Live Chat on Hosting Sites

F

Freckled

New member
I have just put a live chat up on my hosting site. I was just curious for those of you that already have it what your experience with it has been? Do you get a lot of perverts just wanting to chat? Do many people use it? Has it helped your sales?
Also do some of you forget to turn it on? How many of you leave it as on,even though you aren't really manning it at that time?

Would love some feedback on this issue. Thanks
 
Good questions Freckled
I used to have live chat up but I dont have time as I got a huge amount of requests and it was a lot easier to manage things using email/tickets.
It is very good for sales though if you can talk with prospective customers when they are thinking of signing up with you though.

Never got any perverts on live chat though haha
Think they would go to yahoo or something rather than sales/support personnel on a hosting site hehe
Yep, a lot of people used it when I had it.
Great for boosting sales but it does take a lot of your time, useful if you have someone hired for sales (I just hired two people for sales so Im bringing live chat back to help for the sales aspect)
I forgot to turn it on all the time until I set it to my homepage, very easy to forget when you have a lot to do.
I leave it on even if Im not at the computer its running, then I leave my sound on and most programs have an option to make a sound when someone requests a chat session

Hope that helps :)
 
I usually just do it from AIM, MSN, or Yahoo. It seems that some live chat systems do pop-ups, and that can really annoy people :p
 
Yeah the one I am using has sound on it which I do like as well as referral tracking and such which I really like, especially if they come from a current customers site or forum, I can say hey by the way so and so will get a referral bonus. That is if they sign up. Or if I am offering a sale for a forum member.

I am not comfortable enough to leave my AIM, Yahoo etc names on my site, because of perverts, that is why I went with the chat I am using as that is the only way they can reach me other than the contact form unless they are a customer. May change that in the future.

I would love to hire some help down the road just need to build up a bit more and get moved back to US, would rather hire locally to where I am.

Great ideas though and hope to see more posts here about everyone's experiences.
 
I use our MSN,AIM names. I also use e-mail and helpdesk. But, most people e-mail me with support issues and not support.. :) I seem to find the live help things annoying, no one would ever use it on my site I think, so why waste money on a nice one?
 
It would really help with sales Max
I think that live help is well worth the price, the sales it brings in makes it well worth the cost.
I dont like making my IM info public, too many people would be contacting me and I know it would take a lot of my time.
You get one person asking for something every few minutes, they might think their questions are easy and wont take long to answer, but when you have 5 people doing the same thing it does tend to distract you
 
I know if someone had live chat on their site and another host didnt, i would most likely go with the one with the live support.
As long as they are online at the same time as me that is ;)

If I can talk with someone from the company online I feel a lot more secure about giving them my money and hosting my site with them than if I cant talk to anyone in real time
 
Good points Leo, see I try to remember what I wanted as a customer, I never used chat.
I called if it was an extreme emergency
and the rest was email or support tickets

So this live chat is new for me to offer on the site, I would still never use it as a customer, but if it makes customers happy I am all for it.
 
Frecked, if you do decide on using a live chat program, I'd recommend comparing HCL as well.

This app can certainly hold it's place with the commercial $$ apps. It's free, comes with a tt module and a plethora of features.

They do have a $30 WinApp (not required), but it is well worth it; it's price is still cheaper than others.

Not a pusher, just a very satisfied customer. my $.02
 
I use Live Support it very nice it on everyday also & plus now we have our own Instant Messenger also :)
 
That HCL looks really good Alex!
You should add that to the directory here if its not already tehre:
www.hostingrefuge.com/directory/
Im sure a lot of people would love the program.
Cant believe its free!

Great price for the win app too.
Is there a license for the win app or something?Can it only be used on the one PC or on more if you have a local network?

Thanks :)
 
RobAPI said:
Great price for the win app too.
Is there a license for the win app or something?Can it only be used on the one PC or on more if you have a local network?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a real usefull app with many features. In regards to the WinApp, yes it is a license but you can install it in as many computers as you wish (in other words, give it to your support guys). As long as it is used in conjunction with the same domain name.

btw - I'll mention to the Author about the directory. Didn't even know that HostingRefuge has it... I hate being a newbie!!!
 
Hey Alex, thanks for the tip. I actually did install that one as it is bundled with Fantastico, but went with another live chat for a test that also was in fantastico. Will have to say I like the interface of HCL better just haven't tried it yet.
 
I just thought I would pop in here and give a review on what I tried and what I think of it so far.

First of all I love it. I installed Crafty Syntax (free) and liked the features as it shows you who is on the site, where they came from, what they are looking at, whether they have opened your site in multiple windows and how long they are there.

Then I thought wow this is a great program, I will look into purchasing one and get even more features, wrong I was. I bought the one from Star Develop and it doesn't nearly have the features I like at all, (Sell if for half price if someone wants it by the way) And they never sent me the log in for the forum so I could ask about some things.

So I put crafty back on and will donate to his software.

I have only have one stupid person come on and try to chat, the others were all about business. Have sales increased because of it, probably not, but I have been able to make sure a couple current clients got a referral bonus because the buyer did come in off a link from their site and they appreciated that.

So if you are thinking about it, I think it is worth it, just remember to turn it off if you aren't on. :) Took me a few days to remember that.
 
Pfeugh, MaTrIx. You're gonna suck all the fun out of things, aren't you? :D

Thanks for the URL!

Though any of these LiveChats sound a bit like cat toys for geeks: "Oooooo, now watch the screen closely to see if anything moves!"
 
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