Deciding on your hours of business can be a very difficult decision. You need to be available for your customers when they need you, but in the most cost-effective way possible. So how can you have extended hours on the cheap?  In general, opening a business as an online store is much cheaper than a retail storefront. As well as this there is the added benefit that you do not have to close your online store. Whereas some see the online shopping culture of today quite impersonal, features such as live chat work to make it a much more favourable customer service transaction. Having live chat agents available until late, essentially works to extend your business’ working hours. In this blog I will cover three ways your business can benefit from extended hours…

Your customers are online until late.

A big reason for online shopping taking off the way in which it has is the convenience of it. People can shop at all times of the day and crucially they do. An Ecommerceweek study revealed that one in three Britons revealed they shop online late. This just goes to show, that so long as the online shop is available, people will shop. With this in mind, it’s still important to offer your customers a great service. To do this with the best effect, extending your available hours is key. By using tools such as live chat this is possible.

Swift responses are needed to push though a transaction.

Leading on from the previous point, fast responses are expected, even late at night! Live Chat has the advantage of being available at key points of a sale. A Happy Fox Chat study found that: “60% of customers said that they hated waiting longer than a minute for a reply.” Therefore if you want to make your customers happy (which should see you increase SALES!) having an active agent online until late is a great solution. It means you can benefit from extended hours by interacting with late night shoppers at a key moment.

Overseas Customers need customer service too!

Time difference can be a big problem for taking your business overseas. However, if you want your online business to be a success, you have to maximise it’s potential. Therefore it is crucial that you try to cover as many hours as you possibly can if you hope to have a service agent available to help your overseas customers. You can market your company to other English-speaking countries fairly seamlessly through the digital market. But importantly it’s key to ensure your hours match-up to the time difference, as can be assisted in the diagram below:

If you had hopes of having extended business hours by using a solution such as live chat why not give it a try? Or better yet give it a trial with Chat Heroes!