Plumbworld Add In Live Chat Customer Services to the Website

Plumbworld have been looking at implementing this feature since the 2nd quarter of 2012; but due to a large quantity of orders and continuing development, it had to take a spot on the back burner. But as the workload has been tamed and everyone is back in control, all the features for 2012 are slowly getting implemented; starting with the live chat.

People are becoming more and more accustomed to a quick response to their questions when dealing with Plumbworld and this live chat takes it to the next level. No matter whether it’s a question about the dimensions of bath panels or simply asking which way a bathroom cabinet opens – the customer support team are there to answer the query immediately.

Already people have provided positive feedback on the service with such comments as "thumbs up", "5-star assistance whenever I need it" and "couldn’t ask for more helpful customer service". This feedback alone makes the service worthwhile, however it has also shown an increase in conversions and reduced customer tickets; the Marketing Manager, Scott Morris explains:
"Obviously we’re always tracking conversions across the site as a whole and on specific product pages as well. Since implementing the live chat feature to the website, the bounce rate has decreased and conversion rate has increased by 0.3%. It may not sound much, but when you work out how much a small increase like that makes the company over a year – it is absolutely huge!

"We have specific product pages in the electric showers section where conversion rate was already high, in excess of 9%, and implementing this has taken it even higher to almost 12%. This shows us that being able to answer people’s queries on the spot is much more effective than the user submitting a ticket and waiting for a response.

"People value time a lot more than they used to; the average person’s spare time per day continues to decrease and as a result, services like this are becoming a lot more effective. After numerous case studies it’s clear that the time people spend browsing a website is declining and people want to purchase there and then. Therefore if people have any issues or questions, they can be immediately resolved which leads to a conversion."

To see the live chat in action; visit the Plumbworld website here.

The Plumbworld website is hosted on the large Online Home Retail network at present. The network already hosts close to 50 niche-specific websites which sell a whole range of products, anything from inset wood burning stoves to high quality showers. Online Home Retail Limited was originally Plumbworld Ltd back in 1999 and since then it has been bought by the Grafton Group PLC in 2006 and received a brand overhaul in June 2012. The business now employs close to 60 people in its purpose built warehouse and offices whilst turning over in excess of £20 million per year.