I ran across a site that had a live chat thing installed, so customers could chat with the agent in real time. I found livechat and sitemax, which both seem to be good products.

Question is: Has anybody used these types of products on their Realtor websites? I'm wondering if potential clients would use them, or would they find them anoying. I've been on sites where their customer service people pull you into chat.. which is really anoying. But, I've used them when I have a question.

Anybody have any thoughts? Before I invest in buying one of these services, I'm curious if it is worth it or if would convert any visitors to clients.

Thanks
Rick Burton

www.UtahHomeSeller.com

Yes, we set up our own on one of our sites and found VERY little people actually wanted to talk. We used it on a pretty active site, 700 visitors per day and only had minimal success. Most people ended up logging on while no one was in the room even though we manned it most of the time. Then of course you have the idiots that logon while you are not in the room and leave a bunch of filth. Not reccomended on our part.

Interesting. I sort of thought it may be too intrusive if somebody's just browsing. But, I'd sure like to figure out something to convert browsers on my site to clients.. or give the some call to action to contact me!

Thanks
Rick Burton

www.UtahHomeSales.com

you don't have to invest, there are live chat programs available for free such as Help Center Live

Rick you were prolly thinking about Proggie, a program that has a pop up chat window coming when a visitor enters your site.

Hi Sitetudor,

No, I was looking at software from liveperson, and sitemax which gives the user the option to chat live if they wish. Subnex_rx made a great suggestion for the free software however, which I may look at. But in thinking about it, I don't think I'll add it to the site. It may be a cool feature, but I doubt many would use it. If they want info on a property, they'd probably pickup the phone or email for more info? Any thoughts?

Thanks
Rick Burton

www.UtahHomeSales.com

I wouldn't reccomend live chat.. as I stated we have a very active site and it wasn't of much use. Good luck in your decision.

I tried it myself years ago and did not find it to be of benefit. I have since had several clients try and reomve it after a few months.

It does not seem to be worth the effort

I would have to disagree with what seems to be the consensus so far. While the chats that pull you in are obnoxious and definately a bad idea an optional chat can be very beneficial. Now it might be that the sites I have used it on or placed it on are somewhat different in nature than your site but I have found it very helpful. Even if you only convert a few visitors with it, there is free software out there (as already mentioned)and you can set it up so that its no more of a hassle than a phone call. Just my two cents and I am by no means an expert but just wanted to offer a counter point

Where as offering a Live Chat on a website may make the agency look techically savy, I've found though polling clients /etc, that it may be taking it too far and making the business a bit too impersonal.

Human contact to develop the emotional bond necessary to convert a prospect or up-call to a client is still necessary.

I agree 100%. Unless you are a really bad sales person like many internet people are (seriously) and feel more comfortable behind the screen, I would always recommend to get the visitors on the phone before having any other sort of communication.

If you want to add a live chat, I would only do it in the corner of your contact page.

Just MO.

Mike

What you will find it if you offer chat is: The fact of the matter is that chat should be manned 24 hours a day to be credible. You will find that you will have MANY people loggin in when no one is there and at that point you actually lose a little credability when no one is there. So unless you plan on manning it ALOT, I wouldn't reccomend it, we tried it, for about 2 months and this is what we found. Maybe for a larger company who has enough people to monitor it, it's ok.

But don't they have to enter their email address before they log on so that you have at least a lead to get back with them?

Not necessarily, I think it depends on which script you use. We used a simple free script but was very user friendly. We found with even 3-4 agents trying to monitor the chat room, we usually ended up missing most people. We did a test for 3 months and nothing came of it. Maybe others have had better responses, but it didn't work well for us. If you are willing to sit there and watch the chat room ALL day, it might work better. But if you are not will to make a committment to that, we wouldn't suggest it.
Good luck

Tried it once on our company site, took it off 2 days later.

