I have a Live Chat Svc. installed on my web site. Costs me $50 per month. And I've had it for about 3 years.

Here's the rub: my customers rarely use it. I mean, almost never.

Do you ever use one, if you find it available, on a web site? Was it a good experience? Bad? Why?

Do you yourself have a Live Chat Svc. on your site? If so, what's your experience on customer usage?

Do you think it creates a greater sense of confidence to a shopper?

If the shopper doesn't need to use the live chat function, is there any value (ROI), do you suppose, by just knowing it's available?

Should I dump it from my site?

Would love to hear your impressions. Thanks!

cooljools wrote:

If the shopper doesn't need to use the live chat function, is there any value (ROI), do you suppose, by just knowing it's available?

I think yes, subconsciously visitors like the notion that they could reach someone if it was necessary. That it might help with barriers to trusting the site enough to buy stuff.

I think I would install my own though and just have it running business hours (on my girlfriends computer )  Maybe have it roll down to a similar graphic for a contact form if it's off..

I've only had four visitors so far, so I just use the contact form...

Someone here (Northie, I think) suggested this one for a help desk environment: http://www.greendesktiny.com/
It looked good to me.

Yeah, Northie's suggestion looks good to me too, ... BUT!

Thanks to Matt telling me there are actually FREE chat svcs. available, I did a Google and found this: http://www.websitealive.com/

So obviously now I'm gonna cancel the $50/month chat servce I currently use. That takes care of ROI, since it's free.

But what about ROE (Return on Effort)? After all, the code does have to be placed on every page.... On a large web site, that's a huge effort.

OK kids, jump in! Where do you stand on Live Chat Svc.s?

We have live chat and we use it a lot.  And its easy to put on all the pages too.  Ours only costs about a hundred $$ per year.  If you're not going to use it, I wouldn't bother.  We get a lot of use out of ours because we've got 2-3 people in there all morning and as many as 10-15 sometimes at night.  But the thing is that if there is not anyone in the chat room then its a waste - people go inside and find it empty and then they leave.  But the thing is that once you get 50-60 regular chatters where you know everyone by first name, where they live, how many kids they have, what they do, etc... in other words when you've got a lot of friends in the chat room its totally cool.

oh speaking of live chat services - if you see me online and want to say Hi, click my website link and then at the top of the page click the link that says "Corpse Chat" - if you see me online chances are that I'm in there

I don't pay any attention to those things -- most of the time, when visitors hit your site, they'll almost always see ... ONLINE HELP NOT AVAILABLE ... so, my thoughts are -- if you're not manning it 24/7, why have it there at all?

I would agree with TA.

Consider the amount of work you would need to do for something that you admit was rarely used.

If somebody has a question about one of your products/services they are really interested in and it is not covered on a FAQ page, then they could use your contact form or e-mail you.

AAAARGH to Hell WItH It ALL!

Ahem, sorry, i just had a moment where i remembered trying to use the Imate websites live help... they say someones there, they say i must wait for them to contact a helpy helper.... then the connection times out cause no ones available... and ive tried many times... bastards.

Im sure its a good idea though, if you leave it alive 24/7, moderate it 24/7 so nobody gets funny in there making others never want to come back.... it could be a good idea. I wouldnt pay $50 a month for it though.

a live chat service in most cases that i want to use it comes up with operator unavailable.

i'd say get to toll free forwarding dot com or similar and bag a toll free number instead if you're that interested on how people view your site.

toll free will say much more about your company than an unavailable operator will.

cooljools -- I found a new chat service you might like; not to mention, it's got both a free version and paid version ... the paid version is alot less than what you're paying for now:

ChatStat Instant Messenger
(6.8 MB) provides live chat visitor support for your website, using text or VoIP. Has a familiar IM interface and supports all major IM clients. Also, offers website, e-commerce, search engine, marketing, and operator analytics. Freeware for Windows 98/2000/ME/XP. Requires .Net Framework 2.0. ... Download The Free Version

I've used them occasionally - only with large busnesses where I know there will be an operator on the other end.

I use grrendesktiny, as cited above

It's php/mysql based and can send and recieve emails.

I have the window open on my desktp and check it every so often. tickets are usually replied to within 1 hour, usually faster as i get emailed as well, and less often when I'm asleep

cost $89 one off payment

cooljools wrote:

But what about ROE (Return on Effort)? After all, the code does have to be placed on every page.... On a large web site, that's a huge effort.

Why?

maybe I've missed the point but surely you only need to have it on one page, that will be linked to from the help/support/contact area?

I was actually wondering the same thing? I was playing around with northies recommended app and it hit me, why would i have this on every page? its easy enough to just add it to help and support, i dont have one but it would be easier to add one than add the code to every page.

or on the menu include. 2 seconds and it is on every page

I have live chat installed at my web site as well and it has only been used a few times. Maybe an average of once every two months. If I had to pay a monthly service I wouldn't even bother.

