Doing sales for in the Live Chat industry and throwing this “Proactive Chat” feature in my pitch, believe me in most cases I could see that they were confused and I think I have been asked once or twice “Is there other kinds?” Well the short answer is yes there is and that’s what this blog post is about.

Let’s explain how initiating a Live Chat actually works. In most sites that provide Live Support there is a button (usually with picture of a person with a head phone, although it is not understood why this has become a standard).Web visitors seeking support of any kind whether customer service, technical or sales click on this button and a chat is initiated with a representative of the company.  This just explained is what is called in the Live Chat industry a “Passive Chat” and this is the norm.

Proactive Chat on the other hand is simply the ability to actively initiate or invite website visitors to have a chat with the representative of the company; think of it of more like Greeters in a large departmental store.

I have been to a few forums where this feature was discussed and I was actually surprised at the reaction of hearing about it, it has gained notoriety amongst web visitors as spamming. That being said, it actually depends on how it is being used. Nobody likes a pushy sales person and if that is exactly what Live Chat is being used for in those companies, well all I’ll say about that is, they are not doing a good job. Proactive Chat done well however is a whole different ball game. Statistics also show that proactive chat actually increases the number of sales leads (in WebGreeter’s case we have had go upto 5 times the number) as compared to when the Live chat is in the passive mode, which website owners cannot ignore. However a balance has to be achieved as to how it is to be used. For example, if everybody is “greeted” who just landed on the website, it can cause a higher bounce rate, but put a delay in there for say 40 seconds, you know that these people are looking for some kind of information that your Live Chat Support team can definitely help with.

In this post, we will try to clarify the difference between live chat software and live chat services

Live Chat Software

Live Chat Software is self explanatory; a software that you can install on your computer and with simple modification of your website you can see who comes to your site and chat with them. You have a choice of either doing it proactively, that is, invite them to chat with you or you can wait till someone clicks on the button that says “Live Chat” or “Live Support etc. There is a number of Live Chat Software using a number of technologies including Java, .NET PHP or Flash and some even utilizing FLEX technology. It can cost you as low as $9/month to anywhere in the $100 range, with the more expensive ones giving you more features while others are free. It all depends on the functionality that you think suits your needs.

Live Chat Service

Live Chat Service or Live Support Service although in general usage are alternately called “Live Chat Software” but it is a “Service” at the end. These services are available to you by providers who have the human resources and technology to be supporting your website visitors on your behalf. In essence, the Live Chat feature is outsourced. Live Chat Operators in those services would be well trained in the customer service and sales functions assisting your website visitors and most services are available 24/7. The Services would be the one providing the resources as well as the technology to be used on your website to support your Live Chat initiative. You do not have to worry about hiring, training, customizing or worry about whether it would work on your website, it all falls on the Live Chat Service. More costly than Live Chat Software, but Services rightly priced would actually reduce any need of hiring in-house or worry about what happens when you or your staff is not in the office.

In this post, we are going to explain how exactly Live Chat works in the back-end. It looks like a simple process where a visitor is greeted or they click on a Live Chat button, you chat with the Live Support Operator, you get your questions or inquiries answered, finish the chat and that’s that.

Have you ever thought how it works? In fact let’s add a few more questions to clarify the very broad question asked:

• How does the Live Chat Software know that a visitor is on your website?
• How does the Live Chat application know which agent to route the visitor to, once the visitor decides that they are willing to speak to a Live Chat agent?
• What happens to the chat conversation once it ends?

Lets answer these questions one by one and we can tell you what we here at WebGreeter do this.

To answer the first question on how the software would know when a visitor appears is simple; Script! Our system uses a combination of JavaScript and ASP.NET technologies to alert the system once a visitor lands on any one of the pages on our website. Technically savvy website owners would know what we are talking about here, website analytics script works in almost the same fashion.

Having alerted the system that a visitor has come to our website, we use the Proactive Chat feature i.e. a chat window would pop-up on the visitors end with our custom greeting saying “Hi, I’m ABC, thank you for visiting our website. How can I help you?” However we do this after a delay. Why? This allows us to speak only to those visitors that are interested in what we have to say on our website. People who come on our website by mistake or don’t like what they see make a decision within the first 10 to 20 seconds.

