The Evolution Of Live Help

Live help is experiencing a rebirth

Live help is experiencing a rebirth. As ecommerce was born, traders believed that they should be taking advantage of each and every one of the labor saving advantages of the online approach to shopping. As a result, few ecommerce operations offered any type of live assistance because it simply was not cost effective and there were so many other alternatives such as Frequently Asked Questions and email. Now, however, ecommerce business owners have begun to understand the virtue of the personal touch that live assistance provides to consumers who may be suspicious of sites that do not offer any possibility of human intervention. Plus, the live touch is another way of treating a customer well and can often be a differentiating factor among sellers.

Why people want help

Recent surveys have shown that the top reasons that people look for live help are:

Need additional information

Confused about how to place an order

Return policies are not clearly described.

While some portion of these issues could be addressed in an FAQ section, customer specific issues such as confusion simply require human intervention.

Click to Chat

The most popular live help mechanism to date has been the live chat feature. When a customer needs help, they click on an icon that connects them to a service person who can walk them through their issue. This feature was made popular by software vendors who field thousands of calls from people having technical difficulties. The chat service person can walk them through solutions line by line. Plus, the service person can attend to three or four chats at a time, making the service more cost effective.

Click to Call

Click to call provides shoppers the opportunity to click a button, type in their phone number and receive a direct call from a customer service representative. There is no on hold period and they do not have to navigate touch tone telephone menus. Click to call allows customer service representatives to see where users are on a Website and browse with them to help close more sales and improve service.

Which solution to choose

ATG, an ecommerce applications solution provider, conducted a study of customers and discovered that click to call is the preferred method of communication when certain factors such as higher priced products or services, complexity of questions, errors in the transaction process, and sensitivity of information are involved.

Current Status vs. Demand

ATG also found that sixty seven percent of consumers value the option of having both a live text chat and a live voice conversation to get the help they need when making online purchases. However, only twenty one percent and thirty seven percent of respondents have tried click to call and click to chat respectively, despite indicating a clear preference for live help versus other online service options, such as email inquiries.

As pricing for these higher end services become more affordable, ecommerce business owners should be planning to invest in these technologies that directly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty.

by: Jane Dawson

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