VSA - Virtual Smart Agent and Answering Question

[Mukul Verma]

Has anyone used VSA and how is it with answering questions?

How is it in reading your FAQ or wherever it gets the information and carrying a conversation with the customer??

Thanks,
Mukul

[Justin Mandel]

It's preprogrammed with about 18 responses, but you can make your own responses and have it so it responds to your own keywords.

Good stuff!

[knmrwarrior]

It works in a very simple way. There's no intelligence, as such, but it's still a powerful tool.

VSA looks for phrases or keywords in the customers input, and provides a pre-programmed response. It comes with a set of pre-programmed phrases and responses which you can modify or add to.

There are other similar tools out there but VSA can be used across multiple sites and does not have any recurring costs.

As far as value for money goes, it's hard to beat.

[Mukul Verma]

Originally Posted by knmrwarrior

It works in a very simple way. There's no intelligence, as such, but it's still a powerful tool.

VSA looks for phrases or keywords in the customers input, and provides a pre-programmed response. It comes with a set of pre-programmed phrases and responses which you can modify or add to.

There are other similar tools out there but VSA can be used across multiple sites and does not have any recurring costs.

As far as value for money goes, it's hard to beat.

Thanks,

Now I guess it would take some practice to see what kinda questions are asked.

Anyone else use this, how do they find it?

Thanks a lot

[Adaptive]

I've never heard of VSA before. Can someone provide an overview of what it is, and how this fits into the world of Internet Marketing?

Regards,
Allen

[knmrwarrior]

VSA is one of the companies that sells "virtual smart agent technology. Intellichat is another.

A virtual smart agent typically kicks into action when a visitor tries to navigate away from your site. It's a form of exit pop-up that shows a picture of an agent and a stream of text gives the effect of a live chat (which it is not).

It is often used to salvage a sale by offering a discount on the product being offered.

You can see them in action at the following sites (not aff links etc):

Commission Blueprint uses VSA: http://www.commissionblueprint.com/
Google Shadow uses Intellichat: http://www.djkshadow.com/

Attempt to close the window to see them kick into action.

Der

[DavidO]

I think VSA is useful for getting visitor feedback but be careful with the "last-chance" offer. This is a questionable tactic that will backfire with many people. I would avoid it.

[Sam101]

I purchased a script for about $8 a few months ago (having seen it in action a quite a few IM guru's websites). It is similar to a "last offer" that a physical salesman would give when you leave the store (typical in Asia). The danger is that once word gets out that there is a VSA on a site nobody would buy at the listed price. Everybody would try to exit and buy only at the discounted price.

[SimonHarrison]

Don't avoid it at all. It works like crazy, we have it on two of our sites and it generates about $20k per annum extra per year in sales we would have lost.

[JazzOscar]

Originally Posted by SimonHarrison

Don't avoid it at all. It works like crazy, we have it on two of our sites and it generates about $20k per annum extra per year in sales we would have lost.

Just goes to show how different people/customers can be.

I don't know what kind of niche you are in and I have no reason to doubt what you say.

Personally, when acting as a customer, I find those VSAs very annoying and intruding. My personal experience tend to be;

• When I visit a site and find a product that to me seems to have great value, whether I buy from the site instantly or leave to return later if I decide to buy something, I very seldomly meet a virtual assistant when trying to leave the site
• When I visit a site and find a product that to me seems too hyped up and of little interest to me, then, when trying to leave the site, am met by a virtual assistent, I feel reassured that my decision to leave the site without buying was the right one. I click two times to get past the annoying virtual assistant without even reading what it has to say/offer.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not totally against any kind of pop-ups and roll-ups, but I find the VSA thing very annoying.

I also understand that some way of making the potential customer rethink his decision not to buy just as he/she is about to leave may give some extra sales. It's the same thing as in the offline world where giving an irresistable offer on your way to leave a potential customers office sometimes may lead to an unexpected sale.

[Mukul Verma]

Thanks for the feedback.

Now what about the response questions (how accurate are they, as I would not want to piss customers off my not getting a answer or the wrong answer) and is this all traceable to improve using VSA?

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by JazzOscar

Just goes to show how different people/customers can be.

I don't know what kind of niche you are in and I have no reason to doubt what you say.

Personally, when acting as a customer, I find those VSAs very annoying and intruding. My personal experience tend to be;

• When I visit a site and find a product that to me seems to have great value, whether I buy from the site instantly or leave to return later if I decide to buy something, I very seldomly meet a virtual assistant when trying to leave the site
• When I visit a site and find a product that to me seems too hyped up and of little interest to me, then, when trying to leave the site, am met by a virtual assistent, I feel reassured that my decision to leave the site without buying was the right one. I click two times to get past the annoying virtual assistant without even reading what it has to say/offer.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not totally against any kind of pop-ups and roll-ups, but I find the VSA thing very annoying.

I also understand that some way of making the potential customer rethink his decision not to buy just as he/she is about to leave may give some extra sales. It's the same thing as in the offline world where giving an irresistable offer on your way to leave a potential customers office sometimes may lead to an unexpected sale.

It's annoying as hell, I agree but it WORKS, and works big time.

In addition the issue is really that most people don't EVER come back to a lot of niches, you either get them then and there or it's toast.

VSA and it's equivalents only appear if the customer doesn't purchase, so it's in most cases , it's lost traffic anyway.

If you run VSA with some kind of trial offer of the product, your conversions and additional sales are seriously noticable, that's why almost every CPA offer you now come across uses some kind of on exit agent.

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by Mukul Verma

Thanks for the feedback.

Now what about the response questions (how accurate are they, as I would not want to piss customers off my not getting a answer or the wrong answer) and is this all traceable to improve using VSA?

You analyse and teach it as you go, it's not perfect but for the most part people will usually just click on the link , shut it , or ask the models questions about the size of their tits, so I wouldn't over worry.

[Kirk Ward]

Originally Posted by SimonHarrison

You analyse and teach it as you go, it's not perfect but for the most part people will usually just click on the link , shut it , or ask the models questions about the size of their tits, so I wouldn't over worry.

What do you use to measure their tit size, Angstrom Units?

[SimonHarrison]

Originally Posted by Kirk Ward

What do you use to measure their tit size, Angstrom Units?

Tends to be more "touch" orientated.

[Derek S]

I tested it out just two weeks ago and my results where less than fantastic. It did not save enough sales to be worth it as I found it to reduce the amount of customers who would come back to buy at a later time.

Reading the conversations people would have was amusing to say the least. Be sure to add all swear words to the database and if you have a female smart agent, most conversations will be pretty R rated LOL

[Derek S]

Almost Forgot: This is a great tool to place on your order page if you have a shopping cart that allows html code.

Used right it can help lower order page abandonment!

[Adaptive]

Thanks for the summary, Der, that helped me follow the rest of the conversation.

Regards,
Allen

[JustVisiting]

If VSA is used on ClickBank merchant web site does a referring affiliate still get credited with their % commission??

I believe with another (un-named) system this isn't so

[Ty Wagner]

Does anyone know if you can customize VSA screen with your own website template?

[Tedders]

I just launched a CB product and VSA definitely credits the affliate. The vendor simply adds another item with the reduced price to the product account.

Cheers.

[astaga]

Originally Posted by Kirk Ward

What do you use to measure their tit size, Angstrom Units?

LOL.......... Thanks for funnying up a cold gloomy Monday morning...
Answer: pixels.