Free or paid live chat support software?

June 8, 2009

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Why Live Chat Support Software?

Trying to contact support of many web hosting businesses can be a real pain. Whilst a website may remain fully functional for the majority of the time, the one time it does manage to produce problems for the web master, will show the true colors of a web hosting provider and their support system. Not only that, but when their support center deals with your query or problem it shows the professional or unprofessional layout of their business.

Offering customers a range of support, including live chat support is an excellent way of getting problems dealt with quickly. By enabling customers to solve problems via a live facility, it offers a sense of security for clients and gives off a professional image. Choosing not to offer live support could damage the long term stability of your business, considerably. When looking at live chat support software, there are two options that most web hosting businesses would recommend. The quality of their services, offered by the two pieces of software, exceeds that of other live chat support software.

Paid Live Chat Support Software

  • www.providesupport.com
  • Web masters world wide have and will continue to recommend ProvideSupport. They offer a service that is extremely easy to incorporate into your current business model, with a good range of features. Their service is extremely efficient, friendly and functional. Better still, Providesupport offers customers their live chat support software for just $99.00 per year, the equivalent of just $8.25 per month.

    • * Easy Integration with Your Web Site
    • * No Software Installation Required
    • * Manage Multiple Chats Simultaneously
    • * Call Transfer
    • * Operator to Operator Chats
    • * Proactive Chats
    • * Chat Transcripts
  • www.Liveperson.com
  • Whilst many web masters may find that ProvideSupport meets there needs, others tend to disagree and find that LivePerson is more to their liking. Like ProvideSupport, they offer a huge range of features, offering web hosting businesses a professional solution to their live chat needs. Whilst the LiveSupport is an asset to any hosting business, it comes at a price – $99 per month!

    Features of the LiveSupport software include:

    • * Live Chat
    • * LiveCall (Click-to-Talk, Talk-by-PC, inbound calling)
    • * Email Management
    • * FAQ Knowledgebase
    • * All channels are fully integrated for

    Free Live Chat Support Software

    Some web hosting businesses may feel they are not at a stage to be paying the premium for a paid live chat support function. There are a couple of options for them to purchase some basic free software such as the ones explained below.

  • www.livezilla.net
  • LiveZilla is excellent considering that it is a piece of free live chat support software. Whilst some of the key features have been listed below, that is just a fraction of what they offer consumers. If a web hosting business is running on a low budget, LiveZilla should definitely be considered.

    • * Multiple Operator Support
    • * Real-Time Visitor Monitoring
    • * Offline Messages
    • * Ratings / Feedback Form
    • * GeoTracking
    • * Live Chat
    • * SSL Support
  • www.craftysyntax.com
  • Like LiveZilla, CraftySyntax also offer a completely free service (with the option to donate). Of course, they will not live up to the quality of either ProvideSupport or LiveSupport, but they will deliver the needs for most web hosting companies needing basic live chat support for their business.

    • * Unlimited operators, departments, and users
    • * Live Support with visitors on your site in real time
    • * Proactive chat invites
    • * Typing Preview to see what is being typed as it is being typed
    • * Chat Transcripts and Logging
    • * page and referer Tracking
    • * Canned Messages

    So – Free or paid live chat support software?

    It will depend on the model that is place for the web hosting business in question. A business operating on a large scale, with a couple of hundred, or even a thousand customers, may find they are overwhelmed with support queries. In that case, it may be wise to provide their customers with the highest level of service possible, but choosing one of the paid services.

    On the other hand, many web hosting businesses posses a small selection of clients. This may mean that their enquiry rate is extremely low. By purchasing software such as LiveSupport at $99 per month, they are drastically increasing their overheads, when they simply do not need to.

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