How Live Chat Fits into Your SMB Growth Strategy

Does your small business have a growth strategy? Of course, every business would like to grow, increase revenue and maximize profits. But wanting something to happen is much different from having a strategic plan to make something happen.

A growth strategy is data-driven. Usually, it boils down to multiple processes within a business. You have a process for generating leads. You have a process for nurturing leads into qualified leads. You have a process for converting those leads into customers. You have a process for collecting the money and you have a process for serving those clients.

Every business has these processes in some form or another, but those who truly grow have each component tracked and documented and know what levers they can pull to generate growth.

Enter live chat. If you have a growth strategy, how does live chat fit? In a small business, you can’t afford to invest money and especially time in anything that doesn’t move you forward. You don’t have that luxury.

So if you’re considering live chat, you need to see where does it help growth? 

Live Chat for Capturing Leads

The biggest lever in growth is lead generation. You may have a 100% close rate, but if there is nobody to talk to, you’re not going to grow. A growing business has a steady pipeline of leads.

Live chat is proven to dramatically increase conversion rates. If you have a website with some level of traction, you are providing a next action for those visitors. In the past, that action would either be to fill out a form on the website or dial a phone number. Those were your leads. 

With live chat, you are able to subtly engage the visitor, inviting them to a conversation. If they have any type of question or comment, you’ve now created a lead in a very natural way. And the stats bear it out. 

According to research by ICMI, live chat has been shown to improve conversion rates by around 40%. Greater conversion rates simply mean you are getting more opportunities out of the traffic you have.

Live Chat for Quality Sales Conversations

In addition to increased conversion rates, live chat also helps in the process of moving the lead into a sales conversation. When you have a form on your website, you then have to reach back out, get an appointment scheduled, then have the call. 

With that many steps, leads can often fall through the cracks. With live chat, you are able to engage while they are interested and move them into qualification. This helps not only save time if they are not a fit, but you have a higher chance of them actually taking the initial meeting.

If your small business is growing, live chat provides great upside to accelerate that growth. You will increase conversions, provide a better experience and maximize the time of your reps.

Get started with Smith.ai Live Web Chat risk-free

It's time to try live chat on your website. Just one new client captured via chat can pay for a year (or more) of Smith.ai's live web chat service. We provide fully staffed live website chat with professional agents. Outsourced live chat is best for small businesses like law firms, e-commerce businesses, IT consultants, financial planners, property managers, realtors, and marketing agencies (to name just a few!).

Our live agents are highly skilled and can answer common questions about your business, qualify new leads, schedule appointments, take payments, and more. You stay in the loop when chat transcripts are sent to you after each conversation and logged in your CRM. There's no setup fee, services are month-to-month, and there's no annual contract. Plans start at just just $140/month and are risk-free with our 14-day money-back guarantee.