Should I offer Instant Messager Services as support on my hosting site? Does it look profecional?

Thanks



Chris

Could you also give the reason for your choice,

Chris

I don't think you should provide it as your main source of support but as a source of support it comes in handy. A lot of people use IM, and its quite convenient. However, if you handle a lot of support calls, it can get quite confusing.

Do you think it is profecional?

There was a thread about the limitations of IM, which include... some hard to handle multiple clients at the same time, and hard to have multiple techs answering requests at the same time. It works, of course, to a degree, but has limitations. Also, anything live carries an additional burden. For server down, it is great. For can you help me with thsi nearly unrelated problem or this thing that should have been emailed, it can be a pain in the butt.

One reason I've stopped using IMs is that people expect live forum support, which I simply do *not* offer. It isn't the same, but in many ways it is. I tell people to email mods@wht so that anyone on can handle the issue, when it is convenient and so we have time to look at things.

If it takes you 10 minutes to research a problem, you'll have 5 messages bugging you about it in the meantime. Not exactly what I personally want to deal with.

My first reply from Chicken:) Thanks! Im sorta nering towards getting rid of it!

Chris

First reply from you! :D -note that I just listed some of the bad things. There are, of course, many good points.

I dont mind offering the support:)

I just wonderd if it gave a unprofecional impression ...


Chris

I offer it, havent found it to be a problem for me. I also have live support using humanclick. Thats the kind of service i like to provide. I can handle speaking to about 4 people at a time. Some times if there is a server problem i have to switch them all off though so i can get time to actually fix the server.

Ya I agree with alan. IM and other forms of instant chat are a useful feature to have but when things go wrong they can be more of an annoyance than a help. But on the other hand I have had a few clients who commented on how useful the chat actually was.

Best Regards,
Ronan
RFhost.com
:)

I voted No.

I just don't like them. For reasons already posted above.

We do offer PHPLive on site however, and are quite pleased with the added service it provides.

well, I prefer to provide support only by email. But when there are issues that cant be explained over email, I contact my clients over any of the instant messages I have ;)

works out great...

Thanks guys:)

Originally posted by kunal
well, I prefer to provide support only by email. But when there are issues that cant be explained over email, I contact my clients over any of the instant messages I have ;)

works out great...


I truly hope you meant "helpdesk". ;)

--Tina

What is the most popular Instant messinger. I use MS Messinger for personal stuff. The problem is there are so many, which one would you use? I thought about using messinger for our customers but cant see people wanting to sign up for Hotmail just to talk to support.

its quite close! 8-7!

I use icq for work, msn for my friends that i know in real life.

For those hosts who do offer this as support.
Do your clients sign up with these services specifically for your support, are they happy to do this or would they prefer to email you.

Originally posted by jgriff64
What is the most popular Instant messinger. I use MS Messinger for personal stuff. The problem is there are so many, which one would you use? I thought about using messinger for our customers but cant see people wanting to sign up for Hotmail just to talk to support.

There is one called Trillian that is "supposed" to have AOL IM, MSN IM, ICQ and Yahoo! IM built in .. I could never seem to get it to work though.. It would be an awesome thing if it just worked.. I think you might have to actually have all those 4 programs open plus the Trillian for it to work.. And that is just too much for Winsucks to handle.. So I stick to AIM via Linux. :)

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
I offer it, havent found it to be a problem for me. I also have live support using humanclick. Thats the kind of service i like to provide. I can handle speaking to about 4 people at a time. Some times if there is a server problem i have to switch them all off though so i can get time to actually fix the server.

I prefer support thru' email personally. Ok, if someone asks me a question on ICQ, then I'll help them, but my preference by far is for email support.

We don't use our LiveChat feature much any more because we found we were speaking to people all the time on it, leaving little time for other tings. and you wouldn't believe the amount of people asking how good we thought the script was,

MAtt

Originally posted by OKIHost


There is one called Trillian that is "supposed" to have AOL IM, MSN IM, ICQ and Yahoo! IM built in .. I could never seem to get it to work though.. It would be an awesome thing if it just worked.. I think you might have to actually have all those 4 programs open plus the Trillian for it to work.. And that is just too much for Winsucks to handle.. So I stick to AIM via Linux. :)


We use Trillian and it works great. We provide IM support, as well as many other methods (pager, HelpDesk, toll free number, etc). I think as long as you don't use IMs as your primary support method...it's a great idea!

--Tina

Originally posted by OKIHost


There is one called Trillian that is "supposed" to have AOL IM, MSN IM, ICQ and Yahoo! IM built in .. I could never seem to get it to work though.. It would be an awesome thing if it just worked.. I think you might have to actually have all those 4 programs open plus the Trillian for it to work.. And that is just too much for Winsucks to handle.. So I stick to AIM via Linux. :)

Trillian works great for me. In addition to what you mention, it also has IRC support.

This sounds like it may be worth a look, does anyone have the URL handy. Cheers

Originally posted by jgriff64
This sounds like it may be worth a look, does anyone have the URL handy. Cheers


www.trillian.cc

I don't think we'd ever offer chat type support, at least not with a service like AIM or MSN. That does seem unprofessional to me. Maybe something like what desktopstreaming.com offers.

Anyway, what do you all think about something like liveperson for sales help?

Maybe I should start a new thread?

Originally posted by bitserve
I don't think we'd ever offer chat type support, at least not with a service like AIM or MSN. That does seem unprofessional to me. Maybe something like what desktopstreaming.com offers.

Anyway, what do you all think about something like liveperson for sales help?

Maybe I should start a new thread?

Let's make clear that it's not "chat" as in "several persons" - it's still a "one-to-one" conversation like a phone call.