I have considered it many times but never did it. My partners would say "I want to get them on the phone and not into a chatroom"

The typical internet consumer is a lot different than most people that walk into your office or pick up the telephone and call. They prefer anonymity until they are confident in their own knowledge before they are willing to pick up the telephone and call. A properly executed live chat on an RE site can help bridge that gap.

First off, chat rooms are a no-no. Instead, use a live chat version similar to online tech support. You can activate it or de-activate it whenever you want.

Frankly, no one expects a real estate live chat feature to be manned 24 hours a day. In fact, that would probably create suspicion ("Why the heck is the real estate agent be up and online at 2 in the morning?").

Whenever you have a few free moments at home or in the office, activate the system and let people know that you are online, turn your audio up so you can here notifications, then go about your normal paperwork or web surfing.

Folks, this is not a primary source of revenues - it's just another way to try and turn prospects into customers and develop incremental revenues. It's your chance to build the confidence of these internet consumers and get them to drop by your office, chat with them on the phone, or sign up for your newsletter. It is not a magic source of revenue or a means to close a sale - it's just another way to open the lines of communication.

If all goes well, you may generate one extra sale with this feature during the year. Does anyone out there want to turn down an additional sale?

Roger that. I look at the live chat option as an additional feature, more like online customer support - no chat-rooms though. I find it very helpful if its available on other sites - I used it all the time with my hosting provider (now they have two tech guys in Y!Messenger which much faster), yesterday I used it with office depot and was really disappointed when Microsoft didn't have one and I actually had to call them (btw the first thing they ask is your name and telephone# - should I hang up?). I used it last week at a real estate web site - some guys submitted his site to my directory and I was plesed chatting with him while checking out the site before approving. It is one of those little features that nice to have - you know it is much easier to ask then figure out on your own. I wouldn't care about person's email or phone number, just name he/she wants to be called during online conversation. You help the person quickly around your site - they will appreciate and might feel better asking you other questions.

Yes, I'm one of those that hiding behind the screan as Mike mentioned, I hate to sell my services, but they usually sell themselves to people that start trusting me through my work. I prefere to email first - later people feel like talking to me on the phone themselves, my life doesn't depend on sales, so I'm happy with it

I don't think live chat is good for most RE sites. That works for a type of business with thousands of uniques per day requiring service.

And as one poster noted, you're not likely to be able to provide interaction 24/7 and you stand the chance of losing credibility for anybody who tries to contact you via live chat but can't.

I've used live chat (Bold Chat) on our site for 8 months now. We have converted chatters into successful prospects just by asking for their contact info - which should be the goal of the chattee.

Of course it is not offered 24 hours, if someone needs to submit a question outside of biz hours they will email. The convenience of live chat during biz hours demonstrates a technical savvy site.

Plus, I can see what pages all of my visitors are on and watch them move from page to page. An aggresive approach will let me invite them to a chat with an animating image or actually launch a live chat session. And I can see the referring site of which they originated.

It's another feature that is going to be much more readily used in a year or two. Might as well be ready for it.

gemini, your directory looks great. I'd like to be included, sending you an email.

I worked for Network Solutions in 1999 as a chat only customer service rep. I would agree that the main function of chat is to get a name and phone number. It's a difficult medium to effectively communicate with.

Andy Gotto
www.andygotto.com

P.S. I'm using an alias, too. It's an old throwback to gaming and 90's internet days, and it's kind of fun to pick them.

barrylyndon, sorry for the late reply - I have a hard time following the forums where email notification system is not working right. Anyways, feel free to submit your web site to the directory.

You would likely discover that chat is the biggest time waster ever. From conception to removal. There's an inherent problem with animinity, it's not something you wan't to introduce into your business.

Live chat reminds people of how horrible customer service truly has become in the modern era of avoiding person to person contact. It is a wierd concept for a Real Estate agent to NOT want to speak with someone. Rapport is huge in this ballgame, wouldn't you agree? Having a livechat feature on a website makes me think of Dell and how big of a customer service nightmare they've become...

The largest problem that I found on my website was that you actutally had to have someone there 24/7 to chat with visitors

-Peter