Measuring Customer Satisfaction by Number Of Interactions, Response Time And Chat Duration

Live chat support is not as simple as just exchange of dialogues between customers and operators.  A lot of effort goes into making online chat support a convenient channel of communication. If used wisely, live chat can guarantee maximum customer satisfaction. In order to measure the results of live chat support, one has to consider various factors. For instance by analyzing the number of interactions with the same customer, average response time of the operators and average chat duration, one can measure the level of customer satisfaction attained using live chat support.

Number of interactions
High first contact resolution rates are a clear indication of customer satisfaction. It is a known fact that customers prefer their problems to be solved on the first contact. If your operators have a high rate of one time interactions, it means that generally customers are satisfied with your performance. Twice and third time interaction, with a same customer might suggest that the customer’s issue is not probably addressed. However, if the number of interaction exceeds beyond four times, then it shows that the customer is probably a loyal one, who is familiar with your chat support operators and has developed some sort of relation with you.

Response time
Online chat support is preferred by many, as the most convenient medium of customer communication because it allows a rapid response time.  Therefore, in order to make live chat support work, your operators need to be quick and swift in their responses. If the average response time of your operators is 1 minute and 10 seconds, it indicates that your performance is considered as average, by the customers. It also indicates that customers are satisfied but would want you to be quicker in your response. The average response time of a minute or below indicates customer satisfaction. However, if the average response time goes beyond 1 minute and 10 seconds, your customers are probably not satisfied. An average response time that even surpasses 2 minutes, indicates extreme customer dissatisfaction.

Chat Duration
How long a chat should last, depends upon which industry you belong to or the gravity of customers’ issue. But, on average, a chat that lasts for 5 minutes or less indicates higher customer satisfaction. It shows that customers got a quick response and their questions were satisfactorily answered. Any chat that lasts for more than 10 minutes can denote negative response. However, chat support duration is relative according to different industries. For retail stores, an average chat should not exceed beyond 5 minutes, but for a consultancy website, a conversation might exceed 5 minutes. For the latter, a normal chat support conversation can last for even 10 minutes. Similarly, for pharmacy and health websites, average chat duration of above 5 minutes shows a good online chat support performance. But, a general consensus is that, for any industry, ideal time duration for a chat should be around 5 to 8 minutes.

Whatever your industry is, if you have integrated online chat support services on your website, you must train your operators to be quick and alert. You need to keep a track of your performance and frequently measure the graph of customer satisfaction.