Hosters,

Have you found offering Live Chat services worth the effort and time??

I used to offer support via chat. However, the company I work for now does not.

What are your thoughts on this?

I personally have mixed feelings. If you are thinking of offering real telephone support then I would think that live support (chat) would be an ideal alternative. You get more for your money. But it doesn't work for everyone.

I find it useful. Not many people use it, but it is a good sales tool because the customer knows someone will be there

I think Live Support is great. Especially when it says "Available" on the site!
For example, if someone places an order but they are not sure if it went through, it is nice to pop in to live chat and ask about it.

I think most people agree that Live Chat is a good tool for Sales. But, what about general support?

For general support, live chat can do what it can do, but I would not recommend it as a primary form of support. It is nice for those quick-question type things, but for official support, ticketing system (like ClientExec, etc..) is the way to go IMO.

I have a free account with Get1on1. My account only has one operator, which is usually me. I have not had many requests through it, but sometimes find it hard to man. I have had customers leave me message through it when I am not on-line, so I know they are there.

I see more efficient tools right in my cPanel, just haven't had the time to set them up.

I believe Live Chat serves more for the Sales side as I actually prefer my customers submit a ticket, this way I can track issues/concerns more easily for my client.

JM2C

I use it for live sales chat and most customers who request a chat, click on it when they first land at our site and ask questions about our services because they might not feel like taking the time to surf through our website. They usually know what they want and are looking for a quick answer so they can make a decision or move on.

I prefer a ticket system for support because it is much more efficient and you have a paper trail of support issues. If we need more information from the client or the situation is to lengthy to describe in a ticket, we will call the client.

I agree with wcws. We use it mostly for presale questions and prefer the ticket system for support related questions; not that we would refuse to answer any questions from our customers if they so choose to use the live system.

Live chat is important for my business, it has helped in finalizing sales, some potential clients prefer to have a live chat and get their questions answered on the spot instead of sending an email and waiting for a reply, why ignore this certain percentage of your visitor's ?

Not every issues can be solved on phone so live chat is middle way between phone and ticket support

I would have to agree with premiush from his post, that a Live Chat may help seal the deal faster.

In this highly competitive field, people do not have to wait for respones from one company or another, because in another five minutes of searching, they will likely find a company to answer them.

I don't have something saying "I'm online, come chat with me" on my website, but I run all major IM platforms. I rarely get any emails/tickets. I think people would rather wait and speak to someone through MSN or similar.

I actually use various IM clients to create more of a "you are a person" feeling with the customer.

IM tends to be effective but once you grow it will turn into a problem. I have a number of clients that love to contact me via IM even when a trouble ticket solutions exsists.