Wall Street Journal Article Underlines the Need for Testing

In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, you may have seen an article titled "Online Salespeople Get Pushy." The article profiled a number recent shopping experiences which ended somewhat badly as a result of online chat mechanisms. The premise of the article "As Web Retailers Ramp Up Live Help to Boost Sales, Customers Start to Grumble."

Hmmm... I found the article troubling and really short on data. Several different cases were presented, from retailers such as Overstock.com, Dell, and Apple. What was not presented was any kind of objective data showing that in fact online chat is actually decreasing sales conversion rates at online retailers. Rather, I think the author keyed in on a couple of bad experiences and painted this useful risk reversal technique with a broad negative brush.

What it comes down to is that like most other sales boosting efforts online, this can and should be tested. Always. Had the author commissioned a couple simple split tests, she may have written it differently.

Will this article trigger some business owners to rip down their "Live Person" buttons? I wouldn't be surprised. My message to you: Test it first to see what the effect really is on your sales.