Home Service Back Office – How We Get 1 Extra Lead Per Day
HSBO is a company that specializes in providing high quality live chat services for home service companies (primarily HVAC and Plumbing).
How Many Leads Can Live Chat Services Capture?
We’ve been using HSBO live chat services for getting some extra leads through live chat for the last few months. Around 5% of our visitors who use the live chat services end up interacting with the live agent and becoming a lead.
This translates to about 1 extra lead per day for us and there’s immediate ROI because we don’t pay for any chats that don’t turn into leads.
When Are The Live Chat Agents Available?
Agents are available for our visitors and prospects between 8AM and Midnight PST every day, which has been helpful for us. The leads that are generated through the use of HSBO’s live chat services are forwarded on to us through the use of email and SMS services, allowing for direct and effective lead management capabilities and possibilities.
Why Customers Prefer Live Chat Services Over Phone Or E-Mail?
Some of the main reasons that customers prefer to be offered live chat services—as opposed to having to submit an online form or email or call the company directly—include:
- getting immediate/instantaneous answers to questions, instead of having to wait for a long period of time for a response—live chat services are far more efficient than email or telephone services, the latter for which can often have long waiting times
- live chat services allow a visitor to work on a number of different tasks at a time
- many people find that they are uncomfortable with having to make a telephone call to get their problems sorted out
- information that is provided via live chat is more informative and helpful than information offered over the phone or by email
Are The Live Chat Agents Real People?
The live chat agents working for HSBO are real people, and are selected based on the most thorough and critical selection process; in fact, HSBO claims that—of every 100 applicants—only one is taken on to join their team of professional live chat agents.
So far our experience has been great with the agents themselves.
Every live chat agent is fully trained in the website owners’ business, with a number of levels of training being provided in order to ensure that the agent will be able to offer accurate advice and help for website visitors. The training process starts with the help and intervention of the business owner, and as time passes, the live chat agents are gradually given more independence based on their knowledge of the company. This ensures that they will be just as knowledgeable as one of the HVAC or plumbing company’s own employees.
The live chat agents for the HSBO live chat service live and work in what is commonly known as the ‘Silicon Valley’ in Mexico, which is renowned for the incredible number of technology companies that it hosts. Every live chat agent is selected based on their language skills and typing speed, which ensures that a website’s visitors will be provided with high quality live chat services every time.
How Are The Live Chat Services Implemented?
The HSBO live chat services are incredibly easy to implement in a website; a piece of code—which is provided by HSBO—simply needs to be implemented into the website, on every page, somewhere within the <body> tags of the website’s code. Alternatively, for those website owners who struggle with website customization, HSBO offers a free implementation service.
HSBO vs Its Competitors
HSBO has two main competitors in the live chat industry: Ruby Receptionists and Apex Chat.
HSBO vs Ruby Receptionists
HSBO and Ruby Receptionists both offer live chat services, however, the services offered by HSBO are far superior in terms of both affordability and efficacy. HSBO charges $13 for every lead, meaning that a HVAC or plumbing business owner only has to pay for those chats which lead on to a lead or order. By contrast, Ruby Receptionists charges $12.45 for every live chat, regardless of whether or not the chat leads to a sale.
Moreover, HSBO also specializes in HVAC and plumbing live chat services, whereas Ruby Receptionists offer a more generalized and unspecialized service.
HSBO vs Apex Chat
HSBO and Apex Chat are both specialists in providing quality live chat services, however, the main difference between the two is the fact that HSBO offers a far more affordable service. HSBO charges $13 per lead; Apex Chat charges between $18 and $35 for every lead, depending on the nature of the lead.