The Social Media Marketer

Social Media Software: Should You Add Live Chat to Your Site?

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The other night, I was trying to make my monthly arrangements to pay my cable bill online, and once again, I was just flattened by all the choices on the company's website.

Unfortunately, the cable bill arrangements are a monthly necessity, because I'm never really sure from month to month just what to expect, and I went to the website so that I could avoid the dreaded telephone line.

You know how it goes. "Push one if you want to pay your bill. Push two if you want to pay your neighbor's bill. Push three if you have an emergency. Push four if you have a problem with your television, Push five...push six."

Funny how they don't have an option to push if you just want to throw your TV out the window and be done with it all.

So, to avoid that call, I thought I'd hit the website, and it was just as confusing, until I saw these blessed words "Live Chat With An Assistant."  I hit the button and within minutes, I was not only chatting with an assistant, but I learned that there was an error on my bill and they were going to fix it!

Needless to say, I'm a convert. Bring on the live chat!

Yes, live chat can be a great addition to any website - if the chat screen is done right.  If you're offering a service or product that might lend itself to further questions, a live chat option and a knowledgeable staff to man that live chat can be a godsend to users.

It will also lead people to tell others about your service, and before long, your site will be the place others head to.  That is, if you use the live chat properly. There is the other side of the spectrum, and that's the intrusive live chat screens.

Those are the ones that pop up when you're trying to leave a website.
"Wait! Wait! Don't you want to hear more? Don't leave yet! A live operator is waiting to talk to you!" it shrieks in an annoying popup box that won't go away.

The designers of these websites have forgotten what we all learned as children - don't speak until you're spoken to - and don't interrupt.  If you're considering adding live chat as part of your social media software, remember these tips:

• Don't use annoying popup windows.

• Use only chat software that comes on when the consumer wants to talk, not as a way to keep them on a site where they don't want to be.

• Man your chat capabilities with people who know what they're talking about. Don't just hire warm bodies to keep the windows open. If you don't have live people to chat with, then the room is little more than a fancy FAQ option.

• Make it easy to use. Asking your site's users to click through several windows is just plain rude and likely to make them leave.

• Make it respond quickly. If you make most customers wait longer than a couple of minutes, they'll just get fed up and leave.

Studies have shown that customers like personal interaction when they're online. And why not? After all, the Internet is for communication.