Level up your customer’s online shopping with Storey Live Video Chat

Industry trends

Over the last decade, online shopping has grown exponentially, but with the onset of Covid-19, what was a strong, steady increase in online sales has become a juggernaut of online retail activity.

Online retail sales worldwide have increased from $1.55 billion in 2015 to an expected $5.42 billion in 2022. Even during the pandemic, many online retail outlets showed increases in sales revenues and are now poised for exponential growth over the next 2 – 5 years.

In fact, in 2020, more than 80% of consumers worldwide shopped online.

The challenge with this fast-growing online economy is that the average online customer session lasts under 2 minutes. In those 120 seconds, online retail businesses are losing thousands of potential sales every day. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

How will you compete in the new online world of retail? How do you stand out in a sea of shopping options?

Customer Experience

That’s the golden ticket. Shoppers buy from people and places they resonate with. (Just ask Apple.) A so-so experience when a potential shopper browses your site means your chances of a sale are minimal. A great experience, even with higher prices, means your probability of a sale increases dramatically.

So then, how do you make that all-important connection? There are many solutions available to connect with your potential customer – chatbots, live text chat, live phone support, email campaigns, video demos – the list is long and varied. Still, in almost all cases, live interaction with a real person trumps text support, chatbots, emails and videos.

That’s where Storey Live Video Chat comes in

Storey, the 2019 brainchild of Retail Marketing Group, came about to bring service-with-software to life in the eCommerce environment. And in creating the resolution to a fragmented marketing environment, Storey delivers a solution not only to the logistical challenges of providing excellent service to retail customers but also creating an impactful and inspiring customer experience in the process.

Within the plethora of options available for engaging with consumers online, live chat for retail is one of the most popular, and live video chat for retail is the most powerful. It allows a potential customer to interact directly with a real person instead of a computer interface or automated phone line, which is increasingly rare in today’s digital environment. When customers can speak with experts from companies they love—and who know exactly what they want—they build relationships that will keep them coming back for years. That kind of customer loyalty isn’t built overnight; it takes time and effort. And live video chat is the perfect vehicle for that type of engagement.

It’s never been easier for businesses to leverage video chat as a customer engagement tool. Several companies offer live chat tools for customer education, engagement and service. Names like Intercom, Drift and Hubspot are well-known and widely used, yet none of those companies takes advantage of the most powerful tool to resolve issues and build relationships. (Some of them even have customer service issues of their own…) Consumers are frustrated with the lack of interaction, being one of several chats happening at the same time with a text agent, and the idea of leaving a message because the chat agent is offline means losing a potential buyer almost every time.

Here at Storey, we believe that adding video to eCommerce live chat is like adding icing to the cake. Without it, you get the general flavour, but not the complete experience.

Giving a potential buyer the opportunity to interact with a real person in real-time makes a real impact. Live video chat:

increases conversions,
keeps potential buyers on your site longer,
reduces customer frustration,
increases customer satisfaction after a sale,
increases customer retention over time,
reduces customer turnover,
boosts brand loyalty, and
increases word of mouth referrals to your brand;

Storey’s live video chat for retail is more than just a visual chat. Offering personal interaction in real-time is only one of its powerful features. For customers who want to talk but can’t immediately, a scheduled video chat can be set up easily so questions can be answered and features discussed at a more convenient time.

What about consumers who don’t like being on camera? Easy – consumers have the option to allow their camera access to the chat or not. So, if the shopper doesn’t want to be visible, that’s fine. They’ll be a voice on the phone, but the company agent in the chatbox is still visible to the consumer and available as usual.

Maybe you don’t have sales professionals or customer service agents who are willing to be on camera or even are comfortable with video. Storey can not only help you put online brand ambassadors in place, but we’ll also train them and make sure you have the best and most professional video chat agents and sales representatives working with your consumers.

If product demos are applicable to your sales workflow, Storey will create bespoke branded sets for live, interactive product demos and how-tos, increasing sales alongside buyer satisfaction for companies like LG Electronics.

Everything about the video chat structure and service is focused on providing the consumer with an exceptional, professional, and above all, comfortable and engaging retail experience.
Storey

Exponential increases in the number of consumers moving to eCommerce for their regular shopping means business survival depends on being effective within the online retail arena. Text chat, chatbots and text-based ticketing support systems have been functional and robust enough to handle the basics till now. Still, with the majority of shopping now happening online, live video interaction is by far the most effective way to provide a custom, individualized shopping experience to each potential buyer who enters your site.

More than ever, providing the best service, the most comfortable and relatable interaction, and the most intuitive tools sets your business apart as forward-thinking, internet-savvy and market-fresh.

Storey is committed to providing the video tools you need to position your brand as the leader in its field.

To learn more about Storey and how we can help you create a bespoke customer experience for your brand, get in touch.