I was looking and haven't found anything on this ... Has DASP looked into online chat for support? If so, what were the findings?
I'm not a big fan of "live help" applications. Every one I have seen has been outsourced to a 3rd party company. Every time I have used one, they have not been able to help me with any problems I have been having. I usually find them a waste of time and just contact support instead.
No kidding! <rant>It's usually that same guy on the other end that you get on phone tech support for the cable company. You know the guy... Half way around the world, barely speaks your language, and can't do anything except run you through a checklist of pre-defined steps that you'vealready tried before you called. And then before he sends you off to second level support where you might actually get some help, he has the nerve to try to sell you their phone service!!!</rant> Sorry for the rant... I've had a really bad time with "support" lately. (Not here, at the cable company which shall remain nameless...)
We had a "live chat" support application at the last host I worked for that was staffed by local support reps, but it was not a very efficient way to take care of most problems. The people responsible for live help end up trying to help half a dozen people at a time, and that's obviously not the best way to handle support. In general, neither live chat or phone support are terribly efficient, which is one of the reasons we're email-only here at DiscountASP.NET. No one likes to wait for support, but waiting an hour or two for an email response is usually preferable to spending half an hour on hold on a telephone, or trying to work your way through a painfully slow "live chat." What happens when you try to provide heavy phone coverage is you end up with people answering the phone who may not be as technically proficient as you'd like, which only adds to the frustration from the user's end (as Jamie pointed out). The same thing often applies to live chat, as the reps will tend to provide canned responses in order to keep up with the incoming requests. And as Joel mentioned, most companies who opt for live chat support end up outsourcing it, and that rarely works to the customer's advantage. Actually, I've never seen it work, but I say rarely to give the benefit of the doubt. One on one live chat support is unlikely, but we have discussed some other options for interactive support that may be implemented in the future.
