One of the most sought-after non-phone work at home positions is chat and email based customer service. It seems that there are almost as many people who want to do this at home as there are people wanting to do data entry. Sadly, there are not as many opportunities out there for this as there are phone-based jobs.
But if you have small children at home with you, the majority of the phone-based jobs are not going to work out because of the “no background noise” requirement most of the companies seem to have. So chat and email based customer service positions do seem ideal if that’s your situation.
I’ve decided to do some digging and make a list of the companies that do hire (at least occasionally) for email and chat based work. Please note that the companies listed might not be hiring now and that many of them also hire for phone work:
Site Staff
Site Staff occasionally hires work at home chat hosts. They have a lot of different clients, so the type of questions you’ll answer and support you’ll give via chat will depend on who you’re doing it for. Pay is around $10 an hour and shifts last roughly four to five hours each. WAH Adventures actually wrote up a thorough review of Site Staff here if you want to check it out. Note – Do not ask them about their work at home employment via the live chat on their site. You will get a canned response saying they do not respond to employment inquiries via chat.
Needle
I wrote a review of Needle recently and so far it seems to be one of the most promising home-based chat jobs yet. The pay is good and the hours are very flexible. You can read more about them here.
Talk 2 Rep
Most people who have worked for Talk 2 Rep seem to think that it’s not worth it, but I’m throwing it in here anyway because they are one of the few that do hire people to work from home helping customers via live chat. This is commission-only and most former workers report working tons of hours for little to no pay. Definitely do some research on them so you’re making an informed decision before applying. They also have some phone-based positions.
Sedgwick CMS
Sedgwick does have an e-support (email support) and fax work at home position, although most of their at-home work is primarily phone-based. I did some reading though and apparently this e-support position is very hard to get in on. To check if they are hiring for e-support, visit the Career Center link and select Customer Service/Call Center in the “Area of Interest” drop-down. Then, hit the “Search” button and scroll through until you find the “E-support” position. If it’s not there, keep checking back because they are sometimes in need of e-support reps.
G5 Live
G5 Live is another company, like Talk 2 Rep, that hires for chat-based customer support regularly. Also, instead of paying on a weekly basis, they pay monthly. They used to have a cash out minimum amount of $20, but they have done away with that recently and you can get paid no matter how much you have in your account. You’re paid a set amount per chat – .25 cents currently – plus performance bonuses. Most agents earn between $100 to $300 per month. As always, do plenty of your own Googling and research on this one before registering so you’re making a fully informed decision. G5 Live has said that this is extra, supplemental income and should not be looked on as a work at home job and that it would be good to have another non-phone position to work at during their down times. If you would like additional information, someone from G5 Live has commented below with more details.
Arise
Arise apparently has a lot of clients that are chat and email only, although much of what they have is just phone-based work. You can read this thread at Work Place Like Home to see which clients they have that offer chat/email work. One thing you should know about Arise is that it’s not like your typical home-based phone job. You actually have to pay to incorporate yourself because it’s sort of like you’re starting a business. That said, Arise is NOT a scam. A lot of people conclude that it is because of the fees, but it isn’t your run of the mill home-based phone job. You can also read my write-up on Arise that will fully explain everything (including the fees and what they’re there for).
Live Sales Staff
Live Sales Staff is another company that offers chat-based customer support. I can’t find a ton of information about them, but one thing I have learned is that they require you to work very long hours (12 hours shifts) and that the pay is not all that great. Their website doesn’t have an application to fill out, you just have to email their HR department and contact them via chat.
Weebly
If you understand web technology and building websites, you might be able to get hired to work at home doing email-based customer service for Weebly. They are not always hiring for this, but as of the date of this blog post, they are. Pay is pretty good at $17 an hour.
A Few Tips
Someone on Work Place Like Home suggested keeping your eyes on sites like oDesk and Elance for chat/email support positions because sometimes companies and individuals recruit workers through there.
It’s also a good idea to check and see if a company you’re interested in has any chat/email support jobs even if they don’t openly advertise it.
Do you know of any other sites that hire for email or chat-based customer support? What are your tips for finding these kinds of jobs?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
You have to be in the San Francisco Area to work for the Weebly job. It has a disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
Didn’t see that, thanks for letting me know!
Thanks for the list Anna!
Miranda recently posted..Virtual Assisting with Ziptask
I would like to make sure you provide an update on your advertisement of G5live. We do not require someone to make a minimum amount of money before they get paid. If they make $1.00 they will be paid $1.00 if they make $100.00 they will be paid $100.00. We pay once per month and we always tell our applicants this is a supplemental income position it is not meant to replace ones income or be their only source of income. We are very upfront and honest with our applicants. Our agents are paid $.25 per chat plus a performance bonus monthly. Our agents make between $100.00 to $300.00 per month. We have 4hr shifts and 8hr shifts and our agents work 3 to 4 days per week. We are very flexible and growing we are currently providing support for 350-400 websites. If you have any other questions please let me know.
Susan Harknett
Director of Operations
G5live LLC
Thank you Susan, I will for sure update my information. I also have a full write-up on your company here:
http://realwaystoearnmoneyonline.com/2012/10/chat-work-from-home-for-g5-live.html
… and it looks like I have stated here that you will pay regardless of how much someone has earned. This post is a little old though.
Thank you Anna Just wanting to get the word out that a lot of the practices of years gone by are just that gone. We want everyone to be paid for the work they do. One other thing I did not mention before is many of our operators working from home doing our chats have families and children and most go about their days cleaning cooking playing with the kids all in between chats so you do not have to be glued to your computer the whole shift as we have sound files that are assigned to the chats so as long as an agent can hear when a chat comes in and can get to it right away to answer that is all we ask. We are very flexible and willing to work with all our agents. As they are what keeps our business going. We truly value them. Obviously we would like to be able to pay more but at this present time the volume doesn’t allow that yet. Thank you again it is much appreciated.
I worked for Weebly and I don’t live in the San Francisco area to work the remote Email Customer Support position, they hire from all around the world. That being said, they don’t train you on everything you need to know for the position, and they like the new hires to work the weekend shifts, so the new hires are on the company chat begging for answers with very little help. They also allow co-workers to repremand co-workers.
Thank you for sharing that, Jane!
Hi Susan,
I would just like to know if you hire chat support from any parts of the world like Philippines?
Hoping for your earnest reply.
Thank you.
Hi Ellen Grace
I do apologize at this present time we are only hiring agents in the US. If this changes I will be sure to make sure it is notated. Thank you.