The reason I did it was because I heard it did so well with someone else who used it in juncture with a pay per click campaign to discuss antique books. They were successful into turning them into customers.

I just load it on another computer in the background from 9 to 5 and if it 'dings' then I go answer it. Although there are intelligent 'bots' then can talk to the customer for me I haven't tried it yet.

Using live chat service on your website depends a bit on the size of your company respectively the size you want it to look like... ;-) 

Personally I find live chat support helpfull and I´ve used it occassionally.

I think that offering one gives a professional, caring impression to your site visitors and prospective clients, even if they do not use it very often. On the other hand, if you have it in, and the signe is on "green", means "live chat available" than it is important that really somebody (maybe yourself, or your "girlfriend" as mentioned above) is really and fast responding. If it´s unavailable it should show so, means "red, service unavailable"... Under no circumstances indicate "service available" when noone is there to respond...

But 50 bucks every month is much too much...  What do they offer for this money? A live staff member available for you to do the chat service? I don´t think so... 

I don´t want to recommend a service myself here, but look at the previous posts above where some moderately priced services have already been mentioned....

We have used this one with clients of ours: http://www.helpcenterlive.com/ - It's free..

I don't really know how useful they are for certain sites. I know I used them for our hosting company, anytime there is a problem that is the first place I head to get support. If you are running a regular style shop, hopefully it functions well enough that your customers don't ever need to contact you. I've never had to gripe at Amazon.. just a thought =]

If you are running a regular style shop, hopefully it functions well enough that your customers don't ever need to contact you. I've never had to gripe at Amazon.. just a thought =]

an tis the twist, its never about them "having" or needing to contact you, its just so they know in the back of there heads that they can if they wanted to. plus, people always ask random questions which if answered correctly could sell your product.

Ryan_steyn wrote:

If you are running a regular style shop, hopefully it functions well enough that your customers don't ever need to contact you. I've never had to gripe at Amazon.. just a thought =]

an tis the twist, its never about them "having" or needing to contact you, its just so they know in the back of there heads that they can if they wanted to. plus, people always ask random questions which if answered correctly could sell your product.

And that kind of thinking is what prompted me to get a 1-800 toll-tree number for our US customers and an 0800 freephone number for those in the UK.

It's not cause I want to pay for them to ring me, far from it, I want them to know they can get in touch and we're fair enough if they have a problem to actually foot the bill for them to call us about it.

If users see they can call us for nothing and it makes 20 more people a month buy a download from us it's paid for itself.

Torsten wrote:

Using live chat service on your website depends a bit on the size of your company respectively the size you want it to look like... ;-) 

Under no circumstances indicate "service available" when noone is there to respond...

But 50 bucks every month is much too much...

Status indicators are an option to plug into your users chosen chat client: Google, Skype, MSN, Yahoo & ICQ. All I'm sure can have online status checkers so having those on your contact page will give the user options to contact you through their choice of medium, all of which are free and carry a stack of options.

The downside of that would be a handful of chat clients running on your desktop. The upside is the client can contact you on software they use every day and the indicators are pretty much realtime so it reduces the number of false availables.

I think the toll free / freephone number is better value than the chat service. Forget online for a moment, they're real people and as such will want to talk to a real person, not a screen. Personally I can't stand the live chat things, I've got two servers with a hosting company that makes me log in before I can initiate a chat session with them. Frustrating, though credit where it's due it's open 24/7.

Great feedback.

Seems like we've focused on another aspect though. That of "other ways to offer assistance to customers".

Those who mention contact by e-mail. Hmmm, I'm an American brat. I want instant gratification. If I can't get an answer right away, I get frustrated, then go away. Customer svc depts that offer "e-mail us with your question", ...  phsssssh,,, good bye. In fact, I offer this on my web site. In 10 years, I've gotten one e-mail question from a customer.

Those who suggest offering a toll free number:

1) Yeah, but  toll free #"s are expensive.

2) I'm not always available 24/7; I'm not AT & T or Microsoft (did anyone sane really expect I would be available 24/7??? - sheesh)!

3) For those of you who don't actually have a "live chat function" operating on your system (and I'm not talking about a "chat room", but "Live Help"):

Here's what a webmaster gets with such a "Live Chat" or Help Program (at least, mine):

1) As soon as a customer enters my site, a bell rings on my computer. I find out where they're from (not an anonymous IP, but a real location),  what they've looked at on my site and for how long, and where they're going). Live Chat also tells you if they're a return customer, or new. And it tells you, if they came via an SE, what their querie was, and on what page/SERP the SE listed you. The "referring page". Yes, this is also available in one's "stats", but not LIVE.

It ain't no cottage cheese. And no e-mail or toll free number will give you that info.