In my business I do not consider it unprofessional, and customers certainly do not either (they sometimes demand it). However, I'm not a webhost.

I think offering support via instant messengers are a good idea, the customers would like it better since it's much quicker than e-mail. But it only works to your advantage if you think that you're click enough to fix problems on the spot. I provide support via MSN Instant Messenger and ICQ, but I also monitor my e-mails at all times. If I'm not on MSN or ICQ, then the customer would know to either leave me a message on one of these chat clients, or send me an e-mail. It simply speeds up everything.

What is the most popular Instant messinger. I use MS Messinger for personal stuff. The problem is there are so many, which one would you use? I thought about using messinger for our customers but cant see people wanting to sign up for Hotmail just to talk to support.Btw, if I'm not wrong, MSN Instant Messenger actually allows you to register using your own e-mail address, so you don't have to get a Hotmail.com address if you don't want to.

Alan

Originally posted by bitserve
Anyway, what do you all think about something like liveperson for sales help?

If you can make the distinction between sales and support incredibly clear to the clients, it works great. You'll find your international clients who can't use your 800# to be much more satisfied and confident in your services.

We originally used an IRC backend and a combination of java applets to provide real-time support + sales -- but if the same people are manning e-mail support or phones (as ours were), it becomes quickly counter-productive.

Originally posted by jks
Let's make clear that it's not "chat" as in "several persons" - it's still a "one-to-one" conversation like a phone call.

In my business I do not consider it unprofessional, and customers certainly do not either (they sometimes demand it). However, I'm not a webhost.

Everywhere I've ever been, MSN Messenger, AOL IM, ICQ, and YAHOO's messenger are not allowed to be run on people's workstations. Can it be any more unprofessional to force them to install a program that they're not allowed to run, just to talk to you?

That's why I think it's unproffesional. These chat services are used to chat not only to you, but to family and friends. You need something like liveperson to offer a more professional live chat. IMHO.

Originally posted by bitserve

Everywhere I've ever been, MSN Messenger, AOL IM, ICQ, and YAHOO's messenger are not allowed to be run on people's workstations. Can it be any more unprofessional to force them to install a program that they're not allowed to run, just to talk to you?


Eh?

Why shouldn't it be allowed to run ICQ on your workstation? (that doesn't make sense)

Originally posted by jks
Eh?

Why shouldn't it be allowed to run ICQ on your workstation? (that doesn't make sense)

Most employers believe that you should be at your computer to work, not to be chatting with friends and family.

And don't use the argument that you use it to chat with your fellow coworkers about job related stuff, unless you're running your own internal ICQ server. :)

Originally posted by bitserve


Most employers believe that you should be at your computer to work, not to be chatting with friends and family.

And don't use the argument that you use it to chat with your fellow coworkers about job related stuff, unless you're running your own internal ICQ server. :)

Sorry to say it, but that is so typical american.

Why does it sound so impossible, that you could have one ICQ account for home and one for work -- and that the employees actually would be disciplined enough to use his work ICQ account for... work ... and nothing else.

It's just like saying that people shouldn't be allowed phones on the job, because then their wife will be calling every 10 minutes.

Originally posted by jks
Sorry to say it, but that is so typical american.

Why does it sound so impossible, that you could have one ICQ account for home and one for work -- and that the employees actually would be disciplined enough to use his work ICQ account for... work ... and nothing else.

It's just like saying that people shouldn't be allowed phones on the job, because then their wife will be calling every 10 minutes.

Exactly. Most places don't allow personal calls, especially when not on break.

Is this really just in america? I don't think so.

I'm sure that micromanagement is common everywhere where there is management.

Originally posted by bitserve


Exactly. Most places don't allow personal calls, especially when not on break.

Is this really just in america? I don't think so.

I'm sure that micromanagement is common everywhere where there is management.

I think you misunderstood me completely.

I can understand a policy with "personal calls not allowed" (although that's not very common here).

However the analogy I proposed was, that saying "NO IM ON THE JOB" is the same as saying "NO PHONES ON THE JOB".

I.e. not disallowing private calls, but disallowing phones completely.

You see, that you will be disallowing an important work tool - just as IM could potentially be an important work tool.

1-

I know an ISP which supports all his DialUp customers (about 500-1000 I think) with yahoo messenger.

Though messenger has some problems recently but it provides both text and voice chat.

Customers like this kind of support very useful.

2- I use MSN messenger internal service (Using Exchange server) in our central bank office.

We have about 100 persons on our Lan (I have 20 servers, Novell, Unix, Win2k on Compaq Proliant 750 servers) and it is used more than phone.

3- I use ICQ for my web hosting business.

Mac

Get something like LiveHelper (www.invehelper.com) and have all your techs sign in. Then when you get a chat or two it will go to different techs...just an idea..

I believe in last month's Darwin magazine, there's an article on the costs of customer support (not web-hosting specific). The study cited claims that phone (not toll-free), email, and chat support have similar costs (between $5 and $10 per "session"), and that if the customer can easily find the answer to their question via 'self serve' web tools, it's more like twenty cents.

Sorry about that link www.livehelper.com

I do both sales and support via "live chat" for a living. On the sales end it's a lot like a cold call for the visitor since I actively engage them. On a support end the customer usually engages me to answer a question. However if I see them go to the faq page twice I figure they need help and engage them.

The point I would like to make is the customers love the chat service for both sale and support. They are not on your web site 'surfing" they are looking for answers.

Staffing the chat seems to be the real problem. How do you find the time to watch the chat sessions?

Bottom line - the customers love it.

Profit to the bottom line - if you can handle 4 chats at one time vs one phone call or one email your productivity goes way up.