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Learn about customer expectations and preferences for different support channels, including live chat, in terms of response times, quality of support, and human vs chatbot interactions. Discover why real-time assistance is the most important website feature and how it can impact customer satisfaction and sales.
Customers have different expectations for every support channel, including live chat. Because live chat encompasses real-time support, most customers expect to receive an answer to their query almost immediately after sending their initial live chat message. According to the Live Chat Benchmark Report, customer expectations for chat response times are higher than for email. Typically, customers expect a live chat response within 6 seconds to 15 seconds. However, the reality is that the average wait time for a chat response is 45 seconds.
However, interestingly enough, 95% of customers value thorough, high-quality support more than speed when it comes to live chat. Because of this, most customers (86%) also prefer human interaction to chatbots, as they can be pretty limited in their responses and often don’t provide the support that customers need. As a result, 44% of online consumers rate having their questions answered by a live person while in the middle of a purchase as one of the most important features a website can offer.
#ResponseExpectations
Customer expectations for chat response times are higher than they are with email — the average wait time for chat is
Live Chat Benchmark
Report 2017
#ResponseExpectations
The average first response time expectation for live chat ranges between
Freshworks
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