In the cutthroat world of online business, tiny glitches can cause huge losses. To avoid losing potential customers and to attract more, seemingly trivial shortcomings have to be disposed of. Which is why, Webgreeter.com has decided not to employ applicants with a slow typing speed for the job of Live Greeters.
Customer retention is done through Live Greeters since they initiate the conversation and grab details from the customer regarding what product/services they desire. All this is done through chat so everything hangs on the Live Greeter completely. This job requires more than a basic knowledge of the business they work for.
Typing speed matters more than it seems. Everything depends on the Live Operator’s ability to handle the conversation to generate a sales lead. It has been seen that slow typing speed causes visitors to click away and browse to competitors’ websites since visitors want quick answers. Apart from the fact that slow typing speed annoys visitors, it also causes spelling mistakes, which happens to be the most committed crime among language errors.
In a verbal conversation you obviously do not have to spell, but in a Live Chat Session, visitors invariably judge Live Chat Agents on how they spell words, and the smallest of errors become the subject of close scrutiny. Making spelling errors is in bad taste and just as undesirable as a slow typing speed.
Live Chat Agents with slow typing speed have to resort to using short versions of real words, which is a reflection on their unprofessional attitude and makes for an unpleasant and unfriendly experience for the visitor who understandably clicks away.
Webgreeter.com employs only those applicants who have a sound command over the language and are not given to committing language errors. This is necessary, since using slangs and impolite words creates a bad impression. These language errors can also occur with a slow typing speed, since Agents begin to use slangs and even eat up words altogether to keep up with the conversation. And again the visitors are driven away and the site loses potential customers.
Having a good typing speed is essential for Live Chat Agents since they are required to handle three to four conversations at a time, which can prove to be a Herculean task for someone with a slow typing speed. A Live Chat Agent is required to pay due attention to each and every customer, listen attentively, and understand and acknowledge what they are saying. Slow typing speed spoils the whole experience, leading to inattentiveness, carelessness, misinformation, and, eventually, customer dissatisfaction.
In essence, a good typing speed and good language skills are more than just standards. As one can see, they are also necessities. |
