The Impact of Live Chat and Chatbot Solutions on Online Businesses

The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of live chat and chatbot solutions on businesses that primarily operate online. The theoretical part of the study consisted of literature covering marketing, sales, and text-based conversational user interfaces. The main emphasis was on live chat technology and its effect on online businesses. A research methodology was implemented in this study. The qualitative research data consisted of three one-on-one in-depth interviews. The research revealed that the use of live chat systems, especially those that can be automated, significantly impacts business growth. Business growth occurs with the chat systems providing irreplaceable skill sets in marketing, sales, and customer support professionals. The findings provide four main drives of growth in live chat usage by businesses. They are the increase in time spent online, consumer desire for faster interactions, the positive contribution of personalization of business growth, and the consumer’s need for authentic and trustworthy relationships with their product and service providers. After combining the research findings into a strategy, an online business owner is recommended to include a live chat solution to their business suite to observe its impact on customer acquisition, retention, and engagement. Additionally, basic chatbot automations can enhance and scale the marketing, sales, and customer support efforts