Why is it that many online retailers have not adhered to the same standards that have been set offline? Technology has played a large role in this, but we are getting to the point where this is not longer an excuse.

I saw a press release today from Velaro. It got me thinking about the state of eCommerce and the growing number of companies that are creating SaaS soultions. As a thank you for getting me thinking, I am going to focus on some of the things that Velaro is doing right (and I need to mention one thing they are doing wrong. Guys, your demo video does not appear to be embeddable. If it were, I would have posted it and gotten additional eyeballs on it at no cost. Am I missing the embed code?)

• Co-browsing
  • Offer your online visitors hands-on assistance whenever they need it! Co-browsing allows you to co-navigate with your visitors, leading them through pages and forms. When your agent navigates to a new page, the visitor is brought to that same page. When the visitor navigates to a new page, your agent will also be brought to the same page
• Click To Call
  • Allow your customers to decide the best way to interact with you! Jupiter Research states that “over 90% of online visitors prefer human interaction” and with Click-to-Call, your visitors are given that human interaction with the opportunity to request an automatic phone call from one of your online agents
• Live Chat
  • Engage the right visitor at the right time by providing immediate service at the time of need! With over seven years of experience in the Live Chat market, Velaro understands the importance of engaging website visitors in new and exciting ways. Live Chat is a quick and easy way for you to interact with your customers and to let them know you care about all their needs

The beauty of these services is that they work with regular web standards. No java or applets!

There is more, but I am not in the business of selling (and this is not a sponsored post). Head over to the Velaro site and check out Liveinfluence. It is pretty compelling!