In recent years offering live help software (or live support) has become a must-have addition for website owners. There are three main reasons why adding live help (aka live chat) software to a website (or e-commerce site) is recommended:

1. builds confidence with the website's customers, since the web visitor knows customer service is "standing by" to answer questions. The visitor doesn't have to send an email and wait hours (or days) for a response.

2. with the added confidence, conversion rates (e-commerce related) increase.

3. the website is more interactive and user-friendly. A must have in a Web 2.0 world.

You've seen live help in action if, while visiting a website, you've seen: 1. an image suddenly appear in your web browser asking if you want to chat with a representative. 2. the "live support" or "chat now with customer service" graphic button that you can click on to start a live chat with customer support.

This guide describes my experiences with both "hosted" & "locally-installed" live help providers offering access to their services. Hosted live help providers are those businesses (aka SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) or "Managed" providers) that take care of the servers, bandwidth, and software involved in offering live help services. That way you (the webmaster) only have to add a small snippet of HTML-coding on your webpages to start offering live customer service to your website visitors. Locally-installed means you provide the server and Internet connection to install the Live Help Software upon. Enjoy the reviews! -Dave Swanson

July 4, 2009

RECENT LIVE HELP REVIEWS

Whoson.com Review always listed first
With an easy way to trial the service, along with a useful Windows-based console for your customer service reps to use for live chat and real-time monitoring of website visitors, Whoson should be one to consider if you're a small-to-medium-sized website owner. Highly recommended

Sightmax.com Review
Microsoft Windows-based console interface with many useful features. Also has mobile (smartphone) console option which is unique to live help providers. Read more about them...

LivePerson.com Review
The top-dog of live chat and real-time monitoring, this service overflows with user guides, tutorials, and flash movies on getting set up quickly and easily. Highly recommended

Boldchat.com Review
A popular alternative in the SaaS arena, Boldchat's four live help offerings give online businesses much-needed flexibility in providing live customer service to their website visitors.

ActiveHelpPro.com Review
This site doesn't waste any time in describing why every website owner needs live help services - better Return-On-Investment (ROI).

Live Help Messenger by StarDevelop.com Review
From the men and women from the land-down-under (humming from the song by "Men At Work"), StarDevelop shows the programming skills of another fine live help application. Host at their place or yours makes the choice easy enough.

LiveResponse™ by Kayako.com Review
With their unique Viewshare feature, this live support vendor offers competitively-priced hosted and non-hosted versions of their software.

Volusion.com Review
Offers free live help software for use on your website. It's basic and feature-less but the live chat works well; and it's free! Or use their Premium Edition to get all the bells-and-whistles.

ProvideSupport.com Review
With the best designed website I've seen in awhile, and fully functional live chat software having both web-based and downloaded operator consoles, Provide Support shows why it's a top contender.

HelpOnClick.com Review
A company that doesn't share much about itself, it does have a web-based operator console for live chat and real-time monitoring.

WebsiteAlive.com Review
Put on your cowboy boots and take this Texas-based live help software for a ride. One of the better web-based operator consoles on the market.