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CoutureCandy — Live Chat Support in Action
It wasn't difficult to find an e-commerce business willing to talk about the success they have had using live customer support on their Web site. Mathew Hunter is the CEO of Ascendim (a company specializing in out-sourced online marketing consulting, sales leads, creative design and technical programming), and is also Co-Founder of CoutureCandy, a rather alluring online boutique offering the freshest designer apparel.
Hunter chose to use LivePerson Pro, and deployed the application on CoutureCandy two months ago - and already he sees an increased conversion rate from live support chats that have resulted in sales.
"We chose LivePerson to mainly field our customers' questions about size, length, and other clothing specific questions. We felt that some people just didn't want to go through a voice system for these types of inquiries. It was a great way to add a second, non-intrusive communication system to our business."
At CoutureCandy you'll find the live chat icons strategically placed on product information pages, so customers have easy access to inquire about a product they are looking at. CoutureCandy always has two or three stylists on hand to answer customer service inquiries including those that originate online through its Web site.
CoutureCandy is a prime example of how Web sites can make live chat support applications work. Using its existing, knowledgeable staff to monitor and assist Web shoppers, Hunter says that at a cost of $100 per operator per month, live support has been a worthwhile investment.
"Our experience with Live Person has been very satisfying. It is an application we will definitely be deploying when we launch our men's couture site in two to three months, and on our kid's couture site as well, which is also being launched this year."
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| CotureCandy.com relies on LivePerson's click-to-chat tool allows the site to offer immediate help to its customers. (Click for larger image) |
Best Practices for Small Businesses
Knowing when to deploy live support on a Web site is half the battle. Obviously, not all businesses offering products and services online need to rush out and choose a live support ASP.
Philippe Lang suggests that one of the indicators small businesses should look for is the amount traffic the Web site gets.
"If the Web site is only handling ten visitors per day, for example, it doesn't make sense to implement a live chat solution. If the Web site is bringing in a few hundred potential customers a day, and you notice upwards of ten to twenty e-mails going through to sales or technical support, then it's a solution businesses should seriously consider," he says.
Keeping in mind that there is a right form of communication for the right time, businesses also need to decide if live voice or live chat (or a combination of both) is going to best address their customer's needs. To this end Dan Obregon suggests businesses in the financial or service sector — or those offering higher valued products and services — may be better suited to click-to-call solutions. In these scenarios, clients will likely be more comfortable providing information and closing deals through voice instead of typing text into a chat window.
For many online customers, live support icons indicates they will receive quick and immediate attention. Philippe Lang believes that one of the worst-case scenarios is having a visitor click the icon to initiate the chat process but end up not having anyone respond in their support window. This situation will happen if the attending agent didn't set his or her status to "away" (meaning the icon will display a "currently not available" status to visitors), or are not using application features which will automatically set an agent's away status after a period of system inactivity.
Repeat visitors wanting to use live support can become frustrated if they frequently see a "currently not available" message. Agents should consider disabling the live support icons site-wide if online support is not going to be available for an extended length of time.
Live support solutions provide agents with important user data. Be sure to pay close attention to this information screen when a customer support chat is initiated. If a customer is sitting on the shipping information or checkout page of a Web site, an agent familiar with sales can take that inquiry. In the end, this could save a customer's patience, as merchants will be less likely to have to transfer them to another agent where they may have to repeat their inquiry.
Most Live support solutions offer businesses the ability to customize the displayed icons allowing custom images and text. Rather than inserting the generic "Click to Chat" icon, why not offer visitors at a wine site, for example, the opportunity to "Click to Chat with a Wine Expert" or similar theme depending on your business? The importance of integrating the application across a Web site to match a brand should definitely not be overlooked.
Based in Nova Scotia, Canada, Vangie Beal has been writing about computers and technology since the early 90s. She's also the managing editor of Webopedia.
source: http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/customer_relations/article.php/3588181