Can I achieve Holly Willoughby’s glossy golden locks at home? I used the new feature to find out. 

Promotion on-site

Alongside a tool that helps users find the correct shade, Nutrisse promotes its online chat feature with a subtle ‘speak to an advisor’ button.

While effective enough, I do feel like it could be promoted more prominently. Perhaps in a friendlier way, too – advisor sounds slightly clinical to me.

Clicking through to the main page and the copy is much more personal and conversational in tone.

The human element of one-to-one interaction is the a main purpose of live chat, so a recognition that customers may feel daunted or worried will give more incentive to use the service. 

Highlighting the ‘opening hours’, there is also a disclaimer that the chat tool may be removed during busy periods.

This might be slightly annoying if it suddenly disappears, but it’s certainly better than leaving customers waiting.

Customer data

Onto the chat itself, but before speaking to anyone, I was prompted to enter in my email address and answer a few basic questions.

An obvious sign that it is a data-driven exercise for Garnier, it could potentially put people off using the tool.

 

With online chat supposedly providing an instant connection, it takes away the immediacy of the service. Customers could end up choosing phone or email instead.

Help and product links

Eventually, I got through to an ‘agent’ named Tariq.

 

There is definitely something to be said for speaking to a person with a real name and identity as opposed to a faceless brand.

All in all, Tariq was very helpful.

He didn’t tell me anything I couldn’t have found out for myself, especially as there is enough information elsewhere on the site, however it would certainly be useful to have someone reinforce the answer.

 

While he was generally helpful, there were a few negatives - I had to prompt Tariq to send me a product link.

Likewise, he took quite a while to answer my questions, though this does mean customers can multi-task while waiting for an answer (something that is more difficult to do while on the phone).

The fact that the pop-up box appears in each new window is another handy feature if you’re browsing at the same time, as is the option to have an email transcript of the chat.

   

In conclusion…

Overall, there is definitely value in Nutrisse’s chat-feature.

As well as offering a personalised interaction, it also helps the brand determine customer pain points and prevent them from going elsewhere. 

Improvements could definitely be made in terms of speed and the amount of information offered, however it’s certainly a feature that’s worth having.