by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media

Last week we discussed the increasing importance of user reviews and products ratings to online shoppers.  In our last installment in this series, we are going to look at utilizing Live Chat on your e-commerce website.

Live Chat

Over the past few years, live chat has grown from a useful customer service tool into a highly effective e-commerce sales tool.  Numerous companies that use live chat during the checkout process have noted a significant reduction in shopping cart abandonment.  Online consumers are looking for as much viable product information as they can find before making a purchase.  Live chat gives online merchants the ability to communicate with their customers during the entire sales and checkout process, thus separating them from the competition at a critical point in the purchasing process.

Bold Software is one of the leading providers of live chat platforms, along with OnCick Solutions and LivePerson.  There are also a number of websites that offer free live chat software, which would enable you to test it out on a trial basis.  Some Content Management Websites has Live Chat modules that can be integrated for a minimal fee.

Wrapping up our series it is important to know that no e-commerce strategy, technology or procedure can guarantee absolute increase in sales in this very competitive industry.  But, implementing just one of the sales tactics we have discussed over the last 4 articles will definitely help to get you in the game.