You don't need live chat on your website • Hacker News Board

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#171

Post by citizenpaul » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:41 PM UTC

I don't think I've ever disagreed more with an opinion on here. I think chat support on sites is one of the best things to happen to customer support. It's become my preferred way to contact companies for problems.

Some Benefits I've noticed to chat support.

1. You have auto documented your case.

2. You can get service asynchronously.

3. Wait times are IME almost non existent on most chats.

4. Better sites have some really good auto support functions in the chat. I've gotten refunds from nothing more than a few mouse clicks.

5. Chat support doesn't have the "not my department I'll transfer you" nightmare.

The main downside is chat support is not consistent across sites some do it really well some do it just OK. All are passable though since most of these chat functions were developed recently its mostly just the company implementation that is bad. Either way I have a better experience than the phone or in person support most times. I suppose the other problem is if the chat support is bad they just ask you to call on the phone anyway but that has been rare for me.

Customer support is and always will be a low paid job where you are interacting with people that basically don't care and are putting in minimal effort. They have no authority or power to do anything but follow a script anyways 99% of the time so there is no point in wasting time talking. The chat allows you to get straight to what they are allowed to do. Anything that makes it quicker to a resolution without waiting is a win for me.

I do agree that I despise when a site uses the chat as an advertising vector. That is easy to solve same as sites with various types of popup and interstitial ads. I just don't patronize the business.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#172

Post by badwolf » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:44 PM UTC

halgir wrote: post #115

Sakos wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a live chat implementation that starts as a chat bot, but switches you to a person after a few clicks and you can't find what you need. I felt that was a perfect compromise.

When I need live chat support, it's because I've already exhausted the help center and can't find my answer elsewhere. I really do need to speak with a human. Fortunately, many chatbots in my experience will indeed switch over to human support if I write "I want to speak with a human". I'm glad they take that into account.

You, along with most people on this site, are not the average consumer for these type of chat apps though. People aren't exhausting the help center, reading FAQ's, searching other sites, they're probably barely even reading anything on a help center at all.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#173

Post by PaulHoule » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:55 PM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #153

dyates wrote: post #76

Live chat windows that pop-up automatically and hassle you once you've spent X seconds looking at a website are annoying, much like email subscription modals. But when I've been actually looking for support and made the choice to click on the chat button, I've generally had a great experience, so long as it's connected me to a human rather than a menu of chatbot options. It's asynchronous enough that I can keep doing…

I have used those chats, talked to humans, and had my issues resolved - but I can't say it was a great experience. I had to keep the relevant tab open and actively watch it because there is no sane method to get the notification if it's in background. Can't get distracted for too long, gotta actively watch that stupid chat for when someone comes in or replies after "I need a few minutes to do something for you, pleas…

I'd say sometimes those services are successful but sometimes they aren't. It's not unusual for those things to claim "I am a human" but the human is nowhere to be found. For me it is a general pet peeve that everybody wants to open up UI elements that cover up whatever it is I want to interactive.

There's a bad idea which keeps coming back which are attempts to replace asynchronous communications (web forums, emails, ...) with more synchronous communications such as chat sessions, discord, etc. I can't wait until somebody tries making you go to a waiting area in "the metaverse" and spend an hour looking like a dork waiting for help. Lately I have been appreciating how you can a question to a site like

https://www.dpreview.com/forums

probably get a bogus answer in an hour but have multiple great answers in two weeks.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#174

Post by elondaits » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:55 PM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #153

dyates wrote: post #76

Live chat windows that pop-up automatically and hassle you once you've spent X seconds looking at a website are annoying, much like email subscription modals. But when I've been actually looking for support and made the choice to click on the chat button, I've generally had a great experience, so long as it's connected me to a human rather than a menu of chatbot options. It's asynchronous enough that I can keep doing…

I have used those chats, talked to humans, and had my issues resolved - but I can't say it was a great experience. I had to keep the relevant tab open and actively watch it because there is no sane method to get the notification if it's in background. Can't get distracted for too long, gotta actively watch that stupid chat for when someone comes in or replies after "I need a few minutes to do something for you, pleas…

