What is Support Chat?

SupportChat.Net is a CRM tool for websites that gives visitors to the site instant access to a real person if they need support or sales questions. It works like this:

A web site visitor needs to ask a question.

Traditionally they would go to a support section and look up a phone number or email address. If they are lucky enough to get a phone number, they could be on hold for several minutes. If they have to send the question by email, it could take hours or days to resolve with emails flying back and forth.

SupportChat allows companies to have live people assist website visitors through an instant messenger interface. The visitor does not need to install any special software to use it, and neither does the operator which means the operator can work from anywhere.

On each page the company desires, a “smart button” is placed which shows either text or a graphics. If an operator is available, the graphic will indicate so, but if not available, it will also show that and redirect them to the standard (i.e. email) support page.

In addition, the company can connect their database to SupportChat.Net so that they can tell in advance who is on the site, what page they are browsing, and can even initiate a conversation with the customer instead of waiting for the customer to ask for help.

Each operator can handle multiple conversations simultaneously, and can send images and links to the visitor. They can even open new web windows on the visitor’s machine to assist them.

Support Chat is a .Net application written in C# with ASP.Net web pages written in VB.Net. It enables your website to offer one-on-one conversations between your representatives for: closing sales, assisting with searches, answering technical questions, differentiating products, pre-purchase questions, and anywhere a real person could be of use.

Today 90% of online customers prefer human interaction; 41% of consumers would be more likely to transact if human interaction were available. -Jupiter Media Metrix "Online customer service improves the chance of ecommerce by 40-60%" -- USA TODAY

If companies don’t respond to email, the customer will view that as a precursor of what a relationship with that company would be…a whole lot of lost sales are occurring because companies don’t have immediate response -- CNN Interactive

62% of shoppers never complete their purchases due to a lack of real-time customer service according to a survey of 25 top e-commerce sites (Anderson Consulting)

Although many companies initially thought that Web-based commerce would remove people from the selling equation, this has not been the case, as retailing on the Web is still very labor-intensive. Jupiter Communications reports that 90 percent of online customers prefer human interaction, and analyst Melissa Shore forecasts that providing outstanding customer service is going to be even more important now, as there are more customers shopping online who are less comfortable with making online purchases. New online shoppers tend to be especially nervous about completing transactions without human assistance, and often abandon shopping carts out of frustration, or fear of submitting their credit card information over the Web.

Support Chat Benefits

Increase sales

Close more sales and help more customers make purchases by offering live help from your site.

Reduce support costs

Instead paying for multiple phone lines, use your existing internet connection to support your customers. In addition, one operator can handle multiple clients simultaneously.

Integrate with your existing database

Leverage your existing e-commerce store or database to inform operators who is online so that priority customers can be handled first.

Make your e-store a real store

One-on-One contact with your customers gives your website the human touch and establishes more trust in your business.

Save money

Support Chat won't cost you a major amount of your web site's operating budget, just a one-time reasonable fee.