Live Chat on the web is broken (well, mostly)

http://hipmob.tumblr.com/post/32417058700/live-chat-on-the-web-is-broken-well-mostly

by kunle • 14 years ago

13 10 14 years ago

hipmob.tumblr.com

chrisu_de2• 14 years ago

This is not really something for the HN frontpage...

kunle3• 14 years ago

OP here - any particular reason?

chrisu_de2• 14 years ago

I just think that the topic is not very technical or interesting.

greenwalls• 14 years ago

I agree. Has anyone ever bought anything through a live chat feature or after using one? I always treat them like a pop-up window I have to close so I can go back to reading the page to see if I want to buy or not.

kunle3• 14 years ago

OP here. Understand the skepticism. That being said, companies as varied as Zappos and Airbnb have used live chat on their sites to make customers happy a while now . . .

incision• 14 years ago

1) On the rare occasion that I've used live chat I haven't had this problem.

2) Isn't this just an ad for hipmob.com?

dougbarrett2• 14 years ago

1) I've had it happen a few times, but now if I know I have to step away from my desk to do something, I will let the customer service representative know and they are fine with waiting, they just need to know before hand.

2) It's 100% an ad. Sure, it can describe why a majority of the "Live Chat" systems don't work, but instead of explaining how to fix them, it just links off to two companies that have a product and then call that a solution.

They should have explained how the two companies they recommend do it differently than the rest instead of just say "Use these two, AND USE US FOR YOUR PHONE APP!!!"

How does the code integrate into apps? What does the client for the user and the client for the support agent look like? What's the benefit of using this instead of linking to a support e-mail address? Do I have to have the app open in order to get live support help?

It sounds cool in theory, but without a demo video or walkthrough, I can't be sold on it.

kunle3• 14 years ago

OP here - demo video is forthcoming.

Integration docs here for iOS: http://www.hipmob.com/documentation/ios.html

And more here: http://www.hipmob.com/documentation/

EDIT: And we dont have a product for the web - wasn't meant as an ad, just to highlight some observations I've made in the past.

STHayden• 14 years ago

we use snapengage on our site and it's a pretty smooth experience. Very happy with it.

Live Chat on the web is broken (well, mostly)

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