Live Chat increasingly important for online shops

E-tailers increasingly see live chat as an important means of communication. Consumers who are using instant messaging to communicate with e-tailers are more likely to purchase a product.

U.S. e-tailers that use live chat are placing more value in this way of communication. The group of users who label live chat as very important rose from 69 percent in 2009 to 77 percent last year. This comes forward from a survey among two hundred customers of Bold Software LLC, a company that provides software for live chat.

More than half of respondents indicated that consumers who are using instant messaging with the e-tailer were more inclined to purchase a product. This group of retailers could persuade twenty percent of consumers to make a purchase.

Pro-activity is appreciated
The survey found that a proactive chat, in which the e-tailer invites the consumer for an interview, is more effective than when the consumers themselves should start the conversation.
Over 79 percent of e-tailers reported that consumers who had used the proactive chat rated them positively.

Source: Internet Retailer