Even in our world of chatbots and artificial intelligence, people still love talking to support reps. A survey by TCN found that 7 in 10 (69%) respondents prefer speaking to a live agent as one of their top three methods of communication with customer service.

Many brands offer customers that human touch through live chat — and sure 46% of TCN's survey respondents prefer live chat.

But sometimes, live chat isn't enough. Your sales reps may need hands-on help to solve their problem instead of just written instructions.

Pair live chat software with cobrowsing technology to get the best of both worlds. With this combo, your sales team can give leads visual guidance and the comfort of working with a live rep who can answer questions right away.

Live chat: Rapidly connect sales reps with leads

Live chat isn't just for customer service anymore — it's also a highly effective tool for sales teams. According to a Zoho study, 30% of respondents who implemented live chat less than a year ago claimed to have at least a 5-10% spike in annual revenue due to offering live chat. A 2021 Forrester study also indicates that customers are 2.4x more likely to stick with companies that solve problems rapidly and 2.7x more likely to spend more money with companies that communicate clearly.

Live chat software comes with many features that can improve lead experiences on your website. Proactive chatbot messages like "Need help? A sales support agent is standing by!" can be triggered in a user's web browser by selected events, like a new website visitor or a user scrolling through your landing page. These events generate chat messages pre-selected by your sales reps, which appear in a chat window. Users get an invite to check in with a sales rep if they need assistance.

Minor tweaks to chat features can go a long way in helping your team engage with leads. For example, customizable live chat widgets offer a way for sales reps to show leads they're working with a real person. Agents can use these widgets to add their photos or customize their names and titles, making live chats feel much more personal.

Live chat is a great way to tackle many sales issues in real time. Why? Customers respond well to live chat solutions: 41% of respondents to a TCN survey report that having live chat agents on a business website is one of the most critical factors to them when contacting a customer service department.

Leads may prefer live chat sessions to other live communication methods for many reasons, including convenience and the ability to multitask, but the primary benefit of live chat is rapid response times. The average live chat rep takes less than 3 minutes to reply, and sometimes as little as 30 seconds!

Cobrowsing: Provide leads on-screen help in real time

With live chat, sales providers can only guide leads and prospects with messages. Cobrowsing technology empowers them to provide hands-on help, as though the rep was right next to the potential customer.

By controlling their cursor, agents can directly interact with a lead or prospect's browsing session (assuming they grant permission). This access lets your sales team visually walk leads through recommendations, product demos, form submissions, etc. In addition, visual explanations allow reps and leads to eliminate sales roadblocks - like lack of clarity that leads to "lost in translation" moments or potentially confusing attempts at self-service - in real time.

Users can block sensitive information like credit card information and email addresses in cobrowsing sessions, so prospective customers can enjoy the experience without worrying about security. Nothing but the web page is visible to sales agents, and customers can revoke browser access at any time.

The Comm100 benchmark report highlights that customers love cobrowsing solutions: customer satisfaction scores jumped to 89.3% when reps used cobrowsing, versus the average CSAT score of 83.1%. When existing customers love cobrowsing, you can trust that your leads will, too.

How Cobrowsing + live chat support work together to help sales teams

Live chat support and cobrowsing are a powerful combo for captivating leads. This omnichannel functionality means you can easily switch between functions, depending on what your leads need most. Sales agents can offer the convenient 1:1 interactions leads want while also visually guiding them through products and answering any questions they may have.

Consider this scenario to see how valuable this pairing is for sales teams:

You're a sales rep for an accounting software company and see that a lead responded to your site's automatic live chat greeting. They want to know whether your software makes sense for a small e-commerce business of 20 people.

You then take over the chat to let them know your product has many small business users, and you're able to answer a few follow-up questions from your lead about pricing. They eventually ask about watching a product demo, but they tell you they can't find a sign-up page.

You get their permission to sign them up for the demo via cobrowsing. Next, your lead receives a notification and grants you access to their screen, and you use their cursor to click on the sign-up page. Then, using your live chat window (which is still running in the background), you ask the lead to fill out the form with their information. Finally, they click "submit" and thank you for your assistance.

There's a good chance this lead would've quickly scanned the company's product pages and left the site if the rep didn't connect with them. By pairing cobrowsing and live chat, sales reps can ensure leads get the information they need to move further along the buyer journey without complicated meetings or screen shares.

Use live chat alongside Cobrowsing to propel sales

Cohere is a cobrowsing software that allows you to access, control, and annotate leads' screens with no setup or downloads required. Our platform also integrates with live chat tools, such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, so it's easy for reps to continue conversations as they begin cobrowsing.

By pairing live chat and cobrowsing, you create a powerful, versatile sales experience that converts leads to customers. See for yourself why live chat and cobrowsing are better together. Visit Cohere.io today to sign up for free!