Internet Marketing Blog

Instant Sales Chat: “Can I help u w/ anything”

October 18, 2007 – 4:16 pm

Engaging your customers on the virtual sales floor

Customers have come because you have something they need, whether it’s an extra graphics card or a new piece of real estate, and the most important thing you can do is engage them. You should greet them subtly, offering assistance (NOT a sales pitch), knowledge, and even a good time.

Great advice…if your business happens to be a brick-and-mortar store where engaging customers is as simple as saying hello and/or offering a shopping cart. But what if, like so many business today, most of your customers go online?

Since the rise of the internet, salespeople have struggled with the digital wall, which separates customers from sales people in the virtual marketplace. Even with response forms and contact information available on every site, most customers don’t make any effort to learn more about a site they think is too complicated or vague.

These customers take away more than lost potential revenue, too. Frustrated and disappointed, they may spread the word, either in person or through internet communities (especially dangerous), that others shouldn’t bother with the company at all.

So how do you prevent such negative viral rumors?

The newest, most exciting solution to this problem, which has appeared in the past year or so, is the idea of using online chat features to engage in conversation with website visitors. When combined with tracking information about how many times a customer has visited the site, what pages they have visited, and for how long, chat features and tailored sales discussions can dramatically increase revenue.

Harboring some doubts? Look no further than Erik Asarian, a real estate broker in Park City, Utah, who started using sales chat features a year ago and credits it with a $12 million increase in revenue, according to Editor Paul Sloan of Business 2.0. Ricky Breslin, another internet entrepreneur selling DVDs of hair styling techniques, credits the same features with a 10% increase in revenue. The key here is to be subtle and use analytics to determine which visitors are interested in purchasing products. “You can’t be pushy,” says Ari Galper, developer of a combination sales method and chat program called LivePerson. Don’t scare visitors away with a hard sales pitch or even the old “how may I help you?” as soon as they hit the home page.

Live Chat: Your New Online Salespersion

The other solution to lost or frustrated internet customers is as old as the internet itself: good website development. Businesses must, must make their sites easy to navigate, simple, and rich with information. Don’t give your customer credit for any tenacity whatsoever and always remember…your competitor is just a click away.