When looking for a live chat provider, it's wise to use caution. Live chat has quickly risen in popularity, and too many providers are trying to get in on the game—even if they have no idea what they're doing.
How We Picked Our Recommended Live Chat Provider
At Foster Web Marketing, we recommend the live chat company Ngage. To find the best live chat option for our clients, we vetted many possible companies, and we would like to share the top three deciding factors we used to choose a live chat provider:
- The company must test constantly. A chat provider should spend much of their time testing the effectiveness of their product. They should be on the lookout for issues with their product and alert you when they believe that changes should be made. Example: Ngage was running tests on the optimal pop-up times for the chat window. They found that decreasing the pop-up time led to a 10 percent increase in chats. This led to changes in pop-up times for all of their clients, and we reaped the benefits.
- They must listen to their clients. Your live chat provider may be the best in the business, but if they don't listen to their clients, they aren't doing their job. The company you choose to run the live chat for your website should be receptive to your opinions and willing to work you with on a solution. Example: When we expressed concern over the size of the live chat pop-up on our mobile site, Ngage worked with us to make it smaller. This met our needs and tested well—problem solved.
- They should provide you with chat transcripts in a timely manner. It's important that you know what's going on when people use the chat feature on your website. Top-notch live chat providers should make every single chat transcript available to you. This allows you to see exactly what questions site visitors are asking and ensures that the live chat operators are answering them to your satisfaction. Example: In DSS, we have a built-in feature that allows you to view all live-chat transcripts. For those who don't use DSS, the company emails transcripts to their clients.
We hope that our experience in choosing the best live chat provider for our company will help you find the best provider for yours. If you're interested in adding live chat, please call 888-886-0939. We would love to speak with you about the power of live chat and its importance in improving your website’s conversion rates.