So what are three key considerations in making this decision?

1. Overlay or Pop Out?
2. What level of customisation is available?
3. Web, desktop and mobile clients

 Overlay or Pop Out?

When using chat, there are usually two main ways in which the box will display. An overlay format means the window sits on top of, or overlays the site, hence the name. This is the kind of chat window you may have experienced using Facebook chat. The overlay window containing the conversation means that the window travels with you around the site. It also allows the customer to absorb the entire experience – what I mean by that is they can engage with the website and content you’ve created in the way you want it displayed, whilst having a chat with you. This creates a really great and integrated chat experience, where the user can build a relationship with a representative and the sites content at the same time.

The Chat Shop live chat design for Base One

A pop out chat creates a more focused user experience. Here the user will have to decide whether they are focused on the chat, or on the site itself. Creating an integrated chat-browsing experience is more difficult, but having a box that can be easily moved and minimized/maximised to the task bar is a benefit. For technical support issues where you’re addressing a particular issue that requires a large amount of instructions, or complex information to be relayed, the pop out window can come into its own as the user can totally focus and even maximize the window so the chat becomes the main screen. If you’re looking to use chat as a more in depth sales chat, rather than aiding the users sales process onsite, this will also suit a pop out format, as the customer is fully focused. Just remember there will be a lot of customers that click onto the site or get distracted and forget the window is hiding behind all the other stuff they have going on!

The Chat Shop live chat design for Lotaris

If your heart is set on one or the other, make sure the software provider you’re looking at offers that potential. Some will only offer one or the other, whilst some offer both meaning you get to make your final decision on other criteria.

What level of customisation is available

You’ve spent time and money creating a site that represents your brand and services well, so why ruin it with a slap dash chat box?

Different software offer different levels of customisation. Generally speaking, all chat software will allow you to pick from a set of colours in order to match the look and feel to your site. Other chat boxes may have set areas where you can add a picture or banner, such as the LivePerson example above.

If you want your live chat look like it’s really part of the site and not an afterthought, make sure you take time to customise it. Speak to software providers and ask what level of customisation is possible “out of the box” and what other customisation can be achieved using coding such as CSS. It’s also worth understanding what support they offer in getting the chat how you want it to look. Most companies will provide recommended partners who can customise their software for you if they do not offer the service in house.

A LiveChat Customer Happiness report found that only 16.3% of businesses used the full customisation options of CSS in their LiveChat implementation, meaning that you can stand out from the crowd in taking that extra step.

A site that has not taken the time to customise the chat box to their brand

Our own live chat customisation on The Chat Shop

To pick the right software for you, understand what options are available to you with the software you’re considering and what skills you’ll need to create a beautifully customised window. It really is worth the extra effort.

Web, Desktop and Mobile Clients

Crucial to how you manage the chat is what client you’ll use to handle and respond to the chats.

Different software providers offer different tools with which to manage their chat. Understanding what’s available to you, what works for you and your needs is a key decision when picking the right software.

Web clients offer the benefit that you can login anywhere and no software updates will be required. This does however mean you’ll need to keep a browser open and a careful eye on it to ensure you’re handling the chats as they come in.

Desktop clients operate much like any other software programme. It’s worth noting that some software providers such as Olark will offer a desktop-based application through existing IM software. This means that the programme hasn’t been purpose built for the chat, and therefore the information available and interface isn’t designed specifically to handle live chat.

Other chat providers have their own desktop-based client, designed specifically for that software. If you’re looking at handling a reasonable amount of chats, using multiple operators or just having the best information at your fingertips, a custom built desktop client is a good solution.

For smaller business owners that may want the benefits of chat but don’t have the staff to handle their chats, a mobile/tablet application maybe a good compromise. Software providers that offer this allow you to receive and manage chats right from your mobile device, meaning you can handle chats on the go.

Consider how you’d prefer to manage your chat software and then make sure your preferred supplier has the clients available to accommodate that.

Overview

It’s important to shop around to understand the different features each chat software supplier offers. Some will offer most of the above, others a selection. Deciding how you want users to interact with the chat onsite will dictate whether you’re looking at an overlay or pop out solution.

Customisation is an underutilised tool in creating higher chat adoption and customer satisfaction so bear that in mind when considering what options different software providers present you with.

