While browsing for a new winter cardigan on Overstock.com, I wondered… what if I want to return this? Then I searched the site for a return policy and found myself at the Holiday Customer Service page. All that I needed to satisfy my customer service needs was found, including a LiveChat option! So, I can talk to a live person while I’m shopping online? In less than 30 seconds, Issac came to my assistance to answer any customer service questions I had. Here is the chat that I had:
Welcome to Overstock.com Customer Service, you are now chatting with Issac.
Issac: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com, this is Issac, how can I help you?
you: Hi, I am currently looking at a sweater online, and was wondering where I could also find the white tank top that is underneath it
Issac: Hi there. I will be glad to assist you with that.
you: It is the M by M. Kaplan Women’s Pleated Open-front knit cardigan
Issac: Can you please provide me the item number?
you: 12285371
Issac: Are you referring to ‘M by M. Kalan Women’s Pleated Open-front Knit Cardigan’ priced at $39.99?
you: yes, that’s the one
Issac: Thank you.
Issac: Please allow me 2-3 minutes while I check this for you.
you: sure
Issac: I will provide you the link where you have a variety of choices on ‘Tank tops’.
Issac: Please click on this link to view the different tank tops.
you: oh great, thank you!
Issac: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
you: Yes, I was just wondering how often new items, like sweaters, are added to the site?
Issac: Overstock.com deals in liquidation business so we are unable to assure you the exact time or the date when we will receive new stocks.
you: oh alright! well that’s all I need for today, thank you for your help!
Issac: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com. Your feedback is important. Please click ‘Close’ and complete the brief survey which appears. It takes less than one minute. 
Chat session has been terminated by the Overstock.com Service representative.
Although I could have probably found the other tank top much faster on my own, I was still pleased with the time and attention that I was given. I could see when the representative was “typing a response” and had all my questions answered instantly. This live chat almost parallels to talking to a sales associate in person. For me, this was great customer service. I particularly like how Overstock.com gives the customer the option of talking to a customer service representative rather than them bombarding you online randomly.
I was intrigued to find more information about live chat, and found the company that Overstock.com uses, Live Chat by LivePerson. They claim their product will enable you to “monitor your visitors in real-time, convert visitors to customers, reduce operational costs, and boost customer satisfaction.” Their claims must be pretty accurate, because LivePerson currently has over 8,000 customers. Their product allows companies to not only interact with customers in real-time, but companies can track chat history, the contact ID, the current page their customer is on, how long the customer has been on the site, and the number of pages the customer has viewed. The software can be viewed here, http://bit.ly/2agwvR .
Most helpful for marketers, is the ability to track where the customer came from; you can see if the customer made an organic, sponsored, direct, or referral search. You can also see the campaign source used, whether it is through a search engine like Google, or more specifically through something like Google Adwords. This is valuable information for any company investing their advertising online.
So will more e-commerce sites hop on this trend? If it fits in their marketing and advertising budget, I highly suggest they do! It’s a win-win situation to achieve customer satisfaction and get a better understanding of their consumers online.