4 mistakes with live chat that will scare your visitors away

These 4 mistakes with live chat can be the reason why your visitors are running away. Read which are the most common mistakes with live chat and how to avoid them.

AAHHHH!!! Potential customers leaving my website. That has to be the scariest sight for any business. Here is a list of live chat mistakes that will definitely scare yours away.

It’s one of the world’s oldest holidays, Halloween! It originates from Samhain, an old Celtic celebration of the spirits of the dead. The Celtics believed that the spirits of those who had died during the year would mingle with the living before traveling on to the afterlife. On this same day, supernatural creatures like demons and fairies join the living to “come out and play”. This is how Halloween has become highly associated with horror. 

An association that’s less likely to be made is the one between live chat and Halloween, or live chat and horror. However, some of the things we see passing by in the live chat business comes pretty close to horror if you ask us. If you don’t want to scare your potential customers away, have a look at these 4 mistakes.

1. Scary personalized chat greetings

We always advise companies to use proactive chat greetings, because it increases the number of incoming chats. However, some companies choose to send proactive greetings that are a little bit too personal. One time I received a message saying: “Hi Sietse, are you checking out books about psychology again? Let me know if you need help.” They knew my name because I requested information a few months earlier about a delivery. The message included my preference for psychology books because I visited this book section earlier as well. I was able to draw this conclusion because I am aware of how my data can be used. But some customers may not, and if they do, it is still a bit scary to communicate in such a personal way if you ask me. We are not friends mr. online shop. 

2. Reply when visitors ask questions! They don’t bite.

More and more companies are implementing a live chat. A big share of these companies decide to chat with their own employees to save costs (without hiring extra personnel). In many cases these employees are supposed to combine handling chats with their other work, resulting in chats not being answered in time. If you want potential customers to run away from your website and go to your competitors, do exactly this!

3. Aaahhh! A pre-chat survey

The number one way to scare potential customers away, before having even spoken to them, is using a pre-chat survey. Pre-chat surveys might be really useful for your chat operators to have information about the visitor prior to starting the conversation, but these surveys scare potential customers away. On average 55% of website visitors leave the chat when a pre-chat survey is either optional or required. Still, many companies choose to use it because it’s an easy way to collect customer data. Personally, I would always prefer to convert customers right away instead of collecting data.

4. Aggressive chat operators

Live chat is an optimal way to generate leads because many visitors are prone to provide you with their contact details after you listened to queries and provided them with answers. However, chat operators need the experience to be aware of the right moment to ask for contact information. It’s a common mistake, chat operators asking for contact details way too quickly and aggressively. Doing so may scare your visitor away and even cause them to leave your website. When you are single and meet someone you would like to date, you don’t ask for a cellphone number right away either. First, you make a chat and get to know each other a little bit. 

A small piece of advice, you can scare away the children knocking at your door tonight, your annoying friends or even a potential partner, but don’t scare away your potential customers!