Of course, delivering the chat through a client that suits your needs is one of the most important criteria. Understand what tools they offer to deliver chat, and how user friendly these are. How you’re going to manage the chats coming in is your key decision point here.

One thing is clear; sites without live chat are missing out, so start your research and get your site up and chatting with the software that works for you and your goals.

Sure, the idea is nice but the process can be a little tricky. Here is the first part of a 2-part guide on the most important things to consider when hiring your first Filipino virtual assistants.

Cebu City, Philippines. Home of Offerchat.com

1. Be Realistic or Get Help

The reality of hiring offshore help, in the Philippines and elsewhere, is the same as for any other country in the world. There are hard-working people and there are lazy duds. Scouting good, reliable help is a skill that takes time to hone.

Despite all the available platforms to find Filipino talent, including Elance, Odesk and Freelancer, most people fail big time at hiring…at least at first, so if you are new to this, expect a learning curve.

In the early days of one of our own eCommerce businesses, our success rate in hiring outsourced help was about 10%. Yep, this means that 9 out of 10 people we hired either vanished from the face of the earth, were dishonest, overpromised and underdelivered or disappointed us in some other way…resulting in early termination of agreements and a boat load of lost time. At first we blamed them, easy right? But our knowledge was limited and screening process was faulty. We eventually learned and created our own systems until we decided to move our entire business to the Philippines in 2011.

Alternatively, if you want to shorten your learning curve, and increase your chances of success in hiring virtual assistants, there are services available, such as Virtual Staff Finder  (VSF) which pre-screens and short lists ideal Filipino VA candidates for you. The up-front cost pays for itself in time saved. Nothing beats a direct referral and VSF does the vetting of candidates for you based on your list of requirements.

2. Set the Expectations Early

Ideally, you have a solid understanding of what you need (written out) and you’ve been able to communicate that to your applicants in the interview process. Define your expectations on paper, and by this I mean have a contract or at least an agreement in place to outline clear expectations.

Things like work schedule, deliverables, pay rate, pay schedule, payment method, should all be discussed before hiring and signed off on. Be careful with miscellaneous tasks. You can add tasks as needed but make sure they fit in to the deliverables schedule otherwise this will be a pain point and will leave room for interpretation.

We have been unrealistic with our expectations at times, which scared VA’s away or forced an uncomfortable lie. Saying ”yes” to everything and not being able to deliver is not uncommon with VA’s. Define the work and make sure it’s understood. You can ask the VA to repeat or write out the details in their own words to see if they caught the main ideas and objectives.

These defined expectations can also be the basis for any corrective measures that will need to take place to optimize your working relationship. It also gives the VA an understanding of how their work performance will be measured.

3. Understand the Culture

Don’t be that guy! This is the Philippines and if you haven’t been here, then come and visit or have the sense to read up on the cultural differences. English is spoken at very high levels especially in the larger urban areas like Manila, Cebu and Davao….but this ain’t Chicago. Life is different and by different I mean hard, harder than life from your cozy home office.

Family culture, weather and holidays are among the biggest differences.

In some cases, very large families are supported by one or two workers in the family who have had the opportunity to get higher education. Landing a decent contract with an ecommerce site is a big deal, and has a bigger impact than you might think.

Typhoons, hurricanes and violent storms are common throughout rain season (July to November). They wipe out and close entire communities for days. In the West, this would be considered a state of emergency, here it is a way of life. Be conscious that the weather can have an effect on their ability to login and work.

Holidays are important to Filipinos. Understanding what and when they are is necessary. Ask your VA for a Filipino holiday calendar which can include national and local holidays to be aware of. Ask them to include birthdays as well. This is a good place for you to start http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_the_Philippines

By being aware and mindful of the cultural differences, you will be in a better position to build trust with your VA.

Stay tuned for Part 2….

Do you have experience with outsourcing to the Philippines?

Share your experiences or comments.

Within this somewhat confusing and competitive landscape it can be a good idea to have some guiding principles or rules that help determine what is important and what sort of marketing you should be doing.

1. Always Focus on Your Customer

A successful marketer is continually listening to the customer, seeking insight and trying to provide products in a way that meets shoppers’ needs and wants, even as those needs and wants change.

Marketers must also help to shape a company’s internal culture so that customer focus and the desire to please the customer drives nearly every aspect of the business from how products are selected to how products are shipped and even to how customer complaints are handled.

This is no small matter.