During that delayed pop-up our Live Chat Software identifies agents on the back-end that are not currently in chats or have room for more chats. This helps maximizing efficiency of the chat system that we follow so as not to over burden those agents who are currently in chats or have fulfilled their quota for maximum simultaneous chats. This is part of the Routing system which also can prioritize agents in accordance to language.

After having spoken to the agent the visitors just ends the conversation and leaves, but the agent’s job is not done yet. An email application automatically opens up where all the details regarding the chat is fulfilled and sent to the personnel required to take care of whatever is needed. For example, say you are on a car dealership website that utilizes a Live Chat Service or software. You want to know when you can schedule 10,000 mile service for your car. The agent would take the request down along with any pertinent information like when would be the best time to reach you or which time frame would best suit your for your car’s service. Once you leave the Live Chat Operator fills all this information in the email application and sends it over to the service department of the dealership who would be contacting you to confirm the best time schedule. If the department is closed at that particular time its  no problem they would have that request in their email inbox, taking care of it as soon as they see it.

This is just a very simplified overview of how Live Chat Support works on websites. If you have any questions or comments please use the comments fields to do so, your feedback is always welcome.

Well, what happens is, when that button is clicked a chat box opens up, somewhat similar to any of the run-of-the-mill instant messaging platforms like Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger, with a greeting and also giving you name of a person who asks if there is any way they can help. What makes this different, is that the other person who would be chatting with you is not a friend from your friends list, these are actual representatives of the website or company who are available for you real-time so that they can help you with inquiries, complaints, questions etc. They’d help you navigate, answer questions, recomment products and pretty much help you with everything you need from company or website that you are looking into.

This, is Live Chat and what you just experienced is not a new phenomenon either. 500 Fortune companies like Dell and IBM also utilize Live Chat as an online Customer Service medium as an extension of their customer service efforts. Ever tried going through websites where you are looking for say, replacement parts for your PC or laptops? It can definitely be daunting, after which you chose to either use a contact form on the manufacturer’s websites or perhaps call the toll free number. Imagine having those answers from someone representing the company with the click of a button! That is the power of Live Chat or Live Support.

Live Chat also known as Live Support or Live Help has been used for online sales  too, primarily for lead generation. Imagine this scenario if you will.

Research indicates that 97% of web visitors who land on a website leave without performing a “favorable” action.

A favorable action can be anything from contacting the company via an email form or perhaps calling the toll free number shown on the website. Now imagine, out of every1000 visitors that enter those websites only 30 would do what was just mentioned, and thats only if websites show what the visitor needed along with other factors to contribute to websites looking good and ranking higher in search engines. Everything said and done 3% of visitors is considered to be a good number to for lead generation from websites. Our own research at WebGreeter showed us that by utilizing Live Chat the lead generation number has gone up to 5 times that number. Those Live Chat Operators would be taking down visitor’s names, phone numbers and any relevant information so they can direct them to someone in the company who can give them the answer.

The above two examples are just some of the ways that Live Chat has proved itself as having practical business application to website owners. Different industries are also utilizing this option quite heavily especially auto dealerships and lawyer offices who have websites. Off-the-shelf Live Chat Software are available now that can be installed by website owners with maximum ease. However for web owners who do not have the time or human resources to man those software quite a few outsourced Live Chat Service Providers are also available who train and resource Live Chat Operators for those websites and at the end of it all help increase their bottom line cost effectively!

Interaction is the most important tool to build confidence in potential clients and customers. When it comes to important services such as healthcare, accountancy or legal services, client confidence is the cornerstone of success. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the legal services industry. Civil suits of a common type, such as DUIs and Traffic tickets are the most common issues faced by the majority of new clients looking for legal representation. Those accused of minor crimes, and even more serious ones, seek a lawyer’s advice even before they make a statement to the police, which is the prudent thing to do. It is therefore necessary to provide them information quickly and connect them with a legal worker as soon as possible.

