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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
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This study is useless. The author never actually evaluated a number of the vendors on the list. It was commissioned by Boldchat.
Comment by Anonymous — October 12, 2008 @ 4:48 am
Bravestorm is Boldchat. Looks like a slick marketing scam to trick people into thinking this is a legitimate report.
Comment by Kurt — October 13, 2008 @ 7:18 am
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.
Comment by Ross Haskell — October 14, 2008 @ 11:04 am
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.
Comment by Phillip — October 15, 2008 @ 4:00 pm