Good customer service can be the difference between a profitable business and a failed startup. Consider that in 2011, an American Express survey found that 7 in 10 U.S. consumers would be willing to spend more with companies that provide excellent customer service. And repeat shoppers, those that come back a second or third time, spend between 3 and 10 times as much as a new customer, according to surveys from Adobe, Help Scout, and the White House Council on Consumer Affairs.

2. Create Deep Customer Relationships

“Customer loyalty and repeat business are the cornerstones of today’s market conditions,” wrote Lou Dubois in a popular Inc magazine article. “In the words of many industry professionals, losing a customer is the absolute worst thing that could happen to your company. This mantra has always stood true, but when you’re fighting with competitors for every dollar, customer retention is key.”

Online retail marketers may have a significant advantage where building deep customer relationships is concerned, and that advantage lies in the proliferation of social media and the information sharing culture emerging around those sites. Social media makes it possible to turn customers into friends on a massive scale.

Retail marketers should aim to post something 2-4 times a day on Facebook. The majority of posts should focus on entertainment or content marketing, while perhaps one-in-four may feature a product or service.

But don’t just focus on Facebook, pay attention to Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr as well. Use social media to answer customer questions and manage customer service too.

3. Be Patient & Set Long Term Goals

If an online retailer is aimed at building long-term, high-value customer relationships — relationships wherein shoppers return and make frequent purchases — that retailer’s marketing should reflect that goal and be patient enough to achieve it. By definition long-term relationships take a long time to build.

In the United States about 8% of online shoppers represent some 41% of online sales, according to the Adobe “The ROI from Marketing to Existing Online Customers” report that was released in August 2012.

Repeat shoppers represent the majority of sales for a healthy online business, and yet many marketers focus between 80-and-100% of their promotional budgets on acquiring new customers without worrying about keep those customers they already have.

Clearly it would not be wise to stop trying to get new shoppers to visit, but it’s equally unwise to ignore repeat business. Focus at least a portion of marketing budgets on campaigns aimed at long term goals, like increasing the number of repeat customers a store has.

4. Reach Beyond Your Own Website

An online retailer’s website should be that merchant’s marketing hub, in fact, this is one of the reasons that Shopify, as an example, requires theme designers to include a blog section. An ecommerce website should be the single source from which all campaigns emerge, but that ecommerce site should not be the only place that the merchant markets or sells.

As mentioned above, marketers should almost certainly communicate with potential customers on social media sites like Facebook or Pinterest. Beyond this, online retailers should also consider listing and selling products on via other channels as well.  Submit your products to product feeds, comparison shopping engines, and if your product allows, why not sell at craft fairs or farmers markets?

5. Build a Usable Site

An online shopper should be able to visit an online store, quickly locate products, make an informed buying decision, and complete a purchase with ease.

If a site’s layout or design interferes with a visitor’s ability to shop the retailer could be losing sales and customers. Site usability is especially important in the mobile context given that IBM recently reported that mobile commerce had risen some 31 percent in the first quarter of 2013 (see more about this below).

6. Looks Matter

“Design and aesthetics have a profound impact on how users perceive information, learn, judge credibility and usability, and ultimately assign value to a product. To dismiss design as merely visual is to make a fundamental mistake. Style does not replace substance, but style and substance in balance work much better,” wrote the authors of a 2010 paper, “The Impact of Design and Aesthetics on Usability, Credibility, and Learning in an Online Environment.”

Put simply, a beautiful, well designed website conveys professionalism and trustworthiness, and shoppers are more willing to buy from retailers that they trust.

7. Build a Fast Site

There is a mountain of data demonstrating that a slow website reduces conversion rates. In 2009, Google found that a 500-millisecond slowdown in page load times resulted in a 20% decrease in revenues from pay-per-click ads.

Microsoft separately found that a 2-second increase in page load time generated a 2.5% decrease in clicks and queries.

In ecommerce, Amazon reported that a 100-millesecond increase in page load times decrease revenue by one percent. The bottom line is that shoppers don’t like to wait for pages to load.

8. Mange Changes in Technology

Ecommerce changed the retail industry, and it’s safe to assume other changes in technology will also impact how products are bought and sold. Ecommerce marketers need to be aware of potentially impactful technologies and manage both site changes and marketing campaigns accordingly.

