One does not simply make a live chat ??

Our Customer Experience Product Owner, John Moore , has been working alongside a brilliant bunch to make Belong’s live chat vision a reality.???

The finished product launched just a couple of days ago, and I’ve been keen to find out what went on behind the curtain to get our live chat in action.??

Naturally, John was happy to share.??

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1) Start off with a problem to solve???

When working on any project, identifying the problem you’re actually trying to solve is always a great starting point. ‘It’s so easy to get carried away with the vision and end result when diving into a project like live chat.’, says John. ‘Start off with the basics by understanding what the pain point is and why it’s a pain point. Then you can move on to how to best tackle that through what you’re creating.’??

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2) User experience is key??

When designing a live chat, user experience is everything. However, John says it's also super important to remember that some of the people you work with will be using it, too. ‘It’s all about making it an effortless experience for our service agents so that they can focus on what’s really important – our customers and their experience.’??

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3) Practice makes perfect – eventually???

It doesn’t matter how much of a genius you are, you can’t expect to get a project like live chat right in one go. When it comes to live chat, John says the devil’s in the detail. And there’s a lot of detail in a live chat. This is where the practice part comes in. ‘Set yourself up with groundwork you need to complete trial after trial. Yes, it’s tedious, but you’ll get closer to your end goal each time.’????

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4) Teamwork makes the dream work??

Building live chat was a huge effort, but having a team of legends on deck definitely helped the process. 'Our team was made up of experts from several areas of the business, and each of them played a crucial part in making the live chat vision a reality. Getting a new service channel up and running is a massive achievement, and I’m super proud of everyone involved.’??

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5) Don’t be afraid to say ‘Scrap that’??

When making a live chat, you’re going to face some hurdles and hiccups along the way. One of those will be realising you can’t include everything you thought you could in the project. Some ideas will need to be scrapped. John says that while those calls can be incredibly tough to make, those sacrifices often lead to success. ‘It’s all about staying as close to that end vision as possible and making the tough but necessary decisions to get there.’??