Should You Outsource Chat on Your Website to Live Agents?

If there’s one factor of growth every successful business understands too well, it’s customer support. Not only does great customer support help your business grow, but it can also become a headache as the business expands. More customer support personnel will be needed, thereby increasing your expenses.

Well, that was the old way anyway.

Today, you can easily scale your business without having to worry about expanding your customer service department thanks to live chat. Live chat enables you to keep your customer services department to a bare minimum as each live chat agent can easily handle multiple chats simultaneously.

Speaking of live agents – should you outsource chat on your website to live agents?

While the question itself may sound simple, the answer is far from it. Let’s take a closer look and see what is best for your business.

Should You Outsource Chat on Your Website to Live Agents?

In order to answer the question of whether you should outsource chat on your website to live agents or keep it in-house, it’s best we answer some questions first. Let’s get to it then, shall we?

Do you have the resources to hire a team of live agents?

One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is whether or not you have the financial muscle to hire an in-house team of live agents. Contrary to popular belief, live chat can’t be delegated to another member of staff who has other responsibilities. For it to be effective you will need staff whose sole responsibility is to take care of your live chat – at times round the clock.

If the expenses involved in advertising for the post, agency commissions, and of course, the salaries are not an expense you’re not ready for, the outsourcing is definitely your best option.

Do you have the infrastructure needed for an in-house team of live agents?

From office space to equipment, the infrastructure needed for in-house live agents is another consideration you need to make. Besides space, tools, and software, you also need to set up systems and structures that will support your live chat department. This will not only require lots of financial backing but will also take you time to set up – time that you can’t afford to spare.

Again, if the answer to this question is no, then you’re better off outsourcing your chat to live agents. Not only do we have state of the art equipment at Smith.ai, but our live agents are highly trained, US based, and very affordable. So there’s no need to forgo this important aspect of customer service just because of limited resources.

Are you prepared to invest in continuous training for your live agents?

With the rate at which live chat technology is advancing, it’s imperative that live agents regularly attend workshops and training to keep them up to date with current technologies and best practices.

For an in-house team, this can prove to be a challenge as:

• It will cost you in terms of finances.
• Every second a team member spends away from their live chat responsibilities compromises the quality of your customer service.

If time and resources are not an issue for you, then an in-house team might be a good option for you. However, if that is not the case, you can ensure that you have an effective live chat service by outsourcing to live agents. Not only will this save you in terms of time and money, but outsourcing ensures that the quality of your live chat customer support is always high.

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.