As an example, IBM recently released its Online Retail Index for the first quarter of 2013, indicating that mobile commerce had risen 31 percent for the quarter. IBM further projected that mobile commerce sales might soon account for 17.4 percent of all ecommerce sales.  And mobile is certainly not the last technology that will affect retailing.

9. Use Video to Sell

Descriptive product videos can significantly improve conversion rates and encourage shoppers to share product information.

In 2012, Ariat reported that placing videos on its website resulted in an incredible 160% increase in conversions, according to an article from the SwellPath blog. Other retailers have reported that product videos boosted conversion rates between 6 and 60%.

10. Plan to Have Narrow Margins

A final point for ecommerce marketers to remember is that online selling can be very price competitive. If you do nothing to differentiate your products, services, or company then you can only compete on price, meaning that you must be prepared for relatively narrow margins.

From a marketing perspective there are probably two ways to manage this. On the one hand, you can sell only unique products that cannot be purchased from other sellers, or you can plan lean campaigns that focus on long-term customer relationships rather than single sales.

This is a guest post by Mark Hayes from the ecommerce platform Shopify. Mark writes articles on ecommerce, digital marketing, social media, public and media relations, and SEO on Shopify’s popular blog

Is there still hope? You bet. That’s what spring’s all about.

Around this time, people do spring cleaning to reorganize, revive, and rejuvenate.

How to Revive Your Online Shop’s Sales & Conversions

Get to the Roots

If you cut a banana tree (although, it’s not really a tree but an herbaceous plant, thanks Wikipedia!) to the ground, you can trust it will grow back anew like it didn’t face such traumatic ordeal.

Very much like the pale sales at your online shop. Apparently, cutting it out from your line of vision hardly kills it.

So how do you get rid of the whole plant once and for all? Uproot it. Dig up and cut the roots.

Therefore, the only solution is to get to the roots – that is, to identify the root causes of the problem and take action.

Few years ago we’re stuck in the very same rut. Nobody’s buying, nobody’s converting. Pretty alarming for a startup employing around 20 developers, programmers, designers, writers, administrative professionals – all very talented people. They rely on us for a living, and we rely on profits to keep our E-commerce boat floating.

So we gathered round the table and, metaphorical shovel in hand, started digging to the roots of the huge metaphorical banana tree — our sales problem.

To get to the bottom, we asked a series of five “Why?” questions, then we mapped the solutions in a very simple grid.

By laying out all the possible solutions on a visual grid, we were able to pinpoint which solution has the healthiest balance of having a good impact on our goals and ease of implementing. Who knows? You might even go as far as discovering a brilliant, new venture like what happened to us.

Look in the Mirror, Now Talk

Pay a (real) worthwhile visit to your bathroom mirror instead of the hurried drop-by on crazy mornings. Take a long look at yourself.

What do you see?

Now, talk to that guy and try to sell him goodies from your shop.

Are you at a loss for words? Then it’s time to re-think your business marketing strategy. This means re-evaluating the effectiveness of your messaging, positioning, and your brand image.

To re-evaluate your marketing strategy, brainstorm on these questions:

Messaging: What message am I communicating to my online shoppers? Is it easy to understand? Or is it jumbled?

Positioning: How do you differentiate yourself from competitors? Why should shoppers choose you instead of others? What can you

Image: How do consumers see you? What’s their impression of your online shop when they land on your online store?

After musing over these questions, sit in front of your computer and open your e-commerce shop. Pretend you’re just another consumer. Answers the questions above from your (regular Joe) point-of-view and jot them down.

Alternatively, if you find it hard to be objective, ask somebody who doesn’t know you own this site to go through this exercise. You’ll be surprised at what you will uncover.

Finally, take a look at how to revamp your brand and creatively transform your marketing communications to a more compelling voice that arrests customers’ love. Why? Because the actual solution execution is more than just re-evaluating… it is a complex thought-process.

Share Your Flatline Experiences

We all had them at some point, amirite?

Tell us about your E-commerce near-death experience and how you survived it. We’ll celebrate your shop’s coming back to life by turning the spotlight on you. Go ahead and sound off in the comments below to get featured.

We’ve done some major Spring Cleaning for the month of May, and today, we’re releasing huge free live chat updates and improvements a lot of you are dying to have for your Offerchat live chat widget on all your sites.

We’re thrilled to announce two major highlights in this very first May deployment.

1. IE Compatibility Clog Now a Thing of the Past

The Offerchat live chat widget you’ve installed on your website is now automatically compatible with Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10. Customers browsing your site using IE can now see the widget and online chat with you.