Live chat helps lawyers generate better business and provide sterling services to customers who visit their websites. Chat agents, although not qualified to provide direct legal advice, can provide various services which make a big impression with worried and often panicking visitors. Chat agents provide many advantages to the law firm through the various actions they can take to help customers on their way to reliable representation and advice. Some of the major types of services and advantages they can deliver are discussed below.

Legal representation is easier for defendants to reach

Defendants can now simply connect to the website using a laptop or cell phone. This ease of access will allow even those still waiting for processing at a police station to contact a lawyer through the chat agents or gain critical information about their rights, something which everyone does not know.

Chat agents can qualify visitors

Agents on the website can pay careful attention, access the precise legal needs of a potential client and qualify them. This way, it will be documented what the visitor’s situation is and what their immediate and long term needs are.

Chat agents can provide direction and links to information on the website

While agents are not permitted to convey legal advice, they can direct the customer to legal advice and FAQs already present on the law firm’s website. The visitor seeking basic information such answers to questions about their legal rights, state laws relating to their problem, possible incarceration and penalties set by the state in such cases as well as the right course of action for them to take at the moment in time. Visitors will not have to search for this information, as it can be pushed directly to their web browser.

Chat agents can check schedules and make appointments

Chat agents can provide an online reception service by checking the availability of the lawyers working for the firm and then assisting visitors by referring them to the specialist in the firm and setting appointments for them if needed.

Chat agents can generate leads for the firm

Gathering contact information is the most critical part of the chat agent’s job. The first priority for an agent is to reduce visitor anxiety and then get their e-mail address or phone number so that a qualified legal professional can contact them and talk to them directly with as little delay as possible.

Chat agents can connect visitors with specialists

Top end live chat software solutions come complete with the ability to transfer chat conversations to other agents if necessary. In this way, an agent can also potentially qualify visitors and then transfer the chat to the relevant professionals in real time. Professionals using the software from their own offices or homes can connect to the website through the internet. Agents will transfer chats to them and they can provide direct preliminary legal advice. Transcripts of chats can also be saved to ensure reliable record keeping. In this way, visitors are connected with legal advice even faster.

Chat agents come for a fraction of the cost of other customer services setups

A live chat has a major advantage in terms of cost. Where phone setups and contact centers cost a large amount of initial investment and a large team of phone agents, costing even more in salaries and benefits, not to mention insurance, a live chat setup requires a single user, a simple computer, an internet connection and a software installation. Moreover, one live chat agent can handle the workload of up to eight phone agents at the same time. Chatting is easily multitasked, and agents can serve several times as many customers alone at the same time than a whole team of phone agents would manage within the same time period.

When it comes to legal services, nothing can be as important to a defendant as finding the firm that will provide assurance and promise the best and quickest possible solution, and in which the person will have complete confidence. People often put their property, freedom and even their lives at stake and must be assured that their trust will not be betrayed. But how can you get customer to trust your services? The answer is simple, live interaction.

Research all over the world has shown that interaction is the key to building confidence and trust. People nowadays trust the words of an actual person over the text on a computer screen, and interacting with potential clients on your law services website will help not only give clients the confidence they need but also speed up their processes and reduce anxiety.

When a potential client comes online, the most important factor is how soon they are connected with legal experts directly. While live chat agents are usually not qualified to give legal advice due to laws in almost all states, they are the first contact that a troubled client can directly speak to, within seconds of their landing on the webpage. This direct interaction not only helps reduce stress immediately, but enables the agents to qualify the visitor and then connect them with an expert within minutes, either directly via live-chat or by gathering contact information, generating a lead and then forwarding it to the law firm directly for a subject oriented follow up.

Consider a visitor landing on a webpage to look for advice regarding a DUI case or to fight a traffic ticket. Such visitors are first cordially greeted and then connected to a sympathetic and helpful chat agent. This agent seeks to reduce the anxiety that the visitor is experiencing by listening to their problem attentively and then forwarding the case to the expert within the law firm who specialized in such cases.

The recruitment services industry is experiencing growth despite the condition of the recession ravaged economy. This is one of the industries that have gained the most from going online in more recent times and today, online HR and recruitment services are big businesses. Hundreds of companies are now offering online recruitment services for businesses and job seekers alike, connecting thousands of employers with tens of thousands of potential workers every day. One of the reasons for this growth is that the maintaining an online recruitment system or hiring specialist web recruitment companies such as Monster and Gumtree, is more cost effective and far reaching than maintaining a traditional walk-in recruitment setup.

