Using Instant Chat for Customer Service and Sales Questions

Probably the most basic -- and helpful -- instant contact feature you can have in your online store is some kind of instant chat service, staffed as many hours as possible, especially during hours when you receive the most sales.  Instant chat programs can affect your bottom line significantly for two reasons:

1. Customers can get  immediate answers to questions that would otherwise halt their orders. With an answer, many will complete their purchase and ring your cash register.
2. You and your employees can be proactive about contacting shoppers, in the same way that a fine store trains floor salespeople to ask a customer, "Is there any way I can help you? Any questions I can answer?" But it's important that salespeople don't "hover" unless the shopper continues to engage them in conversation. With sensitive and observant sales people, the conversion rate will certainly rise.

In larger organizations a special team of customer service agents will respond to queries. But in smaller companies or one-person stores, the owner monitors his computer and responds when a sound on the computer alerts him that a shopper has a question.

These systems come in two varieties, hosted ASP applications that charge a monthly fee based on the number of operator seats, and CGI programs hosted on the siteowners own website, which typically incurs a one-time license fee. You'll find many other applications than those I've mentioned under "Customer Service > Software" in the Yahoo! Directory.

Hosted ASP Web Chat Applications

LivePerson (www.liveperson.com) is a good example of a popular, full-featured, enterprise solution. It does, however, have a small business application, LivePerson Pro, for $99 per month per concurrent operator seat. Features include monitoring, e-mail signature, co-browsing (pushing webpages to customers), spell checker, e-mailing the chat transcript, repeat visitor ID, proactive invitation and LiveEngage, customer survey, embedded chat window, LiveKeyword, canned answers, chat traffic organizer, agent chat transfer, on-hold messages, operator assignment, SSL security, customized automated messages, and 24/7 live support. 

Example of a LivePerson customer chat window

When a shopper enters the site, the operator hears a ding-dong (doorbell) sound. A telephone ringing sound alerts the operator when someone wants to chat. Operators can view in real time the keywords and the search engine (e.g., Yahoo, MSN or Google, etc) that a particular visitor used to reach your site. If the operator sees shoppers browsing products, he can engage them in conversation and seek to answer any questions they might have. When the operator logs off or indicates that he is busy, the chat button automatically changes to reflect the new status When the operator is offline, the visitor is prompted to leave a message instead, which is sent via e-mail.

Example of LivePerson Operator Window

The Operator Console is written in C++ and is compatible with various MS Windows environments (95/98/NT/2000/XP). A platform independent version (Java based) is also available for Mac, Linux, Unix, etc.

Other popular chat customer service systems include InstantService.com (www.InstantService.com) and LiveAssistance (www.liveassistance.com).

CGI Web Chat Programs

Rather than add a monthly fee to the budget, many small businesses prefer to install a CGI program on their own webserver -- and doesn't require an additional monthly fee. I'll point to two outstanding examples of this and a source for others. Operators typically need an MS Internet Explorer plug-in to run the system.

WebConference LiveHelp! ver. 2.5 (www.networkdweebs.com/products/webconference/livehelp/) is a very capable system that costs $495+ one-time fee and installs on your server. It is written in C and can be compiled on various varieties of Unix -- so far Linux, FreeBSD, Sun or Intel Solaris. Functions rival those available with LivePerson and are compatible with older browsers and WebTV without Java. The operator's screen is web-based with a small browser plug-in. Includes real-time web tracking and invitation, visitor identification precognition, shared canned responses, push webpages and HTML, file uploads, chat transcripts, unlimited operator seats and chat sessions, automatic call distribution, call transfer, and full logging. The program senses when customers are typing and when they close the chat window ending the session. LiveHelp! tracks visitor history, provides audible and visible request alerts, supports "leave a message" during non-business hours, spelling correction, ad and PPC tracking, SSL support for security if needed, customizable interface, and exit survey capability. It can also be integrated with a database or CRM system.

RealTimeAide from TCCSoftware (www.realtimeaide.com) costs $199 one-time license fee and can be installed on your server. ($150 optional professional installation.)

Additional CGI programs can be found under "Customer Support" in the CGI Resource Index or the PHP Resource Index.