speak to a human.
Hybrid solutions combine live and automated chat. Here’s how that works. Whenever a customer sends a message through your live chat window, a chatbot will respond automatically. You’ll receive a notification that a chat has started.
If the customer mentions they want to speak with a human, you’ll receive another notification. From your dashboard, you can join the chat to break the automation.
Hybrid web chat works for your business — not the other way around. That’s the way it should be.
Automated text messaging campaigns
Remember how I said you need to provide as many avenues of communication as possible? Text messaging is one that’s often overlooked. As many as 60% of businesses aren’t utilizing SMS marketing to its full potential.
You might not think that text messaging and live chat really go together. But why shouldn’t they? They’re both a form of conversational marketing. SMS is particularly effective, with open rates as high as 98%. HVAC web chat software with built-in SMS allows you to manage both channels from a central hub.
Text message blasts are a quick way to promote discounts and deals. With automated campaigns, all you need to do is import the list of recipients, write your message, and let AI handle the rest.
Ready to take your HVAC marketing efforts to the next level?
When you close up shop, Levergy.Chat goes to work to ensure your customers are never left on read. Levergy.Chat’s scripts are tailor-made for HVAC to drive maximum conversions.
But Levergy.Chat is more than just a messaging platform. Automated text messaging campaigns, hybrid chat solutions, and third-party integrations are just a few advanced features of this conversational marketing solution. See it in action by clicking the chat bubble at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. (You know where to find it. After all, it greeted you on the way in. :)
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