Huge online databases are commonplace on the internet and document and store the millions of new résumés which appear every day for employers to search through. However, as anyone who has ever had to look for a new employee or job will tell you, recruitment is a field that goes far beyond quantitative analysis, computer intelligence and search engines; it takes intuition and subjective judgment to hire the best man for the job, and sometimes, the best man may not appear to be so on paper, at all. Many recruitment companies do establish contact centers via phone or e-mail to manage prospective employees, however, these methods have never really been as successful as they need to be in this context.

Recruitment is a comprehensive process which measures potential candidates’ technical, creative and communicative abilities as well as their temperament and personality in comparison to a vacancy which needs to be filled. Employees can be trained to perform tasks which they have not performed before and taught new skills, however, what a resume really doesn’t tell you is whether the employee has the right temperament, potential and required skill set to be able to perform the work efficiently or not – often it is more important to hire a person who has the right personality than to hire the best candidate on paper. It is much more important to find employees who not only do the work well, but fit in with the culture, become a member of the team and remain with a company for an appreciable term.

Live Chat helps recruitment professionals combine the efficiency of the internet business with the highly subjective kind of work they need to do. It brings together the technology features that save costs while providing recruiters with a direct channel of communication with prospective employees. This business and workflow model therefore changes as well. Recruitment agents can actually speak to prospective employees on their websites and form a better picture of them while these employees are uploading their CVs and résumés. The possibilities are endless. The turnaround time even for online recruitment is currently too long; it takes weeks sometimes for a candidate to apply for a job and get a response after thousands of CVs are checked and references are confirmed. With Live chat, recruitment agents who specialize in specific industries can speak to online visitors seeking jobs in those industries. Agents can actually match employees with available positions dynamically by asking simple questions right then and there; they would be able to instantly intimate employers of strong candidates who might appear when there is a need – in the right place at the right time… This model can potentially turn weeks into days or even hours!

Live Chat also known as Live Support or Live Help, is the predominantly used online communication method and was introduced into the world of e-commerce and online retailing around the year 2000 with great success and since then, the concept has grown from strength to strength. Online shopping became a victim of its own success. Online shopping removed the ‘middle-man’, that is, the traditional retail and distribution agents who are not needed for website sales, reducing the costs for businesses as well as the price of products and services for customers. With the ease and security of online shopping also improving radically, and time-strapped global shoppers surging towards online shopping websites to buy everything from groceries to Christmas presents in July, the gates were thrown open for new retailers and companies to sell directly online and take advantage of these features. This scenario complicated things. Hundreds upon hundreds of retailers began setting up websites and before we shoppers knew it, there were so many choices in products and services that online shopping became a tiresome exercise in research and price comparisons, often ending with customers wondering whether they even got a god deal or not . Live Chat is the technology which steps in to solve this problem.

A Live chat service offers businesses the potential to give online shoppers a great shopping experience and remove the negative effects of confusion, over-choice and the often overwhelming amount of information which engulfs online customers. Its main effect is to reduce dissonance and friction and provide customers with the very thing that makes them want to shop online in the first place – time / cost-saving, convenience, and reliability!… Live Chat agents can reduce the time customers spend researching products by providing information directly without the need to search for it on a website. They can pitch sales, provide opinions and even up-sell and cross-sell where applicable, providing customers only those choices that fit their needs and budget instead of overwhelming them with confusing info and too many options as websites without Live Chat normally do. In many instances, customers require information which is not there or buried deep within forums or links. Doubts caused by the aforementioned problems make customers leave their online shopping carts outright – but when Live Chat agents are present to address those concerns at the moment they arise, or remove doubts or misconceptions that customers may wrongfully have, the customers will more likely than not finish their purchase process. Additionally, Live Chat can be used to handle post-purchase issues such as complaints, returns, exchanges and warranty issues, a model of customer care which has proven it to be cheaper and more effective than any phone or e-mail customer services model ever used. Live chat helps you deliver real value to your potential customers.