If you’re using the web based dashboard to chat online, please continue to use Firefox or Chrome. We are yet to update it, and when we do, expect more than just IE compatibility. (Ooops, spoilers!)

Other improvements include:

• Changed Offline Message to Timeout Message on the chat timeout panel
• Hide “Add Website” button if user is agent/operator. (Only admins and account owners can add websites.)
• When visitor is transferred to another agent on a timed out transfer,  a new notification message on the widget side that says “You are now assigned to <agent name>” will be displayed
• Improved chat history list and preview
• Changed Offerchat banner on chat widget to “Powered by Offerchat”
• Fluid scrolling on chat history, and active chat view.
• Seamless, more intelligent chatting through Pidgin

Login to the dashboard with your Offerchat account and chat with your site visitors to discover a host of other improvements especially on the chat view!

Please note that in this latest release, only one widget style is currently available to all users.

2. Connecting Issue Has Been Nailed

What is spring cleaning without getting rid of the dust, dirt and pesky bugs? In this deployment, the Dev Team has finally able to solve the “Connecting” status issue. If you’re still experiencing this issue, kindly email us your account so we can check.

Our support email is support at offerchat dot com.

After doing a run with the newly improved chat tool, send us your thoughts too. We’d love to hear your experiences with the new deploy.

Keep staying tuned for more! See you at the dashboard.

Your Prestashop site is not a lone store sitting on top of a hill. It’s situated in a very busy virtual marketplace in a virtual downtown spotted with millions of other shops. You wouldn’t leave your shop open without somebody behind the counter, wouldn’t you?

When you start engaging with people using the live help widget you’ve added (thanks to the free Offerchat live chat module created by the very awesome jeckyl) you’ll sense some of them have somewhat similar habits. And you know what, you’re right!

Truth is there at least 4 kinds of online shoppers out there in the virtual wild. Knowing them and spotting their inherent habits during a chat conversation will give you the upper-hand on how to appeal to them and induce a sale.

The 4 People You Meet in Live Chat

People who use the free live chat module on your Prestashop store are not the typical online shoppers. Most of them are busy professionals who greatly value their time and seek an efficient service. They have a higher buying power, shop more frequently online and spend more.

That’s why they’re most comfortable having online chat with you and getting information straight through live chat.

However, this group of people has their shopping quirks and habits too. They largely differ in their personalities and shopping style.

The Yapper

Habits/Attitudes: Very friendly and familiar, very comfortable with chatting. Expect the conversation to last longer than a usual “hello-thanks-bye”. They love to ask a lot and going into minute details about their inquiry or their experience.

Your Action Plan: Yappers are probably the most familiar and the most comfortable with online shopping. They take their time and they’re not in a hurry. They could be just curious shoppers just doing some window shopping or they could be very smart researchers with the intent to purchase.

The smart merchant will seek to identify which is which and jump at the opportunity of making a sale. That said, be alert at spotting expressions or words that show “urgent intent”.

For example, when a customer chats thus, “I’m looking for a waterproof camera I can use for my coming trip”, reply immediately with the link to all your available waterproof cameras. Demonstrate product knowledge and do some price comparisons, advantages and perks and other pre-sales strategic communications. It avoids the chat session to trail off too long and puts the focus back to the main business as yappers have the huge tendency to blab away not minding the time.

The Click and Mortar

Habits/Attitudes: The click and mortar type arrives at your Prestashop, looks around, then asks if you have an actual store down the street. They only shop online for research and prefer to see the merchandise before opening their wallets.

Your Action Plan: If you’re using actual photos, explain and emphasize in your live chat conversation that the images on your web store are actual photographs of the items. WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get. That said, use high-resolution images for each product item.

Useful Tip: If you’re using Offerchat, the active chat window displays what page the visitor is in. If the visitor is on a product page, use it as an example. Have the visitor click the images to enlarge them and so they can appreciate the items.

The Showroomer

Habits/Attitudes: The exact opposite of the click and mortar. These types are the sons and daughters of the mobile era, the phone/tablet/phablet-toting bargain hunters. They go inside a real-world store, examine an item, and run a search online through their mobile device to look for sweet deals, discounts and other offers.

