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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    United Kingdom
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    301

    Live chat on web sites, annoying?

    Hey

    What do you guys think when you see live chat on a site? do you ever use it? Would you talk to the person on the other end if they sent a chat request to you?

    Just want to know peoples general opinion on this.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    I personally hate livechat.
    Whenever someone attempts to "initiate" a chat with me, I normally ask them A/S/L and what they're wearing at that time.

    Most ignore it and disappear!
    Works for the both of us.

    I also hate livechat in general though, being what I would consider a "tech" myself (client representative): I've had to use livechat in the past and it's one of the least productive methods of resolving an issue or even communicating that theres an issue.

    Phones are twice as unproductive though.
    Tickets will be king forever, hopefully.

  3. #3
    Hello, intek

    I think from expirence and seeing other companys, I think live chat has came a long way. It is a very usefull tool to communicate with someone anywhere any time in the world. The same thing with a telephone, but lets say that a person dont have long distance and he wants quick answers to his questions right away, you can assist that person with live chat. Submiting Tickets to me is good but how about those that dont have the time or if he has an emergency what would he do wait a while ? No that person will take his questions and concerns to the next company!

    Thanks

  4. I think it is a great idea. If I'm greeted by a chat request it can make the experience seem friendlier and as I don’t come across it very often it gives me a reason to remember them over other sites I might have come across.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    If you want to annoy me, add a popup live chat thingy like Rackspace has to your site. The effect is guaranteed.

    What do you guys think when you see live chat on a site? do you ever use it?
    The short answer is very rarely.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Jakarta, Indonesia
    Posts
    9
    you can try using Yahoo Messenger if your client needs you...

    put your YM status in your website page.. fast enough
    "Knowledge is power..." (Sir Francis Bacon)

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
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    3,690
    Ours is "away" most of the time. I tend to keep it that way on purpose as Ive been known to leave and forgot I had it "on" (ugh!)
    Email works best for us
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Smade's Inn
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    1,023
    I hate live chat support. I even hate phone support. Tickets and email are the two best forms of support in my opinion. Sometimes it takes time to run tests to figure out just what the problem is, and the whole time your working hard on testing the customer is sitting there getting less friendly as time goes on because he wanted an answer 10 seconds before he typed it.

    I think live chat support just leads to anger that wouldn't have occured if the user had used the ticket system.
    WHT is now used as the Universal Hosting Helpdesk.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Portland, Oregon
    Posts
    394
    I would have to agree with Zeyr. I much rather use tickets and emails for support. I would use live chat if I had a few sales questions but I do not like it when companies try to initiate a chat.
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  10. #10
    It has its pros and cons...

    I make it a point to NEVER initate a chat unless a user does. I know how annoying it is when someone does it to me!

    I think the best use of Live Chat is for Pre-Sales support. If the user has a question prior to signing up, they can get fast answers that way
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  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    New York City
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    7,406
    Originally posted by David
    I personally hate livechat.
    Whenever someone attempts to "initiate" a chat with me, I normally ask them A/S/L and what they're wearing at that time.

    Most ignore it and disappear!
    Works for the both of us.

    I also hate livechat in general though, being what I would consider a "tech" myself (client representative): I've had to use livechat in the past and it's one of the least productive methods of resolving an issue or even communicating that theres an issue.

    Phones are twice as unproductive though.
    Tickets will be king forever, hopefully.
    Completely agree with you on this one
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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    USA
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    1,379
    I do like live chat, and it's very good if its proper use is defined. I tell our staff not to initiate a chat with visitors on the site, and pretend the feature is not there. Further, if the issue is even somewhat technical and requires more than a few minutes of enquiry, I ask them to open a ticket so we can look at the issue further.

    Basically, we reserve live chat for presales and level1 support.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Victoria, Australia
    Posts
    36,941
    It's a sure way to lose me. If I am browsing your site, it is because I may show some interest, but I would like to browse in peace. If I want to chat to someone, I will hit the chat button. But if you pop one up, I am gone...sorry I will take my business to a less intrusive host.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
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    Proud She-Geek
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    I always saw site-initiated live chat requests as the equivilant of a salesperson coming up to me in a department store.

    If I want your help with something - I'll ask!
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  15. #15
    Originally posted by P-nut
    I always saw site-initiated live chat requests as the equivilant of a salesperson coming up to me in a department store.

    If I want your help with something - I'll ask!
    I agree with you completely. And I would never want to do that to my potential clients.

  16. #16
    live chat is only helpful for support, not sales

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    USA
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    1,379
    Originally posted by vsa4197
    live chat is only helpful for support, not sales
    I completely, 100% disagree. Live chat is wonderful for presales because while people are browsing the site, they might have a quick question for which they don't want to go through opening a ticket, waiting for a response, etc. But support often requires time to troubleshoot the issue and so live chat definitely isn't very useful for anything more than level1 support as I've mentioned.

  18. #18
    Originally posted by vsa4197
    live chat is only helpful for support, not sales
    Would you care to elaborate on that a little more?!?!?!?

    I've had plenty of clients that has used our live support features to ask questions pertaining to their requirements prior to signing up with us. Its been a useful tool for pre-sales support!
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  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    9,264
    Livechat is more useful to sales: Support is just a hassle via livechat unless it's just a quick question.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Earth
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    8,154
    Originally posted by David
    Livechat is more useful to sales: Support is just a hassle via livechat unless it's just a quick question.
    I agree. A few technical questions are ok, but problem solving should be done through helpdesk.

    If a live chat session is initiated by an operator, that is annoying

  21. #21
    Hi,

    Live chat is only useful if you find solution of your problem online. Most of the hosting company request you to raise a support ticket in their live chat.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    West Michigan, USA
    Posts
    9,687
    We've been using IRC support for about 3 years. I can say its absolutely more efficient than phone or ticket support. You get to ask follow up questions in real time, without having to wait for a response in a ticket....and a customer can copy/paste error messages or print out the chat session to refer to later. There are times when we have to tell a client to put in a helpdesk ticket so that our admin can look at an issue...but that's rare.

    You can do ALOT of support via IRC...and sales as well. You guys can dismiss it as a good support method if you want, but I believe it is absolutely the best thing we've ever added to our services.

    --Tina
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  23. #23
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    Jan 2005
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    USA
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    Tina, that's interesting. The only thing about that is that I like any support sessions to be logged for any future reference, which isn't done in IRC.

  24. #24
    Originally posted by AH-Tina
    You guys can dismiss it as a good support method if you want, but I believe it is absolutely the best thing we've ever added to our services.

    --Tina
    Tina...

    I'm not extremely familar with IRC, but is there much of a difference between IRC and say AIM, MSN, or ICQ?

    Thanks!
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  25. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Location
    West Michigan, USA
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    9,687
    Originally posted by Hostultrix-Brandon
    Tina, that's interesting. The only thing about that is that I like any support sessions to be logged for any future reference, which isn't done in IRC.

    It most certainly is logged.

    --Tina
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