Live Chat is an integral part of the internet lifestyle, now finding a new great use in e-commerce. There are several chat-based methodologies used by websites which make their revenues through business with their online visitors, using a variety of customer services models in order to keep their visitors pleased.

The most important aspect of Live Chat for e-commerce is the use of this as a sales platform. The fact is, Chat operators become chat based sales people, and are provided with an e-platform to pitch to your online customers, and help them out with any of their problems or questions in the bargain, automatically providing you with a customer care outlet as well!

The most helpful factor to consider is that these e-salespeople have your business information on their fingertips… your web pages with direct content about your products and services can be served up to your interested visitors in an instant… by a friendly, non intrusive chat-person!

Important factors of Live Chat services:

• The appeal of chat lies in the humanization of the online shopping experience.
• Instead of having customer services personnel follow up on huge backlogs of emails or talk to a lot of frustrated customers over the phone all day (often leaving customers on hold for too long), several customers are managed instantly and at the same time by a minimal number of customer care people as chat based interaction allows them to multitasking with several chats at the same time.
• The concept is like having an online shop attendant (or e-attendant); operators using Live Chat software are aware of all visitors browsing onto your website (like a doorbell). These operators can approach visitors proactively and ask if they need information or assistance of any kind (just like the friendly attendant at the local grocery).
• Recent surveys (WebSiteStory) have shown that web browsers who have grown up with the concept of chatting are actually more accustomed to chat based business interactions and are more likely to do business once they are able to talk to an operator representing your website.
• Live Chats are supported by the use of canned messages; these messages are pre-stored and can be used appropriately (providing standard answers to commonly asked questions and frequently sought information). However, Chat operators are trained to be cordial, friendly and ‘real’, the mannerism needs to be humanized and friendly, and should seek to garner customer confidence and trust.

The following is an example of a Live Chat on a services website (names and specifics have been changed in order to protect identities and avoid legal discrepancies). This chat takes place between an operator and a visitor who does not wish to do business but is a regular visitor and simply finds the chat service unique. The operator on the other hand behaves courteously and is responsive without being robotic in any way.

M.J. Krauss = Visitor XYZwebsite.com
Josh = Live chat operator

Josh: Hi, this is Josh. Welcome to XYZwebsite.com! We connect attorneys with expert witnesses in all fields. Our role is to locate, assess, and deliver the best expert witness to help make our clients more successful.

Josh: May I help you find an expert today?

Visitor 2095: I am one of your experts in pharmacology
Josh: Great! May I have your name, please?

Visitor 2095: I was asked to help with a case but it has been delayed for weeks

Visitor 2095: M.J. Krauss

Josh: I see. Nice to have you with us Ms Krauss.

M.J. Krauss : I am new. I have not worked a case for you but I have done many others for lawyers and I am currently a key expert witness in a murder case

M.J. Krauss : I teach medical pharmacology so I am very busy but I was just wondering what was happening at round table

M.J. Krauss : my son lives in Washington dc very near your company I think

M.J. Krauss : he lives within a mile of the white house and your address is Pennsylvania avenue too I think

Josh: Yes, that is correct.

Josh: How may I help you in your case?

M.J. Krauss : I don’t believe you can help me really. Once before I visited your website and was amused that you have this online chat service

M.J. Krauss : so I wondered if that happened by chance or you monitor your website this way

M.J. Krauss : I am surprised there is not more need for pharmacology assistance in cases because physicians are not properly trained in pharmacology across America and drug errors are very common

Josh: Well, we greet every visitor who visits our website so that we can assist them.

M.J. Krauss : pharmacists are not really checking for drug interaction problems either

Josh: Yes, I totally agree with you on that.

Josh: I hope your case won’t be delayed any longer.

M.J. Krauss : perhaps medical cases are not your most common types of cases you assist with

M.J. Krauss : or maybe you have many experts in pharmacology but actually I believe my level of knowledge is very rare

Josh: No, we have lots of medical cases in other states.

M.J. Krauss : there is a shortage of people well trained in pharmacology

Josh: I’m pretty glad you signed up for us then.

Josh: And I’m glad you are one of those well trained experts in pharmacology.

