I’ve always been a fan of live chat even before ReachLocal announced the launch of TotalLiveChat.

Several years ago I formed iClick ChatBack – a testing environment for live chat that featured intelligent triggers based on users entry points, time on-site and exit points. During this testing period I quickly learned how incredibly powerful adding live chat to a website could influence it’s overall conversion rate, it was drastic.

Last year just before the launch of TotalLiveChat I decided to suspend iClick ChatBack and focus on growing the portion of our business that we do best: Search Engine Optimization.

Several months ago I decided to try TotalLiveChat as a live chat solution for SeanHakes.com and since it’s been live it’s proven to be a powerful marketing tool that well delivers a substantial ROI. A fine addition to our already powerful SEO services.

For those who are unfamiliar with the pricing structure it’s simple; $10/lead and the majority of the ‘sales leads’ tend to be very good.

Though this service has proven to be a great addition to our powerhouse organic services it’s like most, not perfect. We’ve seen a handful of bogus leads come through that were obvious unrelated or non-sales related inquires, but the good leads without a doubt out number the bogus ones and we’ve seen a great overall ROI.

TotalLiveChat: Recommended

Update* (See bottom of page.)

Shortly after I dedicated to no longer pursue SEM Showdown in early 2010 I decided to invest into a Live Chat program that we later called iClick ChatBack. We tested consumer interaction through chat intelligence and quickly learned that by simply adding a live chat solution to a website resulted in almost immediate results and this was proven through not only internal clients but a pilot that was engaged with another leader in local internet advertising.

Last week I decided to give TotalLiveChat by ReachLocal a try for our SEO Firm based in Denver…

The reason for not using iClick ChatBack as our live chat solution was simple. My Agency is primary an SEO Firm and in order to be the best at what we do we needed to focus on just that; organic search engine placement which lead me to in defiantly pause our in-house chat solution.

The good news is this; ReachLocal has a Chat solution that appears to be very credible and upon in-house test we realized that by adding live chat to our current customers websites, daily site conversions nearly doubled on average.

Last week I installed the TotalLiveChat code at SeanHakes.com and I’m patiently waiting on the operator behind to curtain to push the bottom.

Several reasons why Live Chat is so Effective:

• During the day, many consumers are at work. Though most business owners don’t like to think this, many workers browse the web for products and services they are considering on purchasing in the near future. Having a chat feature available with a live rep allows the consumer to proactively research and get additional information about products and services  without picking up a phone.
• Human to Human Interaction: Say what? Many American’s have a problem with simply picking up the phone to find more information about a product or service especially if they don’t know much about it. Some say it makes them nervous while others state they may feel intimidated and/or embarrassed that they don’t know more about a product of service. Our test show that regardless of your social standing – ANYONE will chat because they don’t have to look someone in the face. Texting, Emailing and Chatting is puts a consumer at ease and is a simple way to communicate without feeling overwhelmed.

I’ll be sure to update you on my findings with TotalLiveChat but for now I’m very excited to see what it can do for my business.

Update*

7/13/2011

Several days ago we installed TotalLiveChat on SeanHakes.com. The first couple of non-billed conversations were solicitations. Today things have turned around quite a bit and we got a lead that turned out to be an incredibly lucrative long-term deal so at this point our ROI is threw the roof.