When it comes to interacting with customers, live chat is a crucial tool that offers fast one-on-one conversation, guaranteeing a personalized approach to every visitor on a website.
Based on research, the timeliness of a response greatly influences customers’ choice to utilize your product or service. SuperOffice’s findings reveal that emails typically receive a response within 12 hours, while social media responses can take up to 10 hours. However, live chat messages provide quick assistance within a maximum of 2 minutes.
In order to save your time and prevent errors in selecting a website chat, we have compiled a list of the finest tools to enhance the efficiency of your customer assistance team. The subsequent live chat services cater to diverse types of businesses, with certain applications being ideal for eCommerce while others are well-suited for SaaS support teams.
Why you should use a livechat for customer support and client service
Is it necessary to search for alternative contact methods when an email is provided at the bottom of your website? Customers always have the option to reach out to you via email, correct? Indeed, that is true. However, let’s examine some advantages of using chat apps for customer service.
By utilizing chat apps on your website, you provide customers with immediate assistance and enable direct communication. No matter the concern, visitors can simply click on the widget and receive help within 2 minutes. The customer’s satisfaction directly correlates with the promptness of the response.
Chatting with customers in a live chat is akin to texting a friend, as it is quick, informal, and allows you to remain on topic. There is no requirement to gather information from multiple emails in order to comprehend a customer’s problem, making it more convenient for your agents.
In order to improve communication and enhance the overall customer experience, seek a livechat system with a shared inbox that offers personalized assistance through various channels. This allows customers to initially engage via livechat on a website, transition to direct messages on Instagram, and eventually utilize email, while ensuring that none of their messages are overlooked or missed by your team.
With the help of analytics, you can identify areas for improvement, track your agents’ performance, locate areas of weakness, and enhance your customer service.
Must-have features of the best livechat tools for support
…or the criteria we used to select candidates for this list.
To ensure the effectiveness of your customer assistance team, ensure that the chats you select possess essential tools.
A single location where team members can respond to customer inquiries from social media, messaging apps, and emails.
You have the option to make video or audio calls to reach out to your customers directly from the chat feature on the website, using their preferred method of communication.
By incorporating a knowledge base, pre-saved responses, agent comments, labels, and a chatbot with frequently asked questions, you can streamline your support team’s workload and empower customers to discover solutions independently.
Agents can offer assistance on the go through live chat and push notifications in a mobile app.
By tracking user activities and maintaining chat history, one can enter a conversation with a customer already aware of the context.
• Enable customers to leave feedback through ratings in order to continuously improve your team’s work and enhance the customer experience.
Conversations are automatedly routed to allocate priority and direct them to the appropriate agents.
• Analytics used to monitor the agent’s workload and important live chat metrics.
Chat search, hotkeys, and filters can be utilized to enhance the efficiency of the support team’s workflow.
If your tool meets at least 80% of these features, it qualifies as good for customer support. Below, we have gathered the top tools and apps that meet these requirements.
19 Best Live Chat Software for Your Customer Service
1. Dashly
Dashly is an omnichannel solution that assists businesses in personalized communication with potential customers based on their interests and behavior. It serves as a conversational marketing platform, aiming to optimize support teamwork and enhance customer satisfaction throughout the buyer journey.
Dashly live chat software can be used by businesses of any type (SaaS, EdTech, eCommerce, consulting, and agencies) and of any team size, as there are no restrictions on the number of seats.
Installing a live chat widget to your website is a quick process that does not require the developer’s participation. Simply copy the script and easily insert it into your website code with just one click. You can establish a connection between Dashly and your CMS, or utilize Google Tag Manager.
Your support team is now prepared for their initial interactions with customers.
What live chat features you get
- Convenient inbox to keep all customer communications in one place, with channels, tags, and automated conversation routing;
- Livechat analytics;
- Livechat widget;
- Proactive chat invitation;
- Mobile livechat;
- In app livechat;
- Saved and automated replies;
- Chat search, hotkeys, and filters to facilitate agents’ work;
- Integrations with CRM systems, email, messengers (WhatsApp, Viber, etc.), and social media (Instagram, Facebook) for omnichannel customer communication;
- Triggered welcome chat messages;
- Zoom integration that enables audio and video calls;
- Live chat apps for web, WordPress, iPhone, Android, and Windows.
- Analytics to keep track of the agent’s performance;
- Access to customer’s data and chat history to personalize the communication with an opportunity to make notes in the conversation history so all your agents could stay in context;
- Files sharing;
- Access management;
- Notifications for your agents;
- Mobile app for the support on the go.
2. Kayako
Kayako is a support team productivity solution that facilitates customer communication through a multilingual chat platform.
Kayako offers two primary products, namely Kayako On-Premise, designed for internal communication, and Kayako Cloud, which caters to customer support needs. Along with their live chat tool, they also provide their users with a chatbot, live customer profiles, real-time user behavior tracking, and a knowledge base.
The service is ideal for small businesses seeking a customer support tool as it provides straightforward application processing.
In order to install the software, you will need to follow a few steps and customize a live chat. Subsequently, Kayako will generate a code that must be integrated into your website’s code. With just a few simple clicks, your agents will be fully equipped to provide assistance to your customers and enhance their overall experience with your business.
What live support features you get
Customers are offered by Kayako:
- Shared inbox with tags for easier navigation;
- Triggered chat messages;
- Saved replies;
- Team chats;
- Time tracking;
- Multi-language support;
- Facebook and Twitter integration;
- Mobile chat apps with push notifications.
3. User.com
User.com is a platform that provides a range of automation tools for support, sales, marketing, and management teams. In order to improve your live chat work and enhance the customer experience, User.com offers the option to integrate a chatbot, knowledge base, and advanced analytics into your chat.