M.J. Krauss : well, I should return to teaching duties – I just popped in here for a change of pace

Josh: No problem. We all need to relax once in a while.

Josh: I’m glad you visited our website again.

Josh: Is there anything else that I can help you with?

M.J. Krauss : I was hoping to have an excuse to come to Washington dc to visit my son but – well dream along with me

M.J. Krauss : he is redesigning the interior of the world bank

M.J. Krauss : no – just wish I was in DC

Josh: That’s sad, I hope you get a chance to go here.

Josh: You have a great weekend!

Josh: Thank you for visiting our Web site. Please contact us any time to take your seat at XYZ for a level of service, and a breadth and depth of experts that is unmatched!

I go to a store to buy a Camera with the assumption that I saw something on the Internet and thought, That’s the one I want.

1- I’ll go to Store A, I’ll ask the person there to show me the specific model I’m interested in, he takes it out, show it to me, I pay him and I go home! Now he must’ve been helpful during the purchase but did he did something special for me? Maybe not but me or the company he works for are happy with him.

2- I’ll go to Store B, same situation but the guy there gets involved, shows interest in what I’m buying. Gives me suggestions like hey, this is a great camera but when you take pictures at a higher ISO, it’s not that good! The result might be blurry! Takes out another one, $30 expensive than the one I had in mind but has a better result! Since, I’m buying something expensive already, it won’t hurt to spend a bit more and get a better camera!

This will result in me being more confident and happy that I got a better thing because of that guy. And I’m sure, I’ll get back to that same store If I’m looking for another item and maybe ask for that guy again! Will you?

Going above and beyond the call of duty means doing something that is not required of you as part of your job or obligations to your customer. But going the extra mile in customer service means doing something special or extra for your customers, even difficult ones, often display extreme gratitude and loyalty when you can show them that they are so important that they are worth going beyond what is required.

That is one of the secrets of providing excellent customer service, demonstrating through your actions that the person coming to you is special and important!

At WebGreeter, we teach, train our reps to do the same! Be cheerful, give the people they are talking to, an extra edge, help them in what they are looking for, improvise.. thus giving us the ability to be at the top of the level, being different than any other.

At LiveAdmins, To provide good live customer support servicesfor online businesses, our Live Operators undergo training suitable for the roles they are assigned and completely act as employees of the businesses they are working for. Live Admins also supply Live Chat services to a site that provides ISP ( internet service providers). The job of Live Operator for this site calls for a very thorough and detailed training program to familiarize the Live Operators with the technicalities associated with the subject.

Website visitors want quick and the right kind of information and that necessitates the right kind of training. Our Live customer support Operators have all the knowledge regarding the product/services and the model of the businesses for which they work. When a Live Operator is not well versed with the product/service knowledge, then a delay in responding to visitors’ queries and providing incorrect information is inevitable, both of which succeed in losing potential customers. The right kind of education and coaching is, therefore, necessary for Live Operators to execute their jobs effectively.

In this instance, the Live Operators are trained in such a manner so that they can skillfully handle customers’ questions such as, “does the site provide mail forwarding service?”, “what are the connection charges, can you change the tariff?” or “what are the contract details, can the conditions change?”. To answer these questions, the Live Operators need to know the business inside out.

Our Live Operators are completely familiar with the services provided by the website and can confidently handle questions concerning these services. As mentioned before, the Live Operators need to familiarize themselves with all the technicalities associated with the subject for this job. Therefore, the Live Operator is someone who has more than a basic IT knowledge. This is so because Live Operators for this site are constantly asked questions such as “can the ISP set me up with my own domain name and provide web space on their server?” or “what security options does the ISP give?”. All this would be gibberish to a layman, which is why the right kind of training is essential.

Although it seems like such a simple decision to make in live customer support, i.e. whether to use a smiley or not, when it comes to chatting live with potential customers this simple decision becomes a tricky one.

Consider the following situations for the many little technicalities involved in live customer support:

Live Customer support On a law website:

Live Greeter: Welcome to Law Firm. How may I help you today?
Web Visitor: my son got arrested last night for a traffic violation. What can I do? Live Greeter: live Chat smily we are here to help.

