July 22 2020
What is Synchronous messaging, and how is it different from Asynchronous messaging? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Which should you pick as a medium to provide customer support when running a business? We discuss all this and more below.
Synchronous communication is when there is a live conversation between two parties with shorter response time. There is a clearly defined beginning and ending to such a conversation. A phone call, for example, is synchronous communication. Synchronous communication can also happen on messaging and chat platforms, often referred to as live chat.
In business communication, a synchronous chat typically has an agent who represents the business and tries to address and resolve customer queries/complaints. They close the chat once they are assured that the client’s requirements from the communication participated in, has been met. Many businesses prefer synchronous chat as their go-to CS medium as it enables them to track performance metrics. It also offers customers with an easy and convenient query-resolution experience.
Asynchronous communication occurs over a period of time and is not as instantaneous as synchronous communication. An example would be, email or WhatsApp communication. It is also more open-ended in nature. So if the customer that has reached out to your business customer support finds that their concerns have not been addressed in the first sitting, they can always leave you another message. In other words then, asynchronous chat enables you to solve deeper and more complex customer issues that require more than a one-time communication fix.
Live chat provides its unique set of advantages and disadvantages for CS activities when compared to WhatsApp. Let’s learn about these in depth below.
Advantages
Disadvantages
In this section, we learn how WhatsApp is an improvement on Live chat for the advantages it provides.
Advantages
The disadvantages of Asynchronous chat such as WhatsApp chats for providing customer services are almost negligible. Further, using Asynchronous Chat as your medium to provide Customer Support also allows you to harness the benefits of Artificial Intelligence, is you please. If your company does outsource its customer service tasks to a separate agency, using WhatsApp in-house and linking it to your business operations will prove to be of great help. You will be able to easily and affordably communicate with your customers and provide them with an enjoyable customer service experience without paying a third-party to do it for you.
We highly recommend getting in touch with us for an open, honest (and easy to understand!) conversation. We’ll get to know your business then explain the options available to successfully tackle the challenges you’re facing. There’s no obligation to take your journey further (although we think you’ll definitely want to!)
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