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Low Cost Live Chat Software

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#51
Jason Walter said:
Joe,


I am all about the customers getting the best experience online ...[snip]... However, too many times I will see a dealer with a chat button on their website, yet the have no pictures, no colors, no transmission, no comments etc. My only point is that the content and accuracy of your site is more valuable than the chat tool itself...


Thanks,
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sniff... sniff... Jason, Yer makin' me proud, make sure you step in here more often and speak up. Too many noobs get all wound up about SEO, PPC and more and forget the basics (aka HARD WORK)!
How 'bout the pretty flash sites with EMPTY Clearance pages! hahaha.... :flame:It's easy to eat their lunch.
 
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#52
JoePistell said:
sniff... sniff... Jason, Yer makin' me proud, make sure you step in here more often and speak up. Too many noobs get all wound up about SEO, PPC and more and forget the basics (aka HARD WORK)!
How 'bout the pretty flash sites with EMPTY Clearnace pages! hahaha.... :flame:It's easy to eat their lunch.
Click to expand...

LOL...exactly! Let me know how the new chat tool works for you...I mean that...I would love to hear some stories/stats on it!
 
#54
Jason, you are accurate in your assessment that the chat feature is not the golden key to generate leads and that you must give due diligence to your website. It is a feature, but apart of a larger experience for the consumer. It is more important what happens after the live chat rather than the feature itself. You may find value in the study done on consumer perception and experience entitled The Importance of Speed. This link will bring you to a page with an explanation of the iBase Insights research and you will find the PDF of the study on the right side of the page.
 
#56
Contact at Once ==UPDATE==

Overall, an excellent experience. With results that are slighty better than I had hoped.

We learned to quickly to go for the contact info right out of the gate, but, you ask for 1st name ONLY (anything more makes them uncomfortable), then work your way to the phone number. This one just came in:

Transcript:
[3:50:54 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>Hello, I am Cindy, May I have your 1st name and how may I help you?
[3:51:31 PM]<Customer> Hi I’m Susan
[3:51:53 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>hello Susan
[3:52:24 PM]<Customer> Does the silver G6 have a sunroof?
[3:52:42 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>hold on and I will check
[3:54:19 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>I dont believe this one does but im sure we have one that does
[3:55:02 PM]<Customer>Thank you
[3:55:08 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>would you like to give me your number and I can check.
[3:56:45 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep>would you be interested in looking at this one anyways
[4:21:57 PM]<Customer> yes, Im interested in low mileage,but cant afford more than this amount. My number is 315-477-xxxx.
[4:23:45 PM]<Cindy Sales Rep> Calling you now!
[4:23:14 PM]<Customer>bye

If you look at the time stamps, 20 mins elapse between IMs. When you stay patient, you can see that the shopper keeps the chat window open while shopping and finally "hits the wall" and wants help.

The shopper is in full control of the shopping experience and the Chat tool becomes an "ice breaker" for a person to person connection.
 
#57
I am using that really annoying business card slide down thing. See it at: Used 2007 Saab 9-7X I6 For Sale Near Syracuse NY (slide-down is delayed 45 secs)

The crew at CaO did the art on it to make it look connected to my site. CaO gives you tools to manage that slide-down chat card. You can set the delay before it appears and the place where it appears. Right now, my avg visitor is on a page for 35 seconds, so I set the annoying slide-down-thingy for 45 secs so it smacks the person that's landed on a unit of interest. CaO has many other adjustments to control this card (like number of times viewed, then donot show).

As of this am, after an excellent ROI review of CaO, I am now ready to tinker with an fixed embeded chat button and compare it to the annoying slide-down-thingy:). (let's hope the White Hat method beats the Black Hat slide-down-thingy )
 
#59
I have been with Contact At Once for almost one year now. Here is my observations.....

1) Chat does work but only for dealers committed.
2) Outsourced can work but works best if lead is qualified and forwarded to dealer.
3) ROI is probably higher than any other 3rd party source available
4) All chat companies offer the same features for the most part.
5) Convenience is important....The chat company should be a automotive chat build to make you life easy.
6) Support....These crazy computers these days have a mind of there own sometimes so you need to know that you can count on support.
7) Education, you need to be trained on best practices, software, and processes.
8) Month to month agreement
9) Great rep that will take your call and answer your questions (Automotive savvy)
10) Check to see how many upgrades they have done in recent time to improve the product and whats in the pipeline

Those are some great questions when searching for your chat company.

The data we have shows that more people will contact you via chat and you lose no phone calls. As a matter of fact calls go up as high as 36%. We do however see a decrease in form leads by 3%, it's a fact that less people are filling forms out these days. Check your stats 80% are leaving you, most shopper are landing on your site during work hours monday through friday.

There is a clear cut difference from the dealers that are really putting forth the effort in today's market and those that are not. I am not saying that you will be successful if you are using chat. I am saying from all the dealers I speak to I can tell the difference right off the bat. It is very obvious and I have learned to view myself and the company I work for from the eyes of the auto dealers and I think it has helped me grow and be better at what my boss asks of me.

Everything you do requires effort...some are willing and some are not.
 
#60
Hello everyone. I have been following this blog for a while, and thought I would join in. If anyone has any questions about Live Chat, I would be happy to share my knowledge. I have 3 years experience at running my Live Chat support company, and 25 years in the Car Business. A recent article was written by Car Czar Consulting that will give you their view of what they consider to be the top five companies currently providing service/software for dealer websites. Of course they had some great stuff to say about my company, as well as ActivEngage, ContactAtOnce, and OutSell. They also mention SiteLive, but didn't give them the best review. Here is the link, let me know your thoughts. CarChat24 Raises The “Ante” In Retail Dealer Chat To Include True 24/7 Chat Service | Car Czar Consulting
 
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