In the above situation, Live Greeter’s decision to use a smiley was inappropriate for the situation. If the Greeter wanted to show understanding and support, there were many other ways to do it with words rather than using a smiley. For example:

Live Greeter: Welcome to Law Firm. How may I help you today?
Web Visitor: my son got arrested last night for a traffic violation. What can I do? Live Greeter: I’m really sorry to hear that, but don’t worry – we are here to help.

In many cases, it is not the actual business model of live customer support that matters as much as each particular situation. Also, the tone of the web visitor can give many clues to the mood of the conversation. In a live chat, a Greeter must be careful towards these little indications to understand overall mood of the conversation. Consider, for example, the situation below for the same business model but a different type of visitor, situation and overall mood of the conversation:

Live Greeter: Welcome to Law Firm. How may I help you today?
Web Visitor: Hello there! Something hilarious happened yesterday and I got a traffic ticket! I want to fight my ticket … what should I do?
Live Greeter: livechat smily I can totally identify with that, and you’ve come to the right place. Live Greeter: We are here to help you fight your traffic tickets.

In the end, as our experience in training Live Greeters has taught us, there is-not hard and fast rule that can be set for using a smiley or not using one. It all comes down to basic common sense.

Beauty consultants can advise consumers about products according to their skin type and tone, hair type, skin sensitivity etcetera.

Just as the Online Beauty Industry is growing at an unprecedented rate, so will the use of Live Chat in this industry – because personal connection with your online consumers is the way for future growth and success.
Why wait to create that personal connection with your web visitors?

Live customer Support in your website advertising? Does the headline of this article sound strange? Not to me, let me explain. Roles played by advertising agencies and the media are becoming limited, as the target audience for advertisements is becoming resistant to ad messages.

Increasing retailer sophistication, using modem technology, is also demanding a major shift in the approach to advertising. Therefore, advertising needs to go one step further, and bridge this gap by having a dialogue with the potential buyers after they land on the website. In other word, having someone at the website, who provides live customer support to the potential customers and takes the advertising message further needs to become an extension to current advertising strategies.

Imagine the utter potential that is waiting to be exploited in complementing your Advertising campaign through Live customer support. Open your mind to the rising possibilities of individually targeting each and every visitor that comes to your website. Advertising is taking a new turn, stepping into a new horizon.

You place a traditional ad and drive the potential customer to your website. Here’s where everything is taken to the next level – through Live customer support. Our take on it: the aims and objectives for your advertising remain the same – it is the strategy that is changing, which take the message even further. If you’d like to begin with the simple objective of creating a favorable opinion of your product in the potential customer’s mind, then we’ll start with a simple personal touch in a Live customer support.

Picture a Live Human Agent saying, “On a personal note, I had the alloy rims that you are looking at, put into my car, and boy, do they look great!” This conversation can go far, depending on the goal of the advertising campaign and agent’s ability to persuade while being personal at the same time. This kind of rich advertising strategies can get a lot more detailed message across and result in a much more loyal consumer base.

We believe that with the brilliant medium of Live customer support, a personalized one-liner used creatively can create wonders to complement your advertising campaign. To look into the possibilities that this has to offer for your online business, chat with one of our Customer Service Representatives by clicking on the Live Operator button or call us at 312-546­ 4114.

Visitors want quick and the right kind of information and that necessitates the right kind of training. Our live operators have all the knowledge regarding the product/services and the model of the businesses for which they work. When a live operator is not well versed with the product/service knowledge, then a delay in responding to visitors’ queries and providing incorrect information is inevitable, both of which succeed in losing potential customers. The right kind of education and coaching is, therefore, necessary for live operators to execute their jobs effectively.In this instance, the live operators are trained in such a manner so that they can skillfully handle customers’ questions such as, “does the site provide mail forwarding service?”, “what are the connection charges, can you change the tariff?” or “what are the contract details, can the conditions change?”. To answer these questions, the live operators need to know the business inside out.

