Live chat boosts sales at TechnoScout.com

Customers who use the live chat service at electronics retailer TechnoBrands Inc.’s TechnoScout.com are more likely to make a purchase and spend more doing it. "We get $40 more when a consumer is involved with live chat," Joel Skretvedt, director of Internet operations for TechnoScout, tells InternetRetailer.com. The average sale closed through live chat is $175, compared to $135 for all other sales.

Moreover, TechnoScout converts 113% more site visits into sales when customers use live chat, Skretvedt adds. He attributes the better sales performance to TechnoScout’s staff of 16 full-time live-chat operators, who are trained in sales techniques as well as customer service.

He also credits the ability provided by LivePerson Inc., the New York-based vendor behind TechnoScout’s live chat system, to make product offers based on customers’ click histories. For example, if a customer adds a product to a shopping cart but leaves the site without purchasing it, then returns two weeks later, "I can create a pop-up promotion to offer a discount on that product," Skretvedt says.