Live Chat Helps Create Brand Loyalty and Repeat Customers, Says Report

Bravestorm (News - Alert), makers of BoldChat, have released a new report on the effectiveness of live chat technology. The research shows that there is a direct correlation between live chat and a growth in sales for online retailers.

Bravestorm President and CEO Steve Castro-Miller said the company was interested in finding out if live chat boosted conversions and whether it could create brand loyalty.

"Our goal was to quantitatively examine the efficacy of live chat through the filter of prospective buyer behavior,” said Castro-Miller.

Explaining the process of the survey, officials said that in January, Bravestorm funded a blind survey of more than 250 regular Internet shoppers using an opt-in, third party panel. It was structured to ensure that online consumers provided honest feedback so that the results could be used to ascertain the usefulness of live chat software to online retailers.

The report reveals that once shoppers have used live chat, more than two-thirds will actively look for Web sites that provide it as an option.

Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said that if a Web site offered live chat, it would positively influence their decision to make a purchase. The report also concludes that people are more likely to use chat for sales rather than support.

According to the findings of the report, visitors to a Web site prefer to use chat when they are having trouble finding an item or experiencing an error during checkout.

Live chat also creates a loyalty effect, especially among desirable shoppers, the report reveals. Desirable shoppers are those who shop frequently online and those who spend more. This is measured either by the average amount they spend when shopping, or the greatest amount they have ever transacted in a single purchase.

Offering live chat makes a Web site more trustworthy for shoppers and they are more likely to come back for a repeat purchase after using the chat feature. Online merchants who have not included live chat in their website are thus missing out, the report warns.

The report indicates that live chat is also important to service companies, such as law firms and accountants. Retailers who already offer live chat may further improve their results by following consumer – driven best practices.

The report also provides information on the various methods retailers can use to optimize their live chat software implementation.

Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Bravestorm offers live communication software, including live chat, click to call and e-mail management tools which enable businesses to take control over customer interactions and drive sales for businesses conducting sales and support online. Bravestorm's suite of offerings is designed with a flexible breadth of capabilities that allow clients to customize and manipulate the software to meet their specific needs.