Customer Retention

5 min read

15 Jan 2025

Chatbot Vs Live Chat: Which Gives A Better Customer Experience?

Imagine this…

You’re in your favourite shoe store, browsing the latest styles. You spot a pair you love and turn to ask if they have your size.

But instead of a sales assistant, a sleek AI-powered robot rolls up beside you and says, “How can I help you today?”

Robots Asking For Your Order

Well, I'm here to tell you that artificial intelligence is already a part of customer service.

You see, chatbots are now one of the most common communication channels for ecommerce businesses.

And why wouldn't it? Your customers get instant responses. They also get real-time assistance.

But for half of your customers, they still prefer to have a human conversation with live chat agents. In fact, 69% of consumers in the US want live chat features.

So, which one should you choose for your ecommerce site? Should you go for a live chat or an automated chatbot? What about both?

In today's blog post, we are going to do a feature face-off with the two chat support platforms. This way, you can decide which one to use to boost customer satisfaction...

Which, in turn, boosts your sales.

Let's go ahead and deep dive...

Chatbot Vs. Live Chat

To deliver a great customer experience, your website needs an easy way for visitors to reach you. Whether it’s a human-powered live chat or an AI chatbot, both give customers instant answers to their questions and help resolve concerns without delays.

Live chat offers personalised, human interaction and is ideal for complex or sensitive issues, but it requires staff availability. Chatbots work 24/7, handle multiple queries at once, and are cost-efficient, but they may struggle with nuanced or particular requests.

Here are the key factors you need to know about the two.

Chatbot Vs. Live Chat

Now, that you know the difference. It's time to know...

How To Choose Live Chat Vs. Chatbot To Boost Customer Satisfaction

Now that you have a general idea about the differences between the two, let's go over the features you need to consider for your customer engagement.

1. Availability

Customers love instant responses. Chatbots can offer 24/7 assistance. So no matter what time, chatbots can answer customer queries in a jiffy.

So if you want your online store to have 24/7 business operations, your best solution would be a chatbot.

Ang alas, humans still need to sleep to function properly. So live agents need to work in shifts. They can't offer live chat support 24/7. That means your customers can't get immediate answers outside your operating hours. Because of this, your average resolution time will significantly increase.

When it comes to support tickets, you'd want the help of chatbots to keep them organized in one place. Have your live agent check them at the end of their shift to quickly resolve any issues.

Another feature you need to consider for consumer satisfaction is...

2. Responsiveness

As long as the chatbot understands your customers' issues, it can provide an instant response. After all, you can program them with canned responses for incoming queries.

Live chat with customer service reps can also give out answers quickly, though not always. And sometimes, your customers would have to wait in a queue before they get connected.

If you have well-equipped and well-trained live agents... Then you're golden. Your support agents can handle user queries easily.

If you feel like it's still not enough, you can supplement your chat solution with a chatbot.

Of course, you also need to focus on...

3. Cost-Effectiveness

When it comes to customer satisfaction, there are things you need to consider. Of course, you want to give your visitors a great customer experience. This means taking their phone calls. Offering chat solutions. Doing live chats yourself.

And all of these things cost money.

Did you know that you can save up to 30% when you use chatbots?

After all, they can handle more customers at once. It also means you can save money on other expenses like salary and operational costs.

So if you have a humungous volume of customer feedback and questions, then chatbot is the way to go.

If not, then you can go with human agents. Live chat gives your business a human touch.

4. Accuracy

Nothing beats humans when it comes to complex problem-solving. Well, complex issues, to be more specific.

You see, human interactions are not limited to a set of keywords. Chatbots are taught to only reply to those and they also use natural language processing or NLP. So if a customer asks not-so-basic questions... You'll have to talk to a live chat agent instead.

Plus, chatbots are super sensitive when it comes to spelling. A typo or a spelling error can confuse chatbots.

Yes, chatbots are becoming more powerful with Machine Learning. But for now, they're not quite there yet to surpass live chat.

Here's the bottom line... if your customers usually ask simple questions, then a chatbot will do. But if your customer query needs more tending to, live chat can handle it.

Don't forget about...

5. Human Interaction

We all know who's the clear winner here.

Live chat makes up for your customers' expectations of having human contact. Especially with an ecommerce brand, where every interaction is online.

Plus, who doesn't like personalized conversations?

A live agent can easily pull up your information. Your customer service team can also offer a specific solution for your customers. A meaningful conversation can also increase consumer satisfaction, which could potentially turn them into loyal customers.

On the flip side, chatbots can save your customers' data. It can pull up previous interactions and create a solution based on that.

If possible, you can use both to complement each other.

Here's what I mean...

Last week, I ordered a pair of shoes online. It was a tad too tight. And I wanted it in a different color.

So I went to the ecommerce store and hit up the chatbot. But after a few minutes, I got a little frustrated. It was not answering any of my concerns. So, I asked for a live agent.

At this point, I realized that a combination is the best approach. A chatbot can answer incoming requests from your website visitors. If they need more assistance, a live chat can take over after.

Up next...

6. Productivity

Have you ever tried talking to 100 people all at once? Or even ten customers, for that matter.

Well, chatbots can.

They can clear out common questions that customers ask. This will let live agents put more of their attention to complex customer issues.

But don't underestimate live chat. When you compare it to typical support channels, live chat is still the most productive.

Live agents can easily access customer data. All they need to do is switch tabs to give the customer the right info. Then, if needed, the customers can be transferred to the right people with the right expertise.

What's more?

With live chat, agents also have a list of predefined questions and answers on their hands. They can quickly resolve customer concerns in no time.

Last but not least factor to your customer experience is...

7. Customer Satisfaction

This is chatting solutions' ultimate goal.

As a customer-centric ecommerce brand, improving customer satisfaction is a top priority. Because when you do, satisfied customers will come back to your store. Over and over again.

That translates to improved sales.

And the perfect solution for customer interactions? It's live chat.

You can't get that human touch from chatbots. No matter how advanced it may be. Support reps can read between the lines. It can understand your customers' tone, which can help them answer empathetically.

And when you connect with them, that builds trust. And we all know how important trust is when it comes to customer loyalty.

On the other hand, chatbots can also help with satisfying your customers, time-wise. Their structured data and knowledge base makes them super fast.

And who doesn't like fast service?

It all comes down to customers' expectations of your ecommerce brand.

And those are the seven key features you need to know to decide. So...

Who Wins Between Live Chat Vs. Chatbot?

Needless to say, both chatbot and live chat are great customer service options. Having one (or even both) has a lot of benefits for your ecommerce site.

Why don't we have both?

That's right... As you have learned, live chat and chatbots have their own advantages. It all depends on what you think your business needs right now.

But together, they can definitely create a better shopping experience for your customers.

Chatbot and live chat can complement each other. Your customers can enjoy...