Live chats can increase sales on e-commerce sites by 16 pc: Study

According to the findings, published in the journal Information Systems Research, the research team from Indiana University, Fudan University and University of Washington, looked at data from Chinese e-commerce giant -- Alibaba, on consumers’ purchase decisions of Apple and Samsung tablets from March through June 2013.

“We found live chat can increase purchase probability of tablets by 15.9 per cent, and we see that human interaction results in better sales performance,” said study researcher Xue (Jane) Tan from Indiana University in the US.

According to the researchers the fact that sellers and buyers cannot speak in person, like brick-and-mortar stores, leads to uncertainty about product quality and seller credibility.

Live chat tools allow e-vendors to communicate with customers in real time, they added.

The data source, Alibaba, has a reputation of being similar to eBay, where feedback is collected after each transaction.