Live chat - good or bad?

[cs73]

Does anyone use one of these live chat softwares on their website? They of course claim huge uplifts in conversions, so I was wondering if anyone who does use something like this can confirm if it is worth it or not. We have our phone number on the site and do get customers calling in with questions, and these then do often convert, but of course live chat is much quicker than them having to actually pick up the phone, and you can do it proactively as well. But that could end up bugging people as well.

 

[lynxus]

Right. As someone who runs one of these live chat providers, I can tell you that " It depends "

In all honesty, Live chat isnt for everyone. However I would say that all our commerce clients do indeed see an increase in sales through the use of it. ( For varying reasons )

Also a lot of our customers use it for support rather than "sales" so , for these. They are happy for other reasons. Like its cheaper than using the phone. Operators can talk to multiple people at once and have the ability to have a slower, less pressured conversation with end users.

If you are interested, we offer a free trial anyway, so give it a whirl. see if it works for you.

I would suggest not using a "proactive" chat approach though. We have found from feedback that this is just bad. It annoys users and really annoys returning visitors. ( You can end up losing customers by constantly nagging them for a chat )

Its best to have live chat as an option for users. Dont make it a MASSIVE part of your site. Dont PUSH it upon users.

Make sure its clear and obvious so if someone has a question, its easy to access but DONT pressure users into having a chat.

 

[Jasmine_analyst]

Personally... I am a big fan of this feature.... but sometime it piss u off too (because of bad service by the agent)

I feel every website offering services, must have this feature for two reasons:
- chat, much easy for customer to do than to call
- it can act as a landing form to where you can collect the emails or phone number which will be stored with you, no matter customer at that time buy the service or not.

So, from my side its thumbs up

 

[WebhostingUKCom]

But if its a business like us , its must as customer requires support anytime.

 

[AllUpHere]

It needs to be used well, and with caution. Live chat operated by a knowledgeable and articulate operator can be great. However, use unknowledgeable staff to copy and paste scripted and not particularly useful responses to questions and it's terrible.

Ironically, the very worst support via live chat I have ever had was with Zopim (the live chat company)

I also agree with everything Lynxus said above.

 

[lynxus]

It needs to be used well, and with caution. Live chat operated by a knowledgeable and articulate operator can be great. However, use unknowledgeable staff to copy and paste scripted and not particularly useful responses to questions and it's terrible.

Ironically, the very worst support via live chat I have ever had was with Zopim (the live chat company)

Ha. made me chuckle..

But yes indeed.
You need to have knowledgeable staff on hand to help.

With our software, you can actually have multiple operators in a single chat session. So even if one person cant help a client, they can actually "request assistance" from another operator who can join in and help.

Operators can also chat to each other "privately" to discuss client issues if they are not in the same physical room.

Canned responses can be handy for some VERY common questions. But you really do need some half switched on operators who know your company and products well.

 

[AllUpHere]

Ha. made me chuckle..

I thought you might like that. Honestly, they are absolutely useless with any questions that are at all technical. If they don't have a canned response which is relevant, they just use one that isn't.

 

[antropy]

Does anyone use one of these live chat softwares on their website?

Do you mean where you would answer the questions through software on your PC or a third party company would?

 

[fisicx]

- chat, much easy for customer to do than to call

On the other hand a phone call can often solve the problem far faster than using chat.

 

[AllUpHere]

On the other hand a phone call can often solve the problem far faster than using chat.

I agree. However, it's all down to the customer really isn't it. If they prefer live chat, live chat it is. If they prefer to give you a call, make sure the phones are answered. It would be fairly easy to determine which is the right choice for any particular site.

 

[cs73]

Right. As someone who runs one of these live chat providers, I can tell you that " It depends "

I would suggest not using a "proactive" chat approach though. We have found from feedback that this is just bad. It annoys users and really annoys returning visitors. ( You can end up losing customers by constantly nagging them for a chat )

Its best to have live chat as an option for users. Dont make it a MASSIVE part of your site. Dont PUSH it upon users.

Make sure its clear and obvious so if someone has a question, its easy to access but DONT pressure users into having a chat.

When I say proactive I mean for example having an automated message that pops up saying something like "Welcome to XYZ. If you have any questions please let me know". Would you say that is a bad thing then? I don't mean just starting random chats with every person who visits the site

Do you mean where you would answer the questions through software on your PC or a third party company would?

We would answer them. Well in effect I would as I do the customer service as we are only small.

 

[lynxus]

When I say proactive I mean for example having an automated message that pops up saying something like "Welcome to XYZ. If you have any questions please let me know". Would you say that is a bad thing then? I don't mean just starting random chats with every person who visits the site



We would answer them. Well in effect I would as I do the customer service as we are only small.

