How to Calculate the True Cost of Live Chat Services for Your Business

When it comes to introducing new technology to help you improve the efficiency of the business, the biggest question many ask is, “What will it cost?”

You’re probably wondering the same thing as you consider live chat services for your business.

Well, in order to help you understand the true cost and value of live chat for your business, let’s consider some important factors.

How to Calculate the True Cost of Live Chat Service For Your Business - the Smart Way

Let’s get straight to business. After all, time is money – especially when it comes to customer service. What factors should you consider when calculating the true cost of live chat services for your business?

1. Time

One of the biggest factors you need to consider in determining the true cost of live chat services is time.

Live chat saves a lot of time for:

• Your business

Because of the way customers are served much faster using live chat, you serve more customers. This results in increased revenue and a higher ROI.

• Your staff

Live chat technology allows your staff to be more efficient thus helping them to operate at optimum capacity. The result is more sales and faster business growth.

• Your customers

Customers don’t like waiting for answers to their queries. Implementing live chat services for your business affords you the ability to serve your customers in real-time. You will be rewarded with higher customer satisfaction rates, that lead your customers to spread the good news about your business to their family and friends.

2. Opportunity cost

Another important element to consider when seeking the true cost of live chat services for your business is the opportunity cost of your time.

When you decide against using a live chat service on your business website, you lose out on the opportunity to take on more activities that can enhance your business growth.

3. Lead cost

How much is a lead worth to you? That’s another consideration you’ll have to make when deciding for (or against) using a live chat service. In most cases, you’ll discover that the cost of a lead outweighs the cost of a live chat service. 

This makes using a live chat service a no-brainer as live chat is fast becoming a leading tool in lead generation.

4. Cost of retaining a customer

It costs anywhere between 5-25 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain one. Using live chat is an excellent way of increasing your customer retention rates as it helps you easily connect to your customers and serve them efficiently. 

Calculating the True Cost of Live Chat Services For Your Business

Live chat is a relatively new technology as far as using it in business goes. While many are still watching to see how it works out for the early adopters, you can get the edge by implementing it quickly in your business.

Remember, price is not everything when calculating the true cost of live chat services. Factor in the price of the benefits it brings in as well. That will give you a more holistic outlook at the true cost of live chat services for your business.

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.