Published on: February 6, 2019 by Blair Haas
Let’s Chat.
As we prepare to launch our new Bud Industries Electronic Enclosure Website later this spring, we have begun to turn on a few new features. The most exciting is a chat feature. Long used on retail and consumer sites, it has made its way into the b2b world. We have been pleasantly surprised at how popular and helpful this feature has become. First, we had to overcome our own biases. We thought people would rather email if they needed information or if they needed something quickly, they could call versus dealing with the back and forth of online chat. All of that typing could be daunting. Second, we were afraid it would be hard for our team to juggle the multiple communication methods that customers use to gain information, so adding chat to the list would make all less effective and time.
Chatting adds to the many ways that Bud can assist our customers
Bud Industries new Chat feature on our website is a quick and convenient way for electronic enclosure customers to secure the best information
Here is what we have learned. Customers seem to appreciate the chat option more than we had expected. When they are browsing our site, the chat features shows us what page they are on so we can quickly jump there and see what they are seeing. Further, from an efficiency point of view, it is easy just to attach the information that they need right to the chat box, such as web links or photos. Further, our sales rep can chat with several people at the same time, unlike working with them on the phone. Finally, we find we are hearing from more international potential customers who would be reluctant to call into the US either due to costs or expense. Today I chatted with people around the world via our website. Our model even will translate from their native language to English and back again. So we are seeing new customers, able to address them even before they know they have a question (it asks if they want to chat after they have been on the site for 30 seconds), and let them know we are interested in them and their business.
