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AnchorDesk

Patrick Houston
Chat with me, in person--right from this column

Patrick Houston
Editorial Director, AnchorDesk
Monday, August 18, 2003
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How many times have you gone into a store and found no one--I mean not a single living, breathing, thinking soul--present? Yes, I know, some retail clerks make you wonder. But generally you can collar a warm-blooded biped capable of at least pointing you to the toaster ovens on aisle six, right?

Now, how many times have you been to a Web site and found no one around? Almost always, yes? So even if you need nothing more than a quick answer to a minor question, you're left with a few unsatisfactory options: You can peruse the results of a poor search engine, scroll endlessly through a series of insipid FAQs, or, heaven forbid, wade through an online library.

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WOULDN'T IT be nice if you could just reach a real human being, right then and there--without having to wait two days for an e-mail response, or dig for and dial a customer-service phone number, if there is one?

This is why I want to tell you about a new online application that enables you to chat online, in real time, by embedding a two-way instant messaging capability into any Web site, online ad, or e-mail.

The application is called LiveSiteManager and it comes from a five-year-old, 60-employee company named LiveOffice in Torrance, Calif.

It deserves your attention, if only for what it represents: how instant messaging is finding its way into the fabric of everyday business, how it promises to make online commerce that much more convenient, and how, if you're a business owner or manager, its approach holds the potential to provide your customers with better service.

INTRODUCED EARLY this year, LiveSiteManager is a suite of server-based middleware tools. The most notable of these is the instant-messaging capability, which doesn't require any special software on the customer end. To chat through LiveSiteManager, you don't have to download an IM client such as AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or ICQ.

This capability alone is worth writing about, given the fact that IM remains largely balkanized by the various proprietary service providers. LiveSiteManager gets even more intriguing for what it does for the businesses that use it. With it, a site operator can get a glimpse of who's on the site, where they came from, what keywords they used to get there, and what's inside a customer's shopping cart. It also allows the site operator to invite a visitor to chat.

Imagine the possibilities: A visitor plops a few products into his shopping cart, puts them back, puts a few more in, then puts those back. Piqued by such behavior, the site operator could launch a conversation with the same words a real-life retail clerk might use: "Excuse me, are you finding what you need?"

Yes, I know: Several sites have been using this kind of capability for some time. Just the other day, I used chat to seek tech support for an interruption in my DSL service. But I'm singling out LiveOffice because its aim is to bring this capability to small businesses, as evident by its pricing: The service costs $20 to $30 a month for a minimum of two operators, with one-time setup fees ranging from nothing to $159.

LIVEOFFICE'S HISTORY offers something of a testimony to the demand, and the legitimacy, of its application. The company started out by providing Web design, tools, and hosting for small financial services firms, such as brokerages, CPAs, and investment advisors. It moved on to develop the live chat capability when it became clear that many of these firms were using IM to communicate with their clients.

Sounds good, doesn't it? But does LiveSiteManager work? Can LiveOffice point to any quantifiable results among those who are using it? I asked those questions to the folks at LiveOffice headquarters, and they offered this response: With live chat embedded in the e-mail it sends to 40,000 prospects, 1st Choice Vacation Rentals (a LiveOffice client) saw response rates quintuple from when they sent the e-mail without live chat.

But that's what LiveOffice says. Let's see for ourselves. I've embedded a "ChatBack" icon at the end of this story that will let you chat with me. Backed up by a couple of operators at LiveOffice--they've given me their word they won't solicit you for business--I'll be available to chat with as many of you as practically possible from 11 am to 1 pm PT on Monday, August 18.

You'll be able to tell if I'm available by looking at the ChatBack icon. If I'm ready and able, you'll see one version that invites you to chat. If I'm not, you'll see another suggesting you leave a message instead.

Give it a try. And tell me what you think--either through ChatBack or TalkBack below.

Do you think IM is a convenient and legitimate way to provide customer service? Or is it potentially intrusive? Do you foresee useful and fruitful business uses? TalkBack to me.

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