I agree. I also had to use a chat that put you on hold until an operator became free, while the site itself had a auto-logout if you didn’t click a box after X minutes waiting.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#175

Post by pifm_guy » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

eropple wrote: post #160

quadrifoliate wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had the same feeling – "this is okay, but could be way better"; I think a big part is in the lack of context. Why on earth does the chat person need ask me my account number yet again ? I am logged in to the website, they should be able to see that I am Account # 820914 and currently viewing Order # 788321. Ensuring that this sort of context communication as the lowest bar for an in-app chat would go a long wa…

> Why on earth does the chat person need ask me my account number yet again? Because their integration isn't very good. Ones I've used, as long as you've configured a way to resolve the user, it pops right up in the service side of the chat system.

> Ones I've used, as long as you've configured a way to resolve the user, it pops right up in the service side of the chat system.

Be scared of those. They typically use client side JavaScript to read a cookie to know which username is active.

There is usually no verification of that info, so obviously it could be faked by a malicious client.

The docs say that, but it's way too easy to just trust the info rather than setup a properly secure solution.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#176

Post by PaulHoule » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

quadrifoliate wrote: post #159

drdaeman wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have used those chats, talked to humans, and had my issues resolved - but I can't say it was a great experience. I had to keep the relevant tab open and actively watch it because there is no sane method to get the notification if it's in background. Can't get distracted for too long, gotta actively watch that stupid chat for when someone comes in or replies after "I need a few minutes to do something for you, pleas…

I have had the same feeling – "this is okay, but could be way better"; I think a big part is in the lack of context. Why on earth does the chat person need ask me my account number yet again ? I am logged in to the website, they should be able to see that I am Account # 820914 and currently viewing Order # 788321. Ensuring that this sort of context communication as the lowest bar for an in-app chat would go a long wa…

I never let call centers get away with asking me for account numbers over and over again without commenting on it; Amdocs and other vendors have had great software for keeping track of customer interactions between multiple people you talk to at a call center for 10+ years now. Management will make the usual excuse ("we can't afford it") but you can turn that around and ask "how can you afford to pay people to ask the same questions over and over again?"

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#177

Post by ChrisArchitect » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

Anecdotally there is a sizable portion of customers that want to ask a question without reading much or doing anything or worse having to call or fill out a form, so the prompt and connecting to a person on chat is very effective and quickly gets them to next steps / answers.

It comes down to implementation and the gripe about nagging is fair, but the utility of the thing is still valid and like another commenter mentioned it's a great thing that's happened to customer service.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#178

Post by gspencley » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 4:01 PM UTC

> It reminds me of going to a clothing store and before I’m able to get inside an employee asks me if I need help finding anything.

I hate that as much as live chats on websites and it makes me want to leave the store.

The worst is when retail employees are paid on commission, then you will get harassed endlessly by different employees asking you if you need assistance when all you're trying to do is look at a damned rubber spatula (I'm looking at you Williams Sonoma!) I go out of my way to avoid shopping at those types of places. I want to get in and get out with as little disruption as possible.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#179

Post by f1codz » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 4:04 PM UTC

I agree that it popping it on its own is irritating. But having a live chat feature I have found to be very useful. Recently I have had to do a lot of purchasing for my House renovation project remotely (from a different country). It was useful feature, to enquire about specifications, book replacements etc. So much so that on the websites that didn't have this feature, I really missed it.

Re: You don't need live chat on your website

#180

Post by eropple » Thu, Dec 08, 2022, 4:09 PM UTC

pifm_guy wrote: post #175

eropple wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why on earth does the chat person need ask me my account number yet again? Because their integration isn't very good. Ones I've used, as long as you've configured a way to resolve the user, it pops right up in the service side of the chat system.

> Ones I've used, as long as you've configured a way to resolve the user, it pops right up in the service side of the chat system. Be scared of those. They typically use client side JavaScript to read a cookie to know which username is active. There is usually no verification of that info, so obviously it could be faked by a malicious client. The docs say that, but it's way too easy to just trust the info rather than…

This is a good point. You can definitely verify a user off of context (signed tokens, etc.), but you're probably right that a lot of folks don't do a great job of that!