Webchat Volume Rises to 250 Million

ContactBabel has revealed that the number of webchats handled by UK contact centres has increased to 250 million per year.

The “UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide (12th edition – 2014)” has shown that the volume of webchats handled by UK contact centres has increased by 60% in the past 12 months.

• Webchat between customers and agents has risen from under 0.7% of all inbound traffic to UK contact centres to 2.7% in the period 2011-14, a growth of around 300%.
• 40% of survey respondents offer webchat today, with a further 28% expecting to implement it within the next 12 months (the highest planned uptake of any contact centre technology).

“With the huge growth in online shopping, research and self-service, there is a need to offer customers and prospects a live service channel in cases where the browser needs assistance,” said Steve Morrell, author of the Guide. “Rather than forcing the customer to break channel by using the phone, or to wait for hours or even days for an email response, webchat offers a quick and flexible service option, allowing the customer to continue with what they were doing.”

The “UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide (12th edition – 2014)” is an annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 215 UK contact centre operations across all sectors and size bands.

The full report, containing 335 pages and 142 graphs and tables, is available free of charge from the ContactBabel website.