Your Action Plan: Be ready for bargain, promo and shipping inquiries and put your best foot forward. Highlight the perks of your business. Reply in a concise and timely manner. These people are most probably chatting from a mobile device and they’re most probably on the go. The intent of purchase is already very strong and present so don’t let it dwindle by delayed chat replies.

The Shopping Cart Deserter

Habits/Attitudes: They don’t talk much but stays for a long time browsing your store. Add items to cart, but not completing the full purchase. These types drop out at the checkout counter and leave without buying anything. These people have shown interest in your items for sale, but they don’t complete the purchase for many reasons. It could be fears about credit card security and delivery rates. It could be they’re just doing research and building a wish list. Or it can be as simple as being on a tight budget.

Source: Kissmetrics

Your Action Plan: When you see these types lingering around the checkout page or any part of your site for a long time, be proactive and offer help by chatting with that visitor. Direct them to your FAQ section to abate their fears about the security of online transactions and your shipping rates policies.

Through the Offerchat dashboard you will know how long a visitor is on a page. Click a visitor who have stayed long enough and initiate a chat right away. Offer your help. Let them know if there are special offers for the products/items they are viewing, especially delivery specials or discounts . Be proactive! A good idea is to set up chat triggers for these types of shoppers.

Tell us about the people you meet

Did we miss a special group of shopper?

I’m sure you’ll meet special cases as you spend more time online through the Offerchat live chat app on your Prestashop site. In time, you’ll notice a certain pattern of shopper behaviors that is why it is essential to know what the Offerchat online chat on your site can do so that you can effectively engage with the visiting online shoppers on your site.

And if you feel that a certain feature will help you a lot, tell us about it! We built Offerchat based on user feedback and it’s good to know your experiences as a business owner and Prestashop vendor so we can design features that will suit you best.

Happy chatting and sell more!

At Offerchat, this activity allowed us to think about our project in relation to the environment.

Did you know that the simple use of a live chat app on your site can reduce your carbon footprint and save the Earth? We didn’t. And we we’re surprised by what we found out and what we realized.

How a Free Live Chat App Can Help Save Our Planet

A live chat app is a web-based tool that can be embedded on any website. Once added, it provides a feature for site visitors to communicate one-on-one with the website’s owner, admin or a customer support rep online – all these without leaving the page or using another medium such as email.

The live chat feature is perfect for general inquiries (item, price, shipping, etc.) and first-level support. It’s the best-suited instant communication tool for business and E-commerce websites where online shoppers are keen on asking for instant information of which they base their purchase decisions.

Below are specific ways a live chat tool can reduce the carbon footprint of an organization, company, or a solo enterprise engaged in E-commerce and online retail:

Live chat app decreases phone calls

A very large percentage of the incoming call traffic that contact centers receive is general inquiries. For online merchants selling products and/or services, the amount of pre-sales inquiries can be astounding.

Many E-commerce sites have contact numbers. A single mobile phone call is believed to have a carbon footprint of 47kg of carbon dioxide a year for a typical two-minute usage per day.

Having a live chat app on your site presents online shoppers with a more attractive option than grabbing their phones to reach you. If all your site visitors won’t have to make a phone to inquire about your items for sale, you’re definitely helping in reducing the carbon footprint of phone calls in the world.

Free live chat tool minimizes outsourcing to high-energy call centers

A business with its own live chat tool minimizes the need for too many high-energy contact centers.

The facilities, equipment, manpower and maintenance of high-energy contact centers have contributed much to carbon emissions. A phone support agent can attend to only one customer at a time, while a live chat person can attend to a maximum of three customers.

Just look at this call volume data for December 2012 from the 311 contact center:

 Source

The data shows the large majority of the incoming call traffic at 311 is general inquiries by nature. This accounts for a bulk of the calls being handled by their customer service representatives.

Imagine if this high-energy call center has live chat agents handling general inquiries instead of phone agents. Certainly, their carbon footprint can be hugely decreased as telecommunications networks, equipment cooling devices, PCs, computing devices and other facilities are reduced.

Live chat is web based

A web based live chat tool eliminates the use of multiple PCs.

The conventional idea of “software” is a licensed executable file to be downloaded and installed in a single device. This implies that said software can be accessed and run only in a single computer bearing the license and not with a different one.  More users would mean more devices, and consequently, more money and energy spent.

Current web based live chat applications operate in no such conditions. Since they are cloud-hosted, a user need not download and install software but rather just add a line of code to the HTML framework of his or her website.

