You would be surprised at the number of chats e-commerce websites receive in a day.

One of our clients (selling clothes targeting 40+ women) had their sales almost double when we added in a simple livechat widget.

Since I discovered that they actually put helpful people behind those chats I've started to use them. Now I ask questions with all my online transactions. "How is the warranty? Do clients return this product a lot? Do you have any similar products to recommend me?", etc.

I see this all the time on emerging startup apps and websites. Very annoying. It beeps and pops up and covers the bottom right side of the screen and sometimes covers up content. Worst still, it pops up 10 seconds after I arrived at their site when I haven't even begun to really dig into the information, so of course I don't have questions!

I think the chat boxes are wonderful idea; I've used them more than once to ask quick questions.

The beeping and popping up of some stock image with a 'nice' name is incredibly annoying though.

Chats that offer service are good.

Blame Intercom for this.