opinion on chat modules vs live phone support

[Vivid Color Zack]

Looking into the option of having two people sit on computers and run chat support instead of having to have 4 people run the phones. Since 1 person can easily manage 6-8 chat boxes at a time I feel like this would be a more cost effective option. As long as customers were comfortable with the chat support instead of phones.

Also this would be primarily for our resellers, who would mostly have technical questions (file setup, order status, paper questions, etc) so it's not like we would be negotiating deals or really doing a lot of more detailed interaction with the clients. Just quick and dirty. Personally I enjoy chat support better than a maze of phone systems that never gets me what I need and disconnects me when I press 0 too much.

Thoughts?

[vangogh]

I've never liked the chat support. Only once have I ever gone that route to get help and that was because it was the only way to get ahold of the company. It actually turned out ok, but I still would only contact support through live chat as a last option. I can't say why I don't like it though. I think it's to do with the sites that use the chat as a sales tool where they pop up asking to help when you're browsing the site. I always leave right away when a site does that.

I don't see anything wrong with offering the live chat support though. Like I said my one experience using it did turn out well. It's more that it would be further down the list of ways I'd choose to contact support. And again I couldn't really say why that is.

You should offer phone support even if you do offer the live chat. You can try directing people to the live chat, but some people absolutely need to know they can call you if they need to.

With resellers couldn't you just build a good Support section with the usual FAQ and knowledgebase info? Speaking for myself my first choice is to see if I can find the info I need on your site and never contact support at all.

[rezzy]

I think running both could be a good idea, because sometimes placing a call is more conveient then firing up a computer and getting to a site. Allowing more venues for communication is always the best route in my book.

[vangogh]

Allowing more venues for communication is always the best route in my book.

Completely agree. Don't let my comments above lead you to think you shouldn't use the chat support. I don't like it, but that's just me. But do offer phone support. Most people won't automatically pick up the phone to call you, but most do want to know they can.

[rezzy]

I like using chat vs phone. Unless I need to discuss something.

[KristineS]

We do both. We have chat and phone. Most people opt for phone over chat, but a few people have gone for chat.

I tend to be a chat person myself, simply because I hate holding forever and being told that my call is important. In my opinion, the best customer service option would be to offer both methods and give people a choice. I'm a big advocate of having multiple contact avenues. The more ways people can get in touch with you, the more likely it is that they will.

[phanio]

Would suggest you try to run them in tandem and see what gets the best results. Might throw in a survey - post call or post chat - to see what is liked best - as it is your customers who should ultimately choose.

[Harold Mansfield]

I would start with a page of quick and easy tutorials / F.A.Q's since you are answering the same questions over and over again. You only have to do that once and no one needs to run it, just keep it updated.

That may cut costs both ways, and let you only need 1 person for support.

[Spider]

From a customer POV, I have tried chat and telephone for support and chat is by far superior.

1. Wait times have been much shorter - no more than a couple of minutes for chat, up to 30 minutes for telephone.
2. No accent problems - if they can write English I can read it. Perfect English in a heavy accent is not only distracting but often cannot be understood, perfect though it may be. Written English is readable in any accent!
3. Both parties being forced to write their questions and answers minimizes superfluous description, and reduces confusion and misunderstanding.
4. Written exchange is always faster, shorter and clearer.
5. Even with headphones, a telephone call is more cumbersome than a chat session.

Chat every time!

[Vivid Color Zack]

Thanks for all the input guys.

There will always be people that won't read the FAQ's - or issues that are similar to the ones in the FAQ but different enough to require more clarification. An extensive faq section will exist but I don't think it's going to be enough to really deter dumb customers (for lack of a better word, now who is dumb, lol).

We just ordered two voip lines to show up next week, and chat support should be functional on friday. I'll post a thread to help beta test/review the new site when we have everything working right.

I think we're doing a good thing here. I think changing our customer base should be really profitable. I just wish there were more guarantees in life. We'll keep our current clients active but we aren't going after new retail clients to prevent conflicts of interest with our resellers. I'm curious what it will feel like to tell people we don't sell to the public anymore.

[KarenB]

Will your customer support still be from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm PST (12 pm to 9:00 pm EST) or will you be covering a wider time frame?

I like chat. Thre was one website that I was very impressed with. After the chat session was finished, I had the option to have its transcript emailed to me. I found this very helpful, especially with all of my technical questions and their responses.

Personally, I like the immediacy of chat instead of phone. Also, as Spider mentioned, there is sometimes a bit of a 'disconnect' when speaking on the phone.

I agree that offering both phone and chat support would be ideal.

Karen

[vangogh]

It's interesting how many people here like the live chat support. I wouldn't have guessed that. I know my own dislike of it is just a personal thing, but I was thinking more people would still prefer phone support over chat support. I wonder if that's typical or if it's because all of us here are used to typing questions and answers online.

Either way it's interesting and making me rethink chat support.

[KristineS]

We've had chat up for almost a week now and honestly we really thought it would get very little use. Instead we've already had a couple people ask questions via chat. It is nice because they can be on the site and we can direct them to particular pages or products.

I still think having both a phone and a chat option is best. Some customers you'll just never break of making a call.

[Vivid Color Zack]

True about never breaking the habit for some customers, but realistically our demographic is pretty tech savvy, mostly graphic designers and fairly computer literate people. I predict chat would be good enough, I've known companies that only offer phone support when they're not slammed. Well, they don't "not offer" phone support, but you can't get through to speak with anyone except via chat. I'm assuming that's when they are too busy or maybe understaffed? Just a speculation but I think we can get away with a similar thing.

As for times offered, it just depends where we find the demand for it. If I have to be here till 10pm every night... I already am, so I don't mind it. I'm sure I could pay people to work later if we need them to. Mostly I think people expect the 9-5 or 9-6 customer support, they can wait until morning.

[Vivid Color Zack]

So far chat support has been really nice for us. We can easily answer questions in a professional manner without stopping whatever else we're doing. Response has been very good so far (1 week in) and I'm excited to see what happens after everyone receives their sample packs. We sent out over 200 last week!

VOIP phone lines have been ok, they eat a lot more bandwidth than I expected, I think we'll have to add another dsl line for this, which almost defeats the cost benefit of the VOIP lines... almost meaning within a few dollars :(

[vangogh]

Nice to hear chat is working for you. Bummer about the VoIP eating up the bandwidth though.

[KristineS]

Glad to hear your chat is working well. It is a nice feature to have, and more people use it than I would have expected would use it. Guess in the Internet age you have to have as many contact methods as possible.