Since they’re not limited to function on a single machine, the dashboard of any web-based online chat software can be accessed through any device (PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet) with an internet connection and a browser. So it rules out the use of multiple devices especially in online enterprises where it is used for live help.

Live chat encourages work from home jobs

Outsourcing and crowdsourcing are two very loud industry buzzwords nowadays. Remote workforce lies at the core of these concepts and a lot of them are qualified for live chat support.

The latest TeamViewer Study: Remote Workers Work Harder for the Environment reveals that telecommuting employees are more likely to consume less energy, thereby, reducing carbon emissions and saving the planet.

Instead of having your live chat support teams in-house, in a high-energy contact center, delegating it to the remote workforce is a move that can positively impact the planet and help alleviate climate change. Just imagine if a significant amount of first-level support agents work from home instead in call centers.

Parting Words:

Incorporating ways to reduce global warming to heal the Earth should be at the fabric of our business culture. You can start it right at your own venture to contribute to the growing number of Earth savers.

There are numerous ways to this: From practicing energy conservation at the office, to  practicing the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle), to allowing workers to telecommute, to re-thinking and finding ways to free ourselves from high-energy contact centers and many other creative ways.

Help minimize phone calls and add live help to your site! Saving the planet means saving ourselves.

But, why the stress?

While customer serving outsourcing takes a tremendous load off a business owner’s shoulders, for some, it seems only to be replaced by a different bag of burdens such as remote and/or timezone coordination. Consumers spouted backlash regarding ineffective communication due to language and cultural barriers.

Many also view outsourcing customer service is the quickest way to bankruptcy due to low-quality work done by “human cronjobs”, limited ability of outsourced workers to do creative and abstract thinking, and alleged outsource agencies’ malicious tricks in the trade.

Long story short, outsourcing = bad idea = loss

Are you constantly looking over your shoulders, worried that you have made or will be making the wrong decision? Read on…

Warding Off Stress from Outsourcing Any Kind of Customer Service Effectively

Why do some companies and small businesses report outsourcing success? Why do others quit because of failure?

The difference lies between their view about outsourcing, their business process, the research they’ve done, and the keeping in touch with their outsourcing agency.

Think: “We don’t outsource. Rather, we recruit globally.”

The word here is “recruit”.

More often than not, the actual reasons one has in mind when outsourcing work usually determine its success or failure. Goes the same for outsourcing customer service, specifically, live chat support.

One has to have the right reasons for outsourcing. The ideal reason is: You have more valuable things to do.

If your sole reason is to pay cheap labor or to cut costs, the resulting mindset is “I’m moving workloads from expensive to cheap workers”. Most likely you’ll get human cronjobs along with the dark side of outsourcing.

On the other hand, if you’re thinking along the lines of: “I’m going to chase and recruit talent where I can find it, and if I can find top-tier talent in (insert lower salary arbitrage country here), I’ll prefer to hire it there”, you can actually get out high-quality work.

Which of the two you think would lead to success?

Have a clear process in place

Managers need to understand that outsourcing (whether on-shore or off-shore) doesn’t replace proper and good process.

So let me ask you from the get-go: have you specified a process for your outsourced workforce? Do you have one in mind before you partner with an outsourcing agency?

A proper and good process right from the start is the foundation for the success of outsourcing your customer service.

The onboarding session is the “big”, if not the single opportunity, for you to specify how the task you’re outsourcing should be done, what your expectations are, the results you want, additional skills you (might) need from an outsourced worker (if any), your business policies, feedback procedures, key performance indicators, and other essential information that you consider will give you the maximum results and satisfaction.

Research, research, and compare

Going around for an outsourcing company is a bit like shopping. Too often, majority of us consumers would readily go for the lowest prices only to be disappointed in the end.

I’m sure you as a business owner and as a manager have now realized that it’s hardly about the price, else fine dining will never make a single dime. You know better!

When doing your research, there is at least one entity you’ll have to deal with – the freelancer you’re going to outsource work to, or the agency.

For many entrepreneurs, hiring an individual vs an agency is mostly the first decision they have to make. Whether you choose one over the other, the consequent research to be done is quite similar.

Whether you’ll be getting an individual or an outsourcing agency for your business, always remember to NEVER skip vetting the competency of applicants. Look for solid evidence that could back their “maximum satisfaction” claims, among other things to keep in mind.

