Do you consider live chat an asset?

I have been wondering this for some time. I am on the fence of whether or not I should use it myself. I see the benefits of having it but it will just be another thing that adds weight to my site.

Do you think having a live chat is an asset worth having or is it something I should just pass on?
 
Why not. It's always good to have something like this. Especially if you have a lot of clients and they are opening tickets like crazy.
 
In short, yes, a live chat is considered to be a customer benefit.

I am not sure what you mean by it adding "weight" to your website though as there are plenty quick and light solutions on the market.

My suggestion, however, is not to offer a live chat if you do not know what kind of chat it is going to be (sales/support/etc) OR if you don't have the resources to make sure someone is always there to respond. Nothing will spoil the first impression and the reputation of your company as a dead chat, especially during work hours. It can get worse if clients experience it repeatedly.

Another point is to understand how that live chat will work within your system. How will it be integrated into your CRM? Will it even be integrated? Imagine how many people might opt to contact you with a sales question over a chat rather than email. Are you ready to let all these potential leads just go, without an opportunity to follow up? If not, then you have to plan for how these will be recorded into your system.
 
In short, yes, a live chat is considered to be a customer benefit.

I am not sure what you mean by it adding "weight" to your website though as there are plenty quick and light solutions on the market.

My suggestion, however, is not to offer a live chat if you do not know what kind of chat it is going to be (sales/support/etc) OR if you don't have the resources to make sure someone is always there to respond. Nothing will spoil the first impression and the reputation of your company as a dead chat, especially during work hours. It can get worse if clients experience it repeatedly.

Another point is to understand how that live chat will work within your system. How will it be integrated into your CRM? Will it even be integrated? Imagine how many people might opt to contact you with a sales question over a chat rather than email. Are you ready to let all these potential leads just go, without an opportunity to follow up? If not, then you have to plan for how these will be recorded into your system.
I agree with Artashes here. Why leave anything on the table for your competition? Prospects look for live chat quite often before they commit to purchasing web hosting packages.
 
i always look for a live chat when i am looking for new servers and then i will always ask a question over live that to

1) To see how quick they reply.
2) To see if they can answer a simple support question.

i will then look for a pre sales support system and then ask a simple question to see how quick they reply to this.
 
In short, yes, a live chat is considered to be a customer benefit.

I am not sure what you mean by it adding "weight" to your website though as there are plenty quick and light solutions on the market.

My suggestion, however, is not to offer a live chat if you do not know what kind of chat it is going to be (sales/support/etc) OR if you don't have the resources to make sure someone is always there to respond. Nothing will spoil the first impression and the reputation of your company as a dead chat, especially during work hours. It can get worse if clients experience it repeatedly.

Another point is to understand how that live chat will work within your system. How will it be integrated into your CRM? Will it even be integrated? Imagine how many people might opt to contact you with a sales question over a chat rather than email. Are you ready to let all these potential leads just go, without an opportunity to follow up? If not, then you have to plan for how these will be recorded into your system.

I just meant making it feel heavy/look heavy. One of my main concerns is that if I were to use one of the automated bot systems, it wouldn't be useful for the possible client. Obviously the best chat support would be 24/7 like I have on some of my sites with real people but it isn't something I can afford right now for the site I am debating on. You have made some good points I will be considering for sure.
 
i always look for a live chat when i am looking for new servers and then i will always ask a question over live that to

1) To see how quick they reply.
2) To see if they can answer a simple support question.

i will then look for a pre sales support system and then ask a simple question to see how quick they reply to this.

Yeah that does make sense. I know on one of my sites it is quite active. I will likely end up having it and just outsourcing to have a few people work underneath me.
 
Live chat is a good asset to have on any website seen as the customer can get additional level 1 information if they can't seem to find it on the initial site
 
These days when most people have mobile phones rather than landlines i would say Live Chat is a major asset to websites as a lot of mobile plans don't include international calls, so how are international clients going to contact you without them racking up huge phone bills.
 
Obviously the best chat support would be 24/7

Yes the best is to have it running 24/7, but this is not always possible. I use tawk.to on all my sites and i am just a 1 may band, but as long as you do not advertise 24/7 LIVE support then you will be fine and as long as you have support times listed then people know when you will be available.
 
I have been wondering this for some time. I am on the fence of whether or not I should use it myself. I see the benefits of having it but it will just be another thing that adds weight to my site.

Do you think having a live chat is an asset worth having or is it something I should just pass on?

Adding weight...depends on what system you use. Every system is going to add at least one second to your time. If the website is able to load quickly, then this won't be an issue.

An asset...yes. It's a perfect tool for pre-sales AND it's very useful if a support issue either needs real-time contact with a customer, or direct clarification to prevent the issue from spanning to multiple responses.
 
I used Live chat only one time and then remove it because of lot of chatting request was coming and customer were ask me to solve technical issue over livechat.

lol.
 
I used Live chat only one time and then remove it because of lot of chatting request was coming and customer were ask me to solve technical issue over livechat.

lol.

all you tell your clients is to submit a ticket for technical issues and any good client will do that.
 
all you tell your clients is to submit a ticket for technical issues and any good client will do that.

True. Even the larger hosts do this.

The customer will come on to chat and they will help for about 5 minutes, and then say this will take longer to resolve, and will open a ticket on behalf of the client. They may include the chat conversation in the ticket or copy your initial question into the ticket.
 
far better to get a client to use support tickets from their clientarea as

1) it logs the ticket and issue against the clients account.

2) It makes it far easier to follow the issue.

3) It provides a point for the client to refer back too if they get the same issue in the future
 
Live chat, for me, is a requirement! But a website having a Live Chat button doesn't mean anything if nobody is ever around, or it's always offline.

We ran 24x7 live chat for over 15 years and it was the best investment. Not just sales chat, but tech support chat. If support took longer than 15 minutes or we needed to document it, then we asked clients to put in a ticket, but Live Chat is what our customers came to expect and depend on.

Today, I use a host that offers live chat. I have another that only offers Live Chat for Sales, but usually when I have a problem, I need an answer, and not a sales question.

If you can man the stations and have the support staff to handle it, then Live Chat is a great option. Even running it just 9-5 while you're around, is a benefit. But longer chat hours would be recommended.

If you can get your ticket responses in less than 15 minutes (and I mean REAL responses, not just "I'll look into it"), then Live Chat should be your next option to offer.
 
Thanks for all your feedback. I will likely implement one then. Any recommendations on which software to use? I have an idea what is out there but not which is considered best.
 
Thanks for all your feedback. I will likely implement one then. Any recommendations on which software to use? I have an idea what is out there but not which is considered best.

The competition in this field is fierce, but you should go with something that is right for you, not necessary what's considered best out there. I don't have direct experience with any live chat applications, but I do know there are a lot of new, interesting and intuitive apps appearing. I've mentioned two in recent history: one from the same maker as the helpdesk I utilize on HD called Freshchat (see thread) and one called HubRocket (see thread), which also happens to be developed by one of our valued long-time members.
 
My 0.02 here:

Live chat clients tend to be more 'gimme gimme gimme' oriented. They are more impatient. For this reason, I've actually thought strongly about tossing it. It doesn't add that much 'benefit' things that often.

Case in point:
Policy is to require a ticket for tracking purposes when a client wants a quote for work. This is in order to track the request, from beginning to end, for thoroughness.

When potential client starts a chat request for these things, and they're redirected to the contact form, it's typically an uphill battle. They don't want to do so, or say "I understand", and never do.

Either that, or the annoying "When will you activate my order, I just placed it like 5 seconds ago" chats. Oy vey...

From personal experience, live chat doesn't work terribly well.
 

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