'Net Features : live help

Most Consumers Talking Up Live Chat

Allison Howen — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:30:00 GMT

How effective is your online customer service strategy? If you're not sure, a new Oracle study has revealed some valuable insights into consumers' preferences when it comes to reaching customer service help online.

The Consumer Views of Live Help Online study surveyed consumers from all over the world in regards to their use of customer-service channels. One of the most interesting statistics from the study shows that social media users expect a rapid response to questions or complaints, with more than half of Twitter users anticipating a personal response within two hours of tweeting and 81 percent expecting a same-day response.

However, Facebook users aren’t as impatient, with only 29 percent expecting a response within two hours and 51 percent expecting same-day responses.

Consumers are also relying more on live help, with the study revealing that 57 percent of consumers believe that live help is among the most important features of a website. The findings also show that half of consumers have used live chat or click-to-call, which is an increase from the 37 percent that used live help in 2009.

And according to 38 percent of consumers, live chat is a preferred customer service channel because it enables consumers to multitask while they wait for a response.

"As consumers frequent online sites more than ever, they expect to engage with companies' customer service representatives while they are there," says Mike Webster, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Retail. "Whether the customer visits the company's commerce site or social media page, there must be a clear link to a customer service person that is informed and able to help."

ATG Live Help Options & Chico's

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:56:00 GMT

If you’re an Internet retailer in today’s e-commerce landscape, then you better have a live chat solution available to consumers. Fortunately, these offerings are not in short supply and merchants are realizing their value to conversion.

Case in point, E-commerce solution provider ATG (Art Technology Group) and Web retailer Chicos’s FAS (chicos.com, soma.com) extended their relationship to include a live help strategy by launching ATG’s eStara Click to Chat solution.

“As our business continues to grow, it’s imperative that we are able to provide a seamless cross-channel experience for our Web site visitors,” said Jason Acevedo, director of e-commerce and DTC operations, Chico’s FAS, Inc. “Different customers like to interact with a company in different ways, and therefore we wanted to add features to each of our sites that would help them quickly connect with associates in an efficient way. Each and every customer should have positive experiences with our brands so that they return to our Web stores and physical stores again and again.”

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Velaro Live Help Webinar

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:57:00 GMT

Mark your calendars - live help service provider Velaro is hosting a free webinar, "Take Back Your Customers this Holiday Season" on September 23. As consumers shift their spending online, it's increasingly important for merchants to be proactive and interact with customers during critical conversion points.

The Webinar will provide tips on increasing cross-sell and up-sell rates by enabling sales teams to push relevant, timely and personalized offers to the right customer at the right time.

"Our webinar will show online retailers how to interact with customers at critical times in the sales process," Alex Bloom, President of Velaro, continues, "From initiating a chat session with idle customers, to enabling rules based coupon offers for high-value visitors at critical purchase points. Online retailers must have well thought out engagement processes to compete in today's marketplace."