Our live operators are completely familiar with the services provided by the website and can confidently handle questions concerning these services. As mentioned before, the live operators need to familiarize themselves with all the technicalities associated with the subject for this job. Therefore, the live Operator is someone who has more than a basic IT knowledge. This is so because live operators for this site are constantly asked questions such as “can the ISP set me up with my own domain name and provide web space on their server?” or “what security options does the ISP give?”. All this would be gibberish to a layman, which is why the right kind of training is essential.

In this issue, we are going to turn our headlights onto how WebGreeter is helping Car Dealership Websites speed ahead in the cyber autos market.

The Cyber Age / E-tailing

Website visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to the cyber autos market, emerging from the fact that every other person needs a car, every third person is dealing in cars and (Lord help the buyers!) every fourth dealer has a well established website. So how do you get that frenzied visitor to stay on your website long enough to do the ‘visitor-to-customer’ maneuver, hmmm? Simple, just call in the experts—WebGreeter!

Engaging the E- Drivers:

Our highly trained team of webgreeters know the “right” way to approach your online visitors and engage them in a conversation that is informative yet pleasant. They have the skill to qualify a person who is just browsing the web from a serious buyer and are competent enough to know how to keep the ball rolling.

They help your online visitors in browsing through your inventory, by providing them with the information, tailored to their specific needs from the myriad of content available on your website, and by doing so they achieve the feat of “keeping” the visitors “on your site” and off the others. You’d be surprised to know that a great many number of website visitors willingly leave their contact information with our webgreeters, thus providing the all important lead for an instantaneous pitch.
The transcript of every chat conversation is sent to the website owners as soon as it ends, which allows the website owner / sales team to monitor the conversations.

To view sample live text conversations, click here: Sample Live Chats

Helping the E-Drivers

Our web greeters are doing just that on many dealership websites, such as, Acura, Lexus and Chevy dealerships.
Our greeters enhance the visitors stay on the dealer’s site by engaging a conversation with them. Apart from providing navigational help to the visitors, the webgreeters also aides in scheduling a test drive or a service appointment. This contact number or email is then instantly relayed to the dealer, through text messaging or emails to their PDAs.

The dealers are thus provided a lead which many a times turns into a customer, while increasing the level of customer service

Bringing in “Affordable ‘Human Interaction’

Webgreeter came up with the idea of placing a live person who greets and interacts with the site visitors through a chat based interface in real-time. The services major difference from other live chat providers is that not only does it provide the software but also the trained personnel who sit behind the software. With none of the shortcomings of the call centre based services, it furnishes the e-tailers with an affordable ‘live human interaction’ angle with their site visitors and much more.

Luring in the Elusive

Imagine potential customers queuing into car showrooms to give their contact numbers, well this may sound like every car dealer’s daydream but is actually happening thanks to the WebGreeter service. On these website our web greeters have already turned that daydream to reality. Our web greeters chat with their web site visitors help them browse through the site—no sales pitch (don’t pressure the wary) and when the web visitor gets interested enough to ask for detailed information, our web greeters ask him/her questions provided by the dealership to qualify the visitor and to kindly give his/her contact number so that a more knowledgeable person can callback promptly to give detailed information personally. This information along with the chat transcript is then sent immediately to the dealers. It may surprise many a dealers as it did some of our current customers to know how many visitors are happy to leave their contact info enabling that much desired ‘visitor-to-customer’ conversion.

A Live Sales Person on Your Website

Many web car dealership are realizing that an attractive and comprehensive website is just not enough in this cut-throat competitive cyber market, they need a competitive edge—a discerning ear and a ready and instant response to the buyers queries and needs. All of this is made possible with the help of WebGreeter. Our Greeters not only chat live with the online visitors, give them information, push site content to them but also help the auto dealers provide prompt pre-sales and post-sales customer service, while keeping the dealership open with a real live person greeting every visitor on the website till midnight 12:00AM CST.

Some of the many concerns that only WebGreeters can help your visitors with, once they are on the site.

1. How can you help me do research for my next car purchase?
2. How can you help me buy a new or used car?
3. How can you help me sell my car?
4. Once my car is sold, how do I let you know so you can remove my ad?
5. How do I buy a vehicle through .com?
6. What are your hours of operation?
7. How often is used-car pricing updated?
8. How can I find a list of vehicles with specific features?
And many more to go……..