1. Offer tailored product recommendations
It’s no secret that consumers want relevant and personalized content from e-tailors.
In fact, 75% of consumers are more likely to buy when offered tailored product recommendations.
Personalized offers have already made their way into e-commerce email marketing, and it’s now time to implement it in live chat as well.
What’s great about live chat is that, well, it’s live.
You’re talking to your prospects in real-time!
The reason I’m highlighting this, is I see too many live chats being automated to an extent where I feel like I’m speaking to a robot and not a real person.
Listen to your prospects and ask follow up questions to make sure you recommend the best suitable product to match their needs.
Here’s an example from a recent live chat I had with ASOS:

I needed help finding a pair of shoes to go with a previous order.
If you need time to find an answer, tell your prospects that you’ll be away and for how long. Then they know you didn’t just leave because you didn’t have an answer for them.

If you need more information, don’t be afraid to ask. It’ll only help you find relevant products.

Lastly, when you recommend products, you should never just say “How about the blue leather jacket with rivets?” Send a direct link to the products you’re suggesting so users don’t have to go look for it themselves.
ASOS sent me a link to a filtered search based on my criteria for the shoes. That way I could easily browse the different models and choose the ones I liked.
I was really taken aback by how much effort she put into helping me.
Whether or not you suggest one or several tailored products is up to you. It’s a fine balance. You don’t want to overwhelm prospects with too many links.
If they’re not happy with your original suggestion, ask them what they didn’t like about it, and recommend something else based on your new information.
2. Discover pain points
Once a prospect has reached out to you on live chat, you know they’re looking for an answer to something.
By listening to their inquiries, you can discover pain points that will help you answer their questions better and close the deal.
The interactive nature of live chat makes it easier for businesses to collect high-quality user data.
For instance, if people keep asking about shipping rates, it’s because your copy’s unclear. Also if they ask how specific products work, it might prove beneficial to create more detailed product descriptions or maybe even include explainer videos.
Knowing your prospect’s pain points will ultimately help you sell more products.
3. Time greetings based on behavior
When approaching your prospects, timing and relevance is everything. Displaying the right message at the right time will do wonders for your conversion rate.
Just as with triggered lead capture forms, you can customize your live chat boxes to appear on different pages with a custom preset message depending on the page they appear on.
Let’s take an example.
A prospect is browsing your product page with tennis rackets. You can assume this person is interested in tennis rackets, and trigger your live chat box with an automated greeting asking if you can be of assistance:
“Welcome to [your site]. I’m [name of representative]. Can I help you with information on our awesome tennis rackets today?”
Meet your prospects where they are in the buyer’s journey. If they’re browsing specific pages they’re likely looking for information relevant to those pages—and if they’re not, it’s a good thing you ask so you can guide them to the right page or answer their questions in real-time.
This brings me to the next item on this list.
4. Overcome objections on checkout pages
Your checkout pages are some of the most important pages on your website.
To help prospects complete their purchase quickly, optimize your checkout process and help them overcome any obstacles that might prevent them from reaching your confirmation page.
You might already think you have a great checkout process because customers are making purchases and you’re making money.
But have you looked at your abandonment rate?
For e-commerce, the average cart abandonment rate hovers around 70%.
No matter how many customers complete your checkout process, a larger percentage will not—which should be reason enough for you to continuously optimize your checkout process.
To do so, you can incorporate live chat on your checkout pages. This gives prospects the opportunity to ask any questions they might have that could prevent them from completing their purchase such as questions about shipping, pricing, returns, and more.
But beware: if not used correctly, it can damage your conversion rates.
First, your live chat box should never pop up on its own. It’s tempting to ask prospects if they need help checking out to ensure they don’t just abandon, but if you do, you’ll interrupt prospects in the most important stage of the buyer’s journey.
Prospects who know exactly what they want to buy, where to find it, and how to check out, should NEVER be interrupted.