Live Chat is one of the most cost-efficient and effective resources a company can have. The combination of AI and human live chat agents provides accurate and instant support. However, choosing between in-house live-chat management or outsourcing it to experts can be tough.
Both options have their own advantages and limitations, and here we are going to analyze them to find out which is better.
Developing In-house Live Chat Handling Team
When you’re handling your live chat in-house, you and the staff on your payroll are responsible for all the chat operations.
Pros:
- Your own employees will be entrusted with the face of your brand as they will only be the ones handling the live chat.
- Your organization is in control of all the operations, right from software to setting up and optimizing the live chat.
Cons:
- When setting up an in-house team for live chat, you will have to either hire new people or train your existing employees. Both these require time and resources. Moreover, the software for live chat can cost as well. So, all of this together can be more expensive than outsourcing the job.
- If the in-house team isn’t properly trained or equipped to handle live chats efficiently, then getting results is difficult.
- There are various strategies and practices that make live chats successful. You’ll have to take the time out to plan strategies, or the quality can be hampered.
- With an in-house team, you are paying a definite number of employees. Now, when there is a rush, the quality can suffer. And when the live chat is quiet, your employees are tied up for no reason.
Outsourced Live Chat Providers
In outsourcing, you can hire a team of experts outside of your business. Once they have understood your brand, they will talk, and you can relax!
LivServ’s live chat customer service platform provides a combination of human agents and AI to provide the best results and around-the-clock support.
Pros
- Be its implementation, setting up, or making improvements, LivServ’s live chat experts can handle all the processes.
- Agents and bots work together to filter out genuine queries. High potential leads are filtered out from the rest and are conveyed to your team immediately.
- You can also view demographic data to understand your target audience more.
- Moreover, when you are outsourcing live chat agents your work, you can decide on your basis what the team will handle and where you can come in. for example, you can hire them for advice or handle certain aspects of live chat.
- LivServ provides a team of dedicated and skilled agents that can manage conversations well and drive results.
- The cost is lower while outsourcing the work, as the live chat service provider will cover all the software and employee management costs.
Cons
- When outsourcing live chat, you are trusting them with your brand identity. It can be a tough choice.
- Data privacy can also be a concern. However, LivServ used patent-pending security protocols and encryption tools while collecting data.
So, if you are a small company with a limited budget, you could outsource live chat support. Handling live chats is not an easy task; it requires skill and expertise. Therefore, investing in quality support will get far better results.
Livserv is a 24/7 live agent and AI chatbot provider service with industry experience of 13+ years. We have assisted several businesses across industries to leverage the most out of the present digital boom through quality live chat support integration services.
We can help you offer live chat customer support on your website and even on social media pages like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, so that your customers can connect with you anytime, anywhere at their convenience 24/7!
Mr. Prassanna Kumar is Industry veteran with in-depth experience in managing 24×7 chat agents and different marketing activities. He has experience at growing brands in different industry verticals. You can connect with him at his linkedin profile