Yes, I mean a popup saying " Hey need some help? "

From feedback , Its bad. Its annoying to customers ( it even annoys me )

What I get from clients is that users like to be able to start a chat when they like but make sure its visible to the user and dont dangle it in front of their face every time they visit.

Live chat should compliment your website, just as your sales phone number does.

In theory, no one should ever need to use live chat.
Your site shouldn't leave a user with questions, your clients should never need support.

However, This just isnt the case, so its good to have, and it does indeed help with sales. Someone will have a question about a product. Rather than just leaving and googling the next site, they may ask you and YOU then have a chance to close that deal.

 

[fisicx]

....having an automated message that pops up saying something like "Welcome to XYZ. If you have any questions please let me know". Would you say that is a bad thing then?

YES

I get the message, I ask a question then 'Peter' replies saying 'Hi how can I help you'. Even worse is an auto response to my question with a link the KB that doesn't answer the question.

 

[fisicx]

You site shouldnt leave a user with questions, your clients should never need support.

^^^THIS 100 times over!

If they have to ask a question it means something is lacking on your website. Use every conversation (chat, phone., email) as a pointer to improve your website.

 

[cs73]

^^^THIS 100 times over!

If they have to ask a question it means something is lacking on your website. Use every conversation (chat, phone., email) as a pointer to improve your website.

Totally agree, but there are always customers who either don't read what you put on the website, or choose to not understand it. One of the most common emails we get for example is about our opening order discount (we give new customers a discount on their first order when they sign up to our newsletter). When they sign up they get an email with the code to use, which clearly states they cannot then use this code in conjunction with any other code we have on the website. The newsletter sign-up then redirects them to a page on the website which says exactly the same, but we still regularly get emails saying "I tried putting in two discount codes but it won't let me - why not".

 

[fisicx]

So change the website so that the link is a one-time only use URL. If they try to use it again display the message: 'sorry numbnuts, you have already used your voucher'.

 

[cs73]

So change the website so that the link is a one-time only use URL. If they try to use it again display the message: 'sorry numbnuts, you have already used your voucher'.

No this is not them trying to use the same code twice. Magento allows you to have a code as one use per customer, which is how that code is set up. This is where we may have a different special offer on that uses a code as well, and they then try to get the first order discount AND the other special offer, which can't happen as Magento won't allow two voucher codes on one order.

 

[FutureM]

I like the idea of live chat and i think it will become expected in the future. We don't have it on our website at the moment but i think further down the line we will add the feature. Personally i used live chat for the first time the other day on the o2 website, the scripted answers didn't help and I left with more questions, their phone lines are just as bad making you sit through loads of crap trying to encourage you to put the phone down and use their website faq. I now have to go in to the store and talk to a human, which will most likely be even worse.

 

[lynxus]

I like the idea of live chat and i think it will become expected in the future. We don't have it on our website at the moment but i think further down the line we will add the feature. Personally i used live chat for the first time the other day on the o2 website, the scripted answers didn't help and I left with more questions, their phone lines are just as bad making you sit through loads of crap trying to encourage you to put the phone down and use their website faq. I now have to go in to the store and talk to a human, which will most likely be even worse.

At least now when you do decide to use live chat. You know how not to reply to your users

 

[northeast]

We have used live chat for about a month - we had to pay our developer to set up cos zopim cdnt provide any help with older version of magento - just kept directing us to apps that wdn't work.
I thought more customers would use it tbh but it has definitely been worthwhile. Most have bought after chat BUT the big thing is when we are offline, customers can just leave a message askng us to email or call them about a query and I have been surprised by how well- used that is - obviously cos it is quicker for them to simply type in on the page than find the contact us links.
It hasn't increased sales by a large percentage as some claim it will but we have the free version and it has definitely led to slight sales increase.
.hth

 

[pickaweb]

I really recommend a live chat tool.
The real advantage is that you can answer questions there an then when your potential customers is there, on your website plus one of your agents can handle several chats at the same time..

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Provided when a user selects livechat they get connected to a member of staff quickly then it's really useful for some minor queries when you just need a quick answer and really can't be bothered to pickup the phone.

 

[RepricerExpress]

I would definitely try it and monitor your conversion rate. As many have said, it does depend on the products you sell or service you provide, but if you already get telephone enquiries, live chat might encourage more people to ask about your products. As alluded, ensure you can get someone to man the chat fairly regularly—I know you can get it to collect messages when you're not available but if you're going to offer the facility, it kind of defeats the purpose if nobody is there to actually chat with the customers.

