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Why Did I Get Started with Online Chat?
I knew there had to be a better way to communicate with clients. My emails were stacking up and I had reached my limit with phone tag. Then I realized whenever "I" needed help with something, the first thing I would look for is an online chat feature on the website I was going to for the help. So, I thought why not look for my own online chat to communicate with my own clients?
How Did Live Chat Help My Business?
The results have been so staggering, I have saved myself from having to hire at least one more person because I can carry on as many private conversations one-on-one as my fingers can keep up with typing.
How Popular is Live Chat?
Not very...yet. You really have to introduce people to it and then they're hooked! You're going to start seeing online chat more and more on websites. Why? For several reasons, including:
- Live Chat Offers Immediacy - Because people expect immediate fulfillment when they use the Internet. And, if they have a question, they will grow to expect immediate answers. Live chat offers immediacy.
- Live Chat Offers Anonymity - We started offering live chat on most of the pages of the HereNextYear website. This feature gives visitors the opportunity to talk with one of my helpers before they do business with us. If they don't like what we say, well, chat is anonymous. They can just leave.
- Live Chat Offers Sales Opportunity - If you can converse well with your website visitors and customers and answer their questions, you have a very good chance of producing a sales opportunity.
Our Online Chat Software Selection Criteria
Before we reveal what we feel is the best online chat software for our purpose, I'd like to give you our criteria of how we evaluated more than 20 chat systems to arrive at the one we are using now and recommending to clients.
1. Must be Web-based - We ran into a few software applications that I would be expected to install the software on my own computer or server. But, that would only allow me to use the chat if I was sitting at that particualr computer. We needed a web-based chat system.
2. Must be Affordable - I tracked down some of the high end systems out there used by power-support companies like Authorize.net and HostGator, for example. They are paying hundreds of dollars a month for their online help system. No thanks! The one we found was only $19.95 a month! Now that I could afford to give a whirl.
3. Must Be Able to Customize Look - Many chat systems we found are surprisingly "closed" to customizing much of anything. We needed to have complete control in what headers are displayed and what verbiage is said during the chat process.
4. Customizable Post-Chat Form for Email Capture - After the chat is over, a typical chat support system will ask you to answer a couple of questions regarding the quality of answers that were provided. We needed to be able to customize this form to say what WE wanted it to say, not what the software provider "thinks" we should ask. If you do it right, online chat can serve as an opt-in list builder too!
5. Ease of Setup - I have my programmers working on other projects. I didn't want to bother them with installing some complex system I needed to be able to do it myself and I'm not the most technical bird on the wire!
6. 24 Hour "Chat" Support - If I'm going to install anything, I'm going to need help. And, I don't want to sit on the phone long distance for hours with a support tech. Just let me get on chat and ask my questions and go.
7. Affiliate Program - Once we found the perfect online chat system for our own use, we wanted to be able to promote it to others and get a commission for those recommendations.
The Online Chat Software We Use and Recommend
So, what's the online chat software that passed all these tests? Click the banner below to find out and start a 10-day FREE account to give it a try!
This is my affiliate link so, yes, I'll get a couple of bucks if you start to pay for it. But, if you DO sign-up, let me know and I will send an email to you with the very strategies I discovered along the way so online chat started to MAKE me money instead of just cost mone.
What Results Have Others Had?
So far, the few people that I've personally demoed the system to and really nudged, urged, or sort of demanded them to give it a try have all reported the same thing; that enough sales were made in the first two weeks to pay for the entire year!
Try It Now!
Personally, I use this online chat now with all of my clients. It's better than something like AIM because I can brand the chat area and it's a secure connection. Best of all, online chat is a huge selling item. Give it a try. I'm not saying online chat will work for everyone, but you won't know until you try.
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