And just like canvassing or shopping, it would be best to have a checklist in hand!

To Sum It All Up…

The confidence and the peace of mind that comes after making a business decision, be it having a free live chat feature for your Ecommerce site or hire a customer chat service, can only result from a careful, thorough research and comparisons, having a clear process in place, and having the right mindset about outsourcing.

Things this side of the world are scorching due to the summer heat, and so do our live chat improvements. Our Quality Assurance head had been very busy testing the free live chat on the pre-release staging environment and in the post-production. Mark, our QA guy, have been compiling all known and unknown issues for our Devs to slaughter.

Below is a list of improvements and bugs that already fixed. They are still trying to pin down the more complicated ones

April 15, 2013

New Features:

• Option to convert an agent response to a saved response.

Improvements:

• Only verified users will be displayed on the Chat History “Filter by agents”.
• Hide all inactive drop-downs when navigating or focusing on some part of the page on the control panel.
• Hide Transfer Chat button when no live chat agents are online or available.
• Link all URLs from email to its desired URL page.
• Disable check-box on the header when no data is on the list.
• Change the hierarchy of the forms when adding new user.
• “Connecting to Offerchat and fetching agent” was changed to ”Connecting you to an agent”
• Added a loader when submitting data and verifying a website.
• Disable “Delete” a website when only one website is created. (An account needs to have at least one website.)
• Disable “Un-assign” an agent when only one user is created. (An account and a website needs to have at least one agent.)
• Group chat history conversation by sender.

Bug Fixes:

• Sound notification for new message now working on Safari.
• Toggling between different agent status (Online, Away, Offline) is now working on Firefox.
• If same message is sent by the visitor, the ticker considers the duplicate message as a new chat even though the agent is already on the conversation panel.
• “/career” page is now working.
• Error notifications when all fields are left blank in adding a new user.
• Chat history can now read special characters on different languages.
• Account owner will not be seen on Users list.
• Username will not be shown on the login form when login access is invalid.
• The very first new chat trigger can now be successfully displayed right after saving.

Catch all these fixes and improvements when you login to your dashboard.

Don’t have a chat tool on your site yet? Get the free live chat for your website constantly being made better by Offerchat and upgrade your retail or webstore to a fast and real-time customer support!

The Silent Killer

This year’s World Health Day’s focus is today’s “silent killer”, and that is, hypertension or high blood pressure. The disease is killing more people than any of the most horrible accidents or diseases most of us greatly fear.

The overwhelming epidemic of hypertension is directly caused by our modern lifestyle characterized by too little exercise, too much reliance on fast food, and high levels of stress at work.

Alarmingly, more young people are falling prey to hypertension. According to the latest reports of the World Health Organisation (WHO), high blood pressure is now striking at an earlier age, affecting people in their 20s and 30s worldwide. Triggers to the disease often start at an earlier age, which only shows our lifestyle is silently killing us.

Why Your Own Business or Job is Killing You

Tough competition in the industry

The prevailing attitude in our modern times is hard work and competition. We sit in our desks and get bombarded by orders, deadlines and naggers. We are overwhelmed with “getting in the game” to survive another day in the tough arena of marketing, selling and promoting the business or our individual projects, getting ahead or staying ahead, consuming information and executing strategies, and all that.

Growth as the goal

We struggle to beat the competition and be the champion in this rat race to get the upper hand in the market share. Consequently, we perceive that to translate into business success, profit and revenue, and ultimately, growth. In turn, growth will pose new (and more) challenges in the list — which means, added stress to a business owner and the team.

The everyday grind

The daily grind of doing your job or running the business, keeping your head above the water is enough to accelerate your stress levels to breaking point. Everybody’s on to doing getting the job better. Managements are constantly on the lookout for methods to do business more efficiently and more effectively. This then trickles down to operations and the workforce. The grind to do things better is positive, however, just like with other things, drive also brings along with it friction. You might not be aware of it, thinking it’s but natural, however, your body and well-being is already suffering.

Think wear and tear. Happens to us all, even to the best of us.

Stress is real.

We’re already past the years wherein it’s considered as illusions of the mind, a case of hypochondria. Fighting stress at work effectively, and with finesse, is the main solution to preventing high blood pressure and the conditions it can lead to.

How do you defend yourself against the very real stress with finesse? How do you cope with it? Let’s hear your genius..