11.1. LIVE OPERATOR
When people are looking at your online sales presentation and want to ask a question, they can click the Got a Question? Ask Our Live Operator! button to be connected with a real person in a text chat window. There are a lot of web services and software packages that will implement this kind of functionality.
Several also allow you to monitor visitors (i.e., to see which pages they're looking at and how long they've been there) and push a message out to them. It's the online shopping version of the floor salesperson coming up to you and asking, "Is there anything in particular I can help you find today?"
This can actually backfire if done incorrectly (some people get a little freaked out!). But if done right, it can have a huge impact on the profitability of your site.
Not only will you close more sales, but you will gather extremely valuable feedback from your site visitors. For instance, if you see a pattern of people asking whether you have a guarantee, that is a good clue that you need to emphasize your guarantee more on your sales page.
Ari Galper trains people and companies in the proper use of this technology, and I highly recommend his services:
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