How do you feel about live chat tools on landing pages?
Do you get valuable feedback/engagement from them?
Do you find them annoying when they pop up on websites you browse?
I just started experimenting with crisp.chat myself and curious to hear others experiences.
I don't like them at all and find them incredibly annoying. Especially the ones that animate and make sounds. I would much rather you have a simple to access support area. If someone needs to get a hold of you, have a prominent area that outlines the best ways to get a hold of support.
Another really annoying thing about chat boxes is that they are often a slow response channel. I've started a chat in the boxes before that says something like "We normally respond in a few hours." It would have been much easier to just get me an email address than "chat support" that doesn't chat and works like email.
If you are not available 24/7 to chat, please don't pretend like you are - that is just frustrating.
100% agree. There are so many pages which are cluttered with useless stuff.
Not to mention the huge cookie banners which could easily be avoided if people stop creepy tracking practices.
I leave every product page at the second annoyance and look out for something else.
And if you REALLY want to get in touch, actual contact emails, phone numbers are buried deep somewhere in the page - if at all.
I don't get it. Just place a phone number or a contact email and respond within a few hours or a day.
Great points – I have limited availability for live chats so I’m considering just listing my email instead. I also get annoyed by live chat popups on other sites. However, I’m wondering if they lower the barrier to entry for asking questions or providing feedback.
I'm developing https://requestrabbit.com which is a support ticketing through custom forms(Customize your form fields). It can be easily embed on websites(Like as in requestrabbit.com).
I love live chat when reaching out as a client looking for support, but when shoved in my face as a perspective client on the home page and no one is even on the other end because of time zone differences is something that could turn me away from the site. Just make sure your site has the information I need and can get it myself, and leave that attention grabbing distractions out of the marketing site.
Interesting, thanks! I get really annoyed by live chats shoved in my face too. The one on my landing page doesn’t open automatically and is pretty minimal. Still not sure of its usefulness though over just leaving my email.
Live chat should be something that I have to seek for myself.
Not shoved in my face, for no reason, unprompted and unsolicited, as I go about my business.
Agree 100%
As a user if there is not a human response on the other end it is usually a turn off.
Also if the person starts reciting a script, that is another turn off.
I like them when they are not auto popping all the time while browsing the page.
It’s nice if the representative is actually online. It’s no fun if it’s just a glorified email form with a sound effect
Well, we launched an alternative approach. A public group live chat. Site visitors can publicly chat with each other instead of privately chatting with site representatives only.
In many cases, this helps increase the engagement (benefit for the site owners) and makes visitors feel part of a community (benefit for the visitors, which is your actual question).
Our tool is called now4real.com
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
Cool but kind of scary at the same time.
You are right. Site owners need to make this paradigm shift and open up their sites to their communities. A bit scary, yes, but there are many mechanisms included to reduce the risks (ephemeral messages, no anonymous posting, limited message length, message throttling, automatic profanity filter, custom word filter, manual moderation, user muting, user reporting, and more).
Our goal is to transform any normal web page into a virtual place where people can meet. With just one line of code. But I agree, it requires a bit of courage to site owners...
In a previous life I was the senior developer of an e-commerce agency. Personally handled ~20 clients.
Every single client either had or wanted a live chat widget. They got a decent amount of use as we had quite a few tickets come in with copies of conversations.
They were also front-line support for our server providers and they helped resolve most of the quick issues with buttons that we weren't allowed to press, or else they helped create tickets and escalate them.
All this is to say that I believe that they have a place.
Good to know, thanks!
I dont like it actually because the animations are really distracting
but it makes sense if you have inbound users signing upto large subscriptions tho, you want to make it seamless
i noticed ProductHunt also has it but im sure theyre getting a great deal lol
Hi Sean!
This is an interesting topic. My thoughts:
Me and many of my friends hate Live Chat:
Why are you forcing visitors to use something new? They already have great communication channels!
That is why we created https://Boei.help It helps you chat with website visitors through their favorite channels. Now you can keep the conversation going even after they’ve left your site.
We can start revolution on customer service. What do you think?