People today have become used to instant service, with e-commerce bringing this change through same-day deliveries. So when they have to wait for responses from their financial service provider, it may irk them. They expect the same level of immediacy across service providers.

However, research shows that the average response time for customer service requests on social media is 10 hours, and email response time is longer than 12 hours.

This gap between customer expectation and delivery is where live chat can come in handy for financial services. It is one of the best channels to deliver on-the-go support and enhance customer communication and experience.

Apart from catering to the dire need of customers for quick service, implementation of live chat can also be fruitful for financial service providers.

1 ) Records User behavior

When a customer is communicating with you through a live chat window, their communication is unfiltered. It gives you access to their thought process and perspective towards your business and service. Basically, it helps you collect “Voice of Customer Data”.

It enables you to understand the business from a consumer’s point of view.

Through this information, you can understand the pain points of your customers and develop your product accordingly. It also collects words, phrases and questions that your users use, which can help you create better marketing initiatives.

Companies that collect VOC data enjoy a 10X YOY increase in annual company revenue compared to others, according to Aberdeen Research.

2) Cuts cost

Live chat can help you cut costs by reducing human effort.

• A live chat can be operated both ways manually and through bots. For repetitive inquiries, you can automate live chats through a bot, and for queries where human intervention is needed, a representative can take over.
• According to Telus International, a customer service agent can manage as many as six simultaneous chats. At the same time, a phone call or an email representative can only attend one query at a time.

With live chat, you’ll need a substantially smaller team to handle customer service requests; as a result, cutting your support cost.

To top it all off, live chat is more than 50% cheaper than handling phone calls.

3) Increased Customer Satisfaction

 
Live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel. The customer satisfaction rate with live chats is 73%, compared to 61% of email and 44% of phone, according to eDigital.

The reason for live chat’s high satisfaction levels is “the efficiency and immediacy of the experience”, says Kirk Parsons, a Senior Director at Market Research company, J.D. Power.

Often on phone calls or emails, there’s a long queue that customers have to pass through to resolve their issues. Which often leaves a negative impression no matter how good the interaction was.

Since live chats offer quick and efficient solutions, it results in higher customer satisfaction.

4) Increased Conversions

 
Live chat helps you guide your customers when they are actively engaged on your website, enabling them to make quick sales decisions.

Almost 35% more people made a purchase online after using live chat. This may not look like a big number, but when you think of it as a 20% increase in conversion that can lead to a 305% increase in ROI, it really is a considerable impact.

It helps you trigger targetted messages throughout their journey resulting in increased conversions and shorter sales cycles.

Customers who use live chat are 3X more likely to buy.

5) Chat is the preferred channel for Millennials

 
In 2020, 23% of the global population can be considered as belonging to the millennials. They make up about 40% of the world’s working population, and as their spending power increases, they are becoming even more influential consumers.

This generation has grown up surrounded by social media and prefers texting over phone calls and emails. They use online banking services regularly at a rate three times that of older generations.

Hence by offering a live chat service, you will not only give them prompt service but will also communicate with them the way they like it.

The Evolution of Live Chat

In a 300 banks and credit unions survey, The Financial Brand found that only 1 in 5 financial institutions currently has live online chat deployed.

However, live chat is gaining popularity as renown banks like HDFC have enabled this service.
HDFC Bank’s EVA (Electronic Virtual Assistant) is an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot that delivers 24×7 customer service.

Some banks are so forward that they are even looking to enable live video chat on their platforms. Over the next few years, live chat might become a non-negotiable for most financial services.