Many online marketers have realized the tremendous value in conversion improvements and customer satisfaction by offering site visitors live chat services.
A new study was done recently doing side by side comparisons of 6 different live chat solution providers. Companies were compared by features sets, flexibility/customization, availability/reliability, price, analytics, reporting and more.
Companies compared in the study include BoldChat, InstantService, LivePerson, Talisma, Velaro, and WhosOn.
You may find the study useful to you in selecting a live chat provider. Check out the study details at http://www.livechatcomparison.com/.
Tags: BoldChat, InstantService, Live Chat, live chat comparisons, live chat studies, LivePerson, Talisma, Velaro, WhosOn
Being one of the vendors mentioned in this live chat comparison I can honestly say that no one spoke with us about this report, so I would question, seriously question, the results. I will agree that there arent enough non baised papers out in the market today, but to say that one is tired of that fact and to back that up with false information just makes it harder for a true evaluation to be successful and considered accurate. Its easy to talk with a sales guy about the shiny coin, but until you can talk with a customer that has experienced said ROI and believes that the chosen vednor, through best practices, hand holding and yes third party integrations, actually helped achieve that ROI…Its just talk and words. Bottom line is this, If you are a compay that is interested in testing the viability of this channel, talk with a competitor or a like minded company that has experienced the results. If the vendor can’t set up a call with someone within a day, they aren’t the right vendor for you and you should keep looking.
While one should always take the background of a study into consideration when weighing its merits, the anonymous poster went too far in assuming this study is useless.
‘Kurt’ was at least willing to put his name to his comments, though I disagree with his conclusion. Even assuming BoldChat’s results are biased in their favor, the report itself appears to be relatively fair. I could understand the claims if BoldChat had given themselves very high marks in each category, but from their own report the winner appears to be LivePerson.
In all, I think both Kurt and the anonymous poster jumped to conclusions without taking the time to look at the study. If they had, they certainly would not have found it ‘useless’ or ‘a scam’, beyond the obvious use of the report as part of BoldChat’s broader marketing approach.
I am the director of marketing at Bravestorm, the makers of BoldChat, and while I feel strangely complimented by the “slick marketing” comment, I thought I would jump in to clarify a couple things.
1. There was no intention at deception with regard to this project. We have been very clear in all communications related to this study, and the associated website, that Bravestorm commissioned it. Bravestorm is the official name of our company and BoldChat is one of our brands so, in fact, it would be inaccurate to say that BoldChat commissioned it.
2. We commissioned this study because we were growing old waiting for someone to do it for free, not because we sought a particular result. We simply wanted to see a study done on the primary live chat players by someone independent of our company with solid credentials and no one else seemed to be offering such a thing. In fact, there were a few BoldChat weak-spots highlighted in the study which got our attention.
3. We believe the outcome is very useful despite the fact that we don’t totally agree with all the findings; we thought BoldChat ought to have fared better in a couple areas, for instance. Overall though, we think the study is professional and insightful. If anyone sees anything inaccurate, we’re all ears. You can reach me directly at ross@boldchat.com or Timothy Smith – the author of the work can be reached via his email on the http://www.livechatcomparison.com site.
Bravestorm is Boldchat. Looks like a slick marketing scam to trick people into thinking this is a legitimate report.
This study is useless. The author never actually evaluated a number of the vendors on the list. It was commissioned by Boldchat.