Live Chat and the Ubiquitous Telephone
There are a number of reasons why Internet commerce companies, Internet content publishers and non-profit organizations sign up for live chat. High on that list is the fact that dedicated live chat, in addition to being the single most effective customer engagement tool available today, allows your customers and site visitors to ask questions while preserving their identity. Interestingly enough, once you win them over as customers or subscribers, they not only like to know you better but also prefer to dispense with their anonymity and tell you about themselves. If they see a phone number on your website, guess where they head—to their closest telephone to call you, and in all probability, to place an order with you.

The Unusual Customer Engagement Study with Unusual Findings
What inspires customers to make an Internet purchase is one of the greatest puzzles there is in today’s online sphere.  ComScore Networks, a leading market research firm in the US, recently published a study in which they carefully examined the way customers make their purchases. The research study was based on a survey sample of 3000 online customers. It found that 90 percent of consumers who used the Internet to finalize their purchase decision by visiting e-commerce websites completed their transactions offline. A mere 10 percent of those surveyed made their purchase online.

Implications worth Considering
This study is essentially telling us that if 90 percent of online customers are completing their purchases offline, Internet entrepreneurs seriously need to provide their customers the mechanisms and systems to seamlessly complete their purchasing transactions offline. Reliable telephone service can pay a crucial role in this regard.

Setting up your Telephone Network
If you believe that an inbound 800 number is not within your budget at this point in time, consider displaying a regular non toll free number on your home page. Ensure that trained and experienced customer support representatives are always standing by when the phone rings. Ask your local phone company to track and measure busy signals and increase your line count when telephone traffic soars. The combination of simultaneous live chat service and phone service is a killer combination to deliver highly effective customer engagement.