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Bernard Louvat is the CEO of inQ: a leading developer of chat marketing solutions for e-commerce websites. Louvat is also co-founder and served as CEO of Evolution Robotics, Inc., the leading provider of low-cost robotics technology solutions licensed to the consumer electronics and retail industries. Previously, Bernard was Chief Executive Officer and Founder of BizBuyer.com and served as a General Manager at CitySearch.

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Taking Care of Business, One Customer at a Time

Written on
April 18th 2006
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by BernardLouvat  |
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An online salesperson can create a dynamic, one-on-one interactive sales process that neither web design nor technology can. This creates a better online experience for the consumer because it enables product expertise to be dispensed in real-time and sits at the consumer’s fingertips on the webpage itself.

The best technology to create this dialogue between the online consumer and the salesperson is live chat. Live chat (also called IM or Instant Messaging) makes possible the important one-on-one, real time dialogue between the consumer and the salesperson that I mentioned above. The Chat Box, as it appears on any site, is a flexible tool: it can be accessible via a click-to-chat function, or can be launched based on business rules designed to determine the online consumer’s readiness to receive assistance in their buying experience. The consumer has to opt-in to the chat and can abandon it or close the chat window at anytime, leaving them in control of their experience.

Most commonly, businesses deploy chat to increase revenue and sell more items and services. In these cases, live chat can be used to pitch a product on a product page, in an online ad unit, or when the consumer exits the website without completing the transaction. Live chat can also be deployed at the beginning of the checkout process to cross-sell items complementary to the one(s) already in a shopper’s cart (for example: accessories, or extended service plans) or to pitch a promotion to increase the size of the cart (”Buy 2 items and get the third free”; “Free shipping if you buy $50 worth of goods”). In every case, live chat can increase revenue by at least 50% versus static executions.

Live chat can also be used to create different calls to action, such as registering on a website, sharing contact information to receive a call from a product specialist or signing up for an email newsletter. Using live chat successfully during checkout can reduce cart abandonment by offering assistance to online consumers and answering their questions about security, privacy and shipping, or by offering incentives to complete their purchase. Live chat is also effective on the post transaction page as well (i.e., on the Thank You page or the order confirmation page) to pitch contextual third party offers.

As you can see, there are many situations in which live chat is effective in creating a better relationship with customers. But it is important to be well informed when adopting this solution: Companies with a Web presence should seek turnkey live chat sales and care solutions that utilize software, trained reps and online marketing expertise; businesses deploying live chat to websites need to understand the complexities of online sales to assist online consumers and create that all important call-to-action.

The interactive space may have changed much, but it hasn’t changed everything. If you are a business looking to boost your online sales and marketing activities, think about how you are using sales offline, and then replicate these successes online… with live chat.



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