The ease of online booking has helped to transform the way people learn about and plan travel, tours, and activities. But sometimes a potential guest could have a last-minute question that just can’t wait, or a person browsing your site doesn’t know where to go next. Web chat provides business operators with a tool to respond quickly to users without having to answer the phone or type out an email – and it generates trust in your business because customers know they can easily get an answer to their questions, in real-time. 

Web chat puts communication in the hands of your guests. They feel comfortable reaching out because they can do so on the platform of their choice, whether it’s through a chatbot on your website or live messaging on Facebook. Web chat also allows tour and activity operators to provide insight into booking decisions and even increases conversions.

Ready to add another layer of trust and communication to your website? This guide will cover some of the benefits of web chat and how you can get started today.

Increase Efficiency

One of the primary benefits of offering online booking is to increase efficiency — for you and your guests. However, the ability to secure an online booking is significantly reduced if a guest is unable to get the answers they’re looking for on your website. 

Having a reservationist available to answer your business line is an asset, but naturally, each live agent can only speak with a single person at a time and is typically not available outside of regular business hours. Web chat, on the other hand, gives you the ability to tackle multiple requests and conversations at once, meaning potential customers get instant answers and won’t be compelled to move on to one of your competitors if they are unable to reach you. In fact, according to SuperOffice, 79% of people prefer web chat because they get instant responses. Another added benefit – Web chat allows your team to spend less time answering the phone and responding to email and more time running your tours and activities and providing your guests with an amazing experience.

Engage Website Visitors in New Ways

Let’s face it, most people today don’t like calling businesses on the phone. They’d much rather get all of their answers in one place (your website!) and make a booking while they’re at it — 41% of people actually expect businesses to use web chat (99 Firms). Implementing web chat offers visitors the option to use their communication method of choice, whether that’s calling you up or shooting you a quick message.

Potential customers will also appreciate the fact that they can reach you at any time of day with web chat. If an overseas traveler is seeking information about your business after your operating hours, they likely want to get their answers as soon as possible and may be reluctant to wait for you to reopen or respond to their email to find the information that they need. Web chat means they can browse your site on their time and enjoy 24/7 contact. In fact, 51% of customers want their businesses to be available 24/7 (99 Firms).

Help with Purchasing Decisions

How visitors move throughout your site has a significant effect on whether or not they decide to book a tour or activity. Web chat helps to guide visitors through your website and ultimately helps them with purchasing decisions. Many web chat systems offer options to the visitor right when they land on the website. Most systems can be set up to ask what type of outing they’re planning (anniversary celebration, casual outing, group event, etc.), when they want to visit, how many people are in their group, and what topics they’re interested in or want to learn more about. The system curates your offerings in order to guide the visitor to make a booking.

Increase Conversions

If you’re reading this article, chances are you are interested in new ways to grow your business and streamline your operations – and web chat is a great way to do just that! Simply including a web chat option on your website can significantly impact bookings, since 38% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company if they have web chat (CrazyEgg). Instant communication and support with choosing a tour or activity could be the difference when it comes to a visitor choosing between your business and a competitor. Additionally, web chat increases consumer loyalty: 63% of people in an Emarketer survey were willing to return to a website that offers web chat. Another study found that web chat leads to a 48% increase in revenue per hour of chat and a 40% increase in conversion rate (SuperOffice).

Get Started with Web Chat

If you’re ready to explore web chat options further or to implement it on your website, FareHarbor is happy to help. We carefully select industry leaders to get you the best support for your website visitors.

Before you can get started, determine if you’d rather use live chat or a chatbot.

Live chat requires human involvement to respond to customer messages, but it’s still faster than traditional forms of communication. 

Pro-tip: If you select a live chat option you can set up and save common message responses in templates to reuse or repurpose in multiple conversations.

Chatbots are completely automated and do not require human supervision. They send messages based on a visitor’s response to questions. 

You know your business needs best – if you tend to field a lot of complicated questions and prefer to take a more hands-on approach with customer communication, consider using live messaging so that you can offer more personalized solutions. If your personnel resources are more limited or you consistently answer the same kinds of questions, try out a chatbot to see if it meets your needs. If not, you can always add live messaging at a later date. Learn more about web chat canned messages and templates to help decide what is right for you. 

Pro-tip: Whether or not you decide to implement a web chat solution, consider the questions you tend to answer most often and make sure to provide the answer on the home page or FAQ page on your website. Good information = more bookings!

Ready to add web chat to your website? Review our vetted chatbot and live chat partners and take the first step to integrate messaging with your FareHarbor website.