Best Practices: Implementing Online Chat

March 9th, 2009

Chip Gliedman

With contributors:

Summary

As companies move to improve their online customer experience, many more are using text-based chat to better engage visitors to their site. But the customer service organization, in conjunction with the Web site designers and customer experience professionals, must address a suite of nontechnical issues to ensure that both the company and the customers benefit from the chat experience. To uncover best practices when implementing online chat, Forrester spoke with all of the major vendors of chat software, approximately a dozen companies that have implemented chat, and reviewed approximately 30 chat implementations available to customers and prospects. We found best practices in four areas: 1) organization and staffing; 2) process design; 3) business integration; and 4) security.

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