Low Cost Live Chat Software

[CAORYAN]

I'm by no means insinuating that the bottom corner should be the only form of advertising the chat. I agree that you need to constantly have the offer of chat in front of them. I'm only suggesting the tight integration of chat with the site.

I would be interested in hearing your suggestions. We get some of our best ideas from the dealers. If you want something customized we offer that as do most chat providers. we did some custom work for Joe, you can see it at htttp://www.usedcarking.com. Tell me what you think. It integrates very well with his site.

He is obviously playing with the dropin being on the home page so you may or may not see it there. Oh, there it is....give it about 15 to 30 seconds.

 

[jthacker]

Here's my issue with the way that I'm seeing chat done now (and there is a good chance that I'm COMPLETELY wrong about my assumptions):

What we are offering people is an unknown. When they click on that business card or button, they have no idea what to expect next except that they may or may not be chatting with someone live. They don't know what that interface is gonna look like or if it's gonna open other windows or if it's even real. My suggestion is that we take that fear away. We frame in chat somehow so it's already visible and working right in front of them. Instead of the chat popping up in a 3rd party window, why not automatically connect to a chat and have it framed into our websites offering personalized expertise.

 

[CAORYAN]

I totally get what your saying, I do. However, that presents a lot of problems. Based on what you have said you are describing more of a chat room type of environment. I am in sales but I am computer savvy and not sure it is an option to display live chat and have individual conversations with multiple users on the same page and keep the conversations separate. Besides the technology problems I think you are on to something. I have seen a chat company that offers something like that to a degree. It's a chat window that they automate a typed message but it launches a browser to start a chat.

From my experience most people know what chat is going to do or are not intimidated by it. We get 22,000 chats a week through just our company. I would say that probably a great deal more then everyone else but I am sure all will agree that people have embraced chat and it is a fairly simple tool to use. I have used chat for ebay, nordstrom, my hosting company, car dealers, facebook, now myspace, msn and google.

 

[Shereef]

July was a record Chat and Lead volume month. How many of you out there using Live Chat on your websites experienced record volume and leads? I bet it was a bunch of you. With 6 Billion IM's and Chats a day in the U.S. the way we are communicating has really changed. Ryan how was your month?

Shereef

 

[NickCybela]

Benny,

Generally it's best to offer someone the opportunity to chat without being invasive to their browsing. Consider the mass rioting that happened when people learned that Facebook was using their personal information to target ads. Of course, as marketers we realize that ALL websites do this but the average visitor has no clue. Therefore, they find it alarming when they're automatically placed into a chat.


I believe the point the other chat providers are trying to make is that this should be triggered by a clearly visible button. For example, a red gradient that encourage users with questions to "Chat Now" instead of the smaller graphic on Facebook. It's also easily revised to a "We noticed you might need some help, would you like to chat with us?" sort of message.

You're absolutely right that usability and design plays a huge factor in the experience. And they're right that there has to be a balance of sales as well.

Ryan, as an agency we actually recommend ContactAtOnce because of their integration to CarSoup.com and Cars.com. We're assuming AutoTrader will follow suit sometime in the near future. Plus, the fact that they're integrated into the automotive vertical can be an advantage.

I was offering a personal recommendation on ActivaLive because our analytics showed much higher leads produced from a custom developed, integrated solution than a plugin. However, it ultimately gets down to the processes in the store and level of expertise available. It definitely took a LOT more work to get there.

 

[Nathan Calderon]

Great discussion guys-

Here is a study that took into account the color, button vs. banner, static vs. moving text, and website placement for live chat engagement.

Live Chat Button Analysis

The goal behind the study was to see what would increase the number of people clicking on the live chat button to capture more prospective customers browsing the dealerships website. Also, at the end of the study a short survey was conducted to gather some consumer perspective on how to effectively engage consumers in live chat.

 

[CAORYAN]

Shereef, I am not sure yet of the total numbers but yes we are seeing a tremendous amount of growth in chats/IM's. Of course there has always been in increase. I think with the Cash for Clunkers deal and people having a lot of questions before jumping into it caused a spike in chats across the board. Proves a point right, people have questions and they want to ask. Dealers have the details to the problems they are trying to solve.

An average week Contact At Once delivers around 5,000 chats daily to dealers. Thats a big number!

I have a great video I may or may not had shared before but I think it's helpful Dealer Digest Daily Video

I think you will be surprised as to how many providers will be launching chat in the next 12 months. The most recent is carsdirect.com my old employer. We just made a deal with them last week. They will be rolling out soon.

We spend a lot of time studying the science of chat button and drop-ins etc....It seems the more annoying the more productive as long as it can be x'ed out. You never want to cover text and not give the option for cancelling the movement.

Nick, Thanks for the business we appreciate it. If there is anything we can ever help you with please feel free to let us know. A lot is changing with our product over the next few months (in a good way). No hard feelings about you sending dealers elsewhere and I would love to speak to you some time.


Ryan

 

[CAORYAN]

Great discussion guys-

Here is a study that took into account the color, button vs. banner, static vs. moving text, and website placement for live chat engagement.

Live Chat Button Analysis

The goal behind the study was to see what would increase the number of people clicking on the live chat button to capture more prospective customers browsing the dealerships website. Also, at the end of the study a short survey was conducted to gather some consumer perspective on how to effectively engage consumers in live chat.

Great info! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Nathan Calderon]

Thanks Ryan, same to you. There are a lot of videos on there with some great insight.

 

[todd.smith]

Jeremy,

Great idea. I think that having the chat imbedded would prove interesting yet complicated for a number of reasons. I have experimented with this before and I attached a quick screen shot for you. I think their is a balance in the middle. Letting shoppers post their first question in a window like the example shown.

Anyway just wanted to share that anything is possible. The question is how much additional value will it lend to the online shopper experience.

Todd