The Customer Support Chat App I dream of...
written by Allan on December 26, 2011
On LessAccounting, we're currently using SnapEngage, and we're fairly happy with it. It has plenty of "features" from the admin/operator side that satisfy our needs. As a customer talking to support operators, however, the feeling it gives me leaves a little something to be desired.
More Human
Most chat apps feel very robotic. It doesn't feel like you're talking to a human.
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I want single sign-on for users inside of our application. Also, most chat apps ask for an email address to start talking to the operator. Why can't they grab the avatar from Gravatar so the chat feels like a conversation?
It's not over yet!
Don't allow the customer to simply close the window. Gather some feedback. Most chat apps will send you a transcript as the support admin, but reading transcripts doesn't scale well. If the customer is unhappy, have that transcript sent to another person in support so they can reach out to them.
Chat for most web apps is replacing or substituting real-life conversations over the phone. I hope the builders of chat apps are inspired to push their feature in a direction that bridges the gap; features that focus on warmth and communication. A chat app could be a tool to help you refine and improve your support experience for your customer; not just send messages back and forth with them.
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Allan loves his family more than breathing. He lives in Panama City, Florida & grew up washing cars at his family's car washes. Oh and Allan hasn't worn underwear since 2004.
7 Comments
Have you tried http://intercom.io? I have not, but was interested to hear if you had a comparison between it and SnapEngage.
@Brian: We LOVVVVE intercom, but it’s not a chat its messaging.
I totally agree. But SnapEngage looks quite a bit more awesome than what I’m using right now – I think I’ll give it a try.
Hi Allan,
Thank you for the feedback! You can pre-populate your users information automagically so they don’t have to type anything to announce their presence when requesting a chat (other than the obligatory stalkerish, “I seeeee you!”). We do pull agent pictures from gravatar but never thought about pulling the visitor image, very neat idea. We are releasing a feedback form very shortly. I like the varying degrees of smilelyness as a feedback metric. We really do value the feedback and we are constantly refining our app, so again THANK YOU!
@Allan I see. Would be nice if Intercom added the incoming chat as well as the messaging, but until then, SnapEngage looks like a nice option. I do hope @Chris listens to your suggestions though because I think your suggestions would be really nice. We added that emotional feedback into the Miley Cyrus support a few years ago and it was very helpful to the support team.
Hi Allan,
Thank you for the feedback! You can pre-populate your users information automagically so they don’t have to type anything to announce their presence when requesting a chat (other than the obligatory stalkerish, “I seeeee you!”). We do pull agent pictures from gravatar but never thought about pulling the visitor image, very neat idea. We are releasing a feedback form very shortly. I like the varying degrees of smilelyness as a feedback metric. We really do value the feedback and we are constantly refining our app, so again THANK YOU!
Hi Allan,
Thank you for the feedback! You can pre-populate your users information automagically so they don’t have to type anything to announce their presence when requesting a chat (other than the obligatory stalkerish, “I seeeee you!”). We do pull agent pictures from gravatar but never thought about pulling the visitor image, very neat idea. We are releasing a feedback form very shortly. I like the varying degrees of smilelyness as a feedback metric. We really do value the feedback and we are constantly refining our app, so again THANK YOU!