30 seconds might seem like a very small amount of time to you – but how long is it, really? Try closing your eyes and counting to 30.

One…

Two…

Three…

In the time it took you to perform this exercise, Google added $30,000 to its revenues, 500 iPhones were sold, and beams of light circled the earth over 200 times. In today’s digital age, 30 seconds is an eternity – so don’t let that be the bar by which you measure your live chat pick-up times.

Pick-up time is the single most important metric for your chat service. It measures how long a web shopper has been waiting to speak with a chat representative – and your shoppers don’t have 30 seconds to spare. At ActivEngage, we’ve found that abandonment greatly increases after just 6 seconds of waiting for a chat request. Don’t let this happen! When time is of the essence, you need chat representatives that you trust to be there for your shoppers.

When a shopper is frustrated that no one is answering a chat request, he/she will often pass that frustration onto the dealership. Your customers might think that poor customer service online will translate into poor customer service in-store. It is more important than ever that you greet the ups on your virtual lot in a timely manner (or hire someone who can!).

We know that monitoring your website for shopper chats can be a very time-consuming enterprise. That’s why we offer our fully-managed service for our auto dealer partners. If you are managing your own chat, the ActivEngage software provides an extensive reporting suite that measures (among other things) the average waiting time for chat operators.

The potential cost of leaving your website chats up to chance is just too high. Pick a chat vendor that can start relationships with your online customers on the right foot – by attending to them in under 6 seconds. If you’re shopping around for a live chat solution for your dealership, we highly recommend that you check out this eBook, The Live Chat Buyer’s Guide.