Affirmative Finance Introduces Live Chat for Website

This includes:

• Purchasing a residential property before selling
• A commercial property purchase
• An auction property purchase
• A self-build
• Property development (single to multiple units; both houses and flats)
• Property refurbishment (including permitted development rights)
• Downsizing
• Tax resolution ( e.g. PAYE, corporation, inheritance, income and capital gains)
• Unmortgageable properties (non-standard, no bathroom or kitchen etc.)
• Consumer buy-to-let loans.

The finance company introduced live chat for website in 2018 to be primarily used to answer sale enquiries. Individuals and businesses looking for funding generally need the capital quickly; therefore, they want to ask questions in a manner that will provide them with fast answers.

Email became more of a preferred contact method over telephone as web forms could quickly be completed via the website with the information the organisation requires. However there is still a wait time between submitting an enquiry and receiving a response.

Live chat for website enables Affirmative to speed up their response rates as enquirers are instantly connected with their sale representatives. During a chat session, operators can see what the visitor is typing in real-time, allowing them to gage what the nature of the question is and prepare their answer.

The finance company also uses file transfer; with forms and guides readily available and an urgency to provide offer letters, sending the documents via chat speeds up delivery and the agent can confirm receipt instantly.

When operators are not available, the chat service defaults to offline providing enquirers with a contact form instead. This allows Affirmative to continue receiving enquiries even when they are not in the office.

Customising the Chat Solution

The chat journey starts with the button; its job is to attract visitors to click through. Let’s dissect how Affirmative have achieved this with their chat button:

• The purpose of the chat is represented with the chat bubble icon which reflects conversation and communication.
• The wording states the chat service availability which is backed-up with the relating green dot.
• Affirmative’s logo has also been included, providing the visitor with confidence they are contacting the organisation directly. This can be reassuring, especially when discussing financial information.
• The whole button matches the finance company’s colour scheme allowing it to seamlessly fit with the website.

From clicking the button, the prechat form is displayed. This is used to collect the visitor’s information before they enter chat which can help identify them. Affirmative use just a name field to increase their chat uptake. However enquirers also have the choice to log in with their Facebook or Google+ credentials, this allows the organisation to view the information that these platforms provide such as full name, gender and email address etc.

The chat is then initiated. The dialogue window is where the main conversation takes place; therefore the window has been laid out so the focus remains on the transcript. This is achieved by including an ‘options’ button that expands to display the additional functionality available to visitors such as print, request transcript, send file etc. There is space to include the organisation’s logo, notification that the operator is typing and/or an agent photo.

Once a chat has concluded, the visitor is prompted to complete a survey, providing Affirmative with instant feedback on how their chat service and operators are performing.

Integrating chat into their spectrum of contact methods has been proving successful; the communication channel is an excellent fit with the speed that Affirmative does business and customers have higher satisfaction rates due to its instant nature.

Click4Assistance has been providing live chat for website to the finance industry for over 10 years. To find out more about the instant communication channel and how it can benefit your organisation, contact our team on 01268 524628 or email theteam@click4assistance.co.uk.