 

[lynxus]

I would definitely try it and monitor your conversion rate. As many have said, it does depend on the products you sell or service you provide, but if you already get telephone enquiries, live chat might encourage more people to ask about your products. As alluded, ensure you can get someone to man the chat fairly regularly—I know you can get it to collect messages when you're not available but if you're going to offer the facility, it kind of defeats the purpose if nobody is there to actually chat with the customers.

Tbh, Some people don't have forms on their site to take general query's and live chat ( when offline ) gives them this option too. So that's good.

However, sometimes having a "Sorry we are offline" button can seem a little bad.
So with our software ( and im sure others ) you can actually make the chat invisible when offline. So it looks like you don't even have live chat.

Always good to have those as options as sometimes, if a customer doesn't know you have chat and your offline, What harm has it done?

 

[OvcaX]

We use it on our site that is ecommerce.

It's great to speed up the order process and gives us the option to offer quick tips to person ordering. I say that it has lifted our sales.

 

[dan@webpeasy]

Tbh, Some people don't have forms on their site to take general query's and live chat ( when offline ) gives them this option too. So that's good.

However, sometimes having a "Sorry we are offline" button can seem a little bad.
So with our software ( and im sure others ) you can actually make the chat invisible when offline. So it looks like you don't even have live chat.

I agree. I see it as a big turn off when I visit a companies website and the live chat pops up but says "offline".

Reminds me of the time that I was trying to get in contact with a UK based company (can't remember the name now), the only option was Live Chat. Despite it showing as 'online' I made several attempts over 4 days and continually was told that I was 'being connected to an operator', for upwards of 10 mins until giving up.

They didn't get my business as you can expect.

 

[lynxus]

I agree. I see it as a big turn off when I visit a companies website and the live chat pops up but says "offline".

Reminds me of the time that I was trying to get in contact with a UK based company (can't remember the name now), the only option was Live Chat. Despite it showing as 'online' I made several attempts over 4 days and continually was told that I was 'being connected to an operator', for upwards of 10 mins until giving up.

They didn't get my business as you can expect.

Yeah, thats bad.

Our software actually has features that prevents people from doing this ( if they enable them )

For example,
- If you get a chat request but dont answer for x minutes, The system will set you to offline ( so you dont get more chats )
- There are "queue times" , The system can show end users the estimated time it takes to get an answer. If in general people wait 2 minutes for an answer, the system will show this to the user.
It also shows the end user what position in the queue they are in.

All these features can be turned on / off and can be modified. So obviously some sites dont use these safeguards.

They are however enabled by default.

To me, This is sensible.
It prevents what happened to you to keep happening to visitors over and over.

Live chat should HELP a business. Having a system that hinders them because of lack of safeguards against bad operation is just silly.

I have also come across the problem you have has here.

 

[fisicx]

It's great to speed up the order process and gives us the option to offer quick tips to person ordering. I say that it has lifted our sales.

But if those quick tips were on the site in the first place they wouldn't need live chat. If the order process need live chat to speed things up then the ordering process is wrong.

Use the live chat to drive site improvements, this will reduce your costs as it means the operators can get on with more productive tasks.

 

[MASSEY]

If you have a website that gets shed loads of traffic, making it more worthwhile, i reckon it could be useful.

I don't generally use live chats, but Natwest have it and i thought to myself 'this must surely be quicker than calling, and cheaper' and it was. Used it 3 times and had problems dealt with inside of 5 mins. I don't think calling would be that quick.

I have also found it useful on betting websites when you have queries that their website can't answer because it's complicated.

 

[wayzgoose]

But if those quick tips were on the site in the first place they wouldn't need live chat. If the order process need live chat to speed things up then the ordering process is wrong.

You can have as many quick tips as you like but it doesn't mean the customer will read them.
Live chat usually comes in during the order process, not because there is a problem with the process, but because the customer has a question in the back of their mind about a product or delivery. Not big enough to not order it or to pick up the phone, but a quick click of the chat button is all they need to put their mind at rest and click the final button. It works very well.

 

[RoadLessTravelled]

Can I second on Zopim being terrible at Live Chat themselves? Only had to address an overcharge, but they had no idea what I was talking about.

 

[fisicx]

You can have as many quick tips as you like but it doesn't mean the customer will read them.
Live chat usually comes in during the order process, not because there is a problem with the process, but because the customer has a question in the back of their mind about a product or delivery.

I totally agree. But you can still use analysis of the conversations to improve the site. For example if you have lots of people asking if the socks are gluten free or whatever then use that to change the information on the site.

Use live chat as a tool to help people and develop the site.