You can easily install User.com live chat widget code on your website without the need for developer assistance, and it can seamlessly integrate with well-known CMS platforms like JavaScript, Magento, WordPress, and PrestaShop.
Small and medium-sized businesses are well-suited for the service.
Customers from diverse industries can find suitable solutions on the platform.
• Industries such as finance, eCommerce, web hosting, healthcare, education, real estate, car dealerships, and travel.
What features do you receive with livechat?
User.com provides all the essential tools necessary to deliver an exceptional customer experience.
- Automated requests distribution;
- Quick replies;
- Triggered chat messages;
- Customer segmentation;
- Peeking as the user is typing before a message is sent;
- Agent grouping;
- Calendar integration;
- Multi-language support;
- Mobile chat apps for Android and iOS.
4. Crisp
Crisp, often recognized as a top live chat tool, not only provides live customer support but also ensures excellent service with a shared inbox. This platform is well-suited for startups and small business owners seeking to boost their support team’s efficiency and enhance the overall customer experience.
Crisp enables its customers to make video and phone calls within the platform, eliminating the need for third-party involvement.
After watching tutorials or reading guides for popular website engines, you can independently set up Crisp’s live chat tool on your website by copying and adding the provided HTML code to your site’s code.
Along with a live chat service, you receive:
- Chatbot;
- Triggered chat messages;
- Saved replies;
- Knowledge base;
- Social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp) integration;
- CRM integration;
- Mobile app;
- CrispyBird game that will keep your potential customers engaged when you are offline.
What other features are included?
- One inbox for emails and messages from socials / messengers;
- Automated triggered live chat messages;
- Social media and messengers integration;
- Co-browsing to visit pages together with a user;
- Real-time conversation translation with more than 100 languages available. Type a message in your mother tongue and the platform will translate it into the customer’s language;
- Videos, GIFs, and other file sharing.
5. Sendinblue
Within Sendinblue’s extensive array of tools for communication and growth, there is a website livechat feature available to customers.
If you are in search of a comprehensive solution, you can make use of Sendinblue’s livechat for your online store. The customers of this service mainly consist of small and medium-sized companies as well as enterprises.
You can easily and swiftly install this live chat tool. Simply copy and paste the Sendinblue code into your website’s header, no need for the assistance of developers.
The use of PrestaShop or WordPress plugins is another method to install Sendinblue live chat.
What additional features do you receive along with a live chat?
- One inbox;
- CRM system;
- Signup forms;
- Landing page builder;
- Marketing Automation;
- Email marketing (transactional emails included);
- SMS marketing;
- Mobile app;
- Facebook ads and retargeting.
6. Convead
Convead is a marketing automation platform that effectively consolidates your communication channels while ensuring no message is neglected. Initially designed for marketing and sales teams, the platform offers a range of customer support tools including user behavior tracking to its clients.
Convead collects customer data from various sources, including channel and purchase history, and consolidates it into a single profile. Furthermore, Convead creates dynamic segments based on customer behavior, analyzes data in real-time, and produces reports.
The clients of the service are e-commerce websites, online advertisers, and marketing firms.
The installation of Convead’s live chat tool is estimated to require around 30 minutes. The duration and complexity of this procedure will vary based on the CMS and the level of specific customer data you wish to monitor.
If needed, you can ask for the developer’s assistance while setting up Convead’s live chat tool on your website, as they provide a concise manual.
What types of live chat tools do you receive?
Convead provides your team with essential functionalities.
- One inbox for emails and messages from social media;
- User segmentation;
- Bulk communications;
- Data tracking;
- Flexible widget builder.
What other features are available in addition to a live chat?
- Triggered emails;
- Pop-ups;
- Data tracking;
- A/B testing;
- Web push notifications.
7. Tawk.to
Tawk is a platform that is available for free and provides its users with a specialized chat tool and knowledge base. Although the software has all the necessary tools, it has limited customization options. Additionally, the service focuses on providing outsourcing support agents.
Tawk allows you to monitor website visitors and engage with them through a shared inbox and support tickets. In addition to their features, Tawk.to also provides the option to hire agents for your business at a cost of $1 per day.
The installation of Tawk’s online chat tool on your website is simple. Just paste the code before the tag on each page of your website. No assistance from developers is required for the installation process.
Being free of charge, this livechat is ideal for startups and small businesses.
What types of live chat tools do you receive?
You will have all the fundamental features of a live chat tool as a Tawk’s customer.
- Triggered auto messages;
- Canned replies;
- Message sneak peek;
- Help desk must-haves like tags, departments, or visitor info;
- Mobile app.
You will have access to, in addition to the live chat:
- Chat pages — these are customizable landing pages for business without their own website;
- Knowledge base;
- Visitor tracking
8. Usedesk
Usedesk is a platform that enables you to streamline your teamwork, provide training for livechat agents, and foster the growth of your business. It provides a centralized location for storing emails and messages received from social media and messaging platforms.
Initially, this is primarily a platform for aiding customers. It consolidates all of your communication channels, as well as data from your CRM and other internal systems. The service provides live chat tailored for customer support, which is ideal for both small teams and larger corporations.
In order to begin utilizing the tools offered by Usedesk, it is necessary to install the widget code onto your website. This software enables you to include a maximum of 10 buttons of your choice, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, Skype, and various external links. This way, customers can seek assistance through their preferred communication channel.
Should you prefer not to handle the setup process independently, you have the choice to select the “configure it all for me” option. However, completing a specific application form will be required.
What are the features that you receive from livechat software?
- One inbox for conversations from various channels;
- Quick replies;
- Automated requests distribution;
- Conversation rating;
- Triggers for requests check and other specific actions;
- Social media and messengers integration;
- Live chat and push notification for your mobile app.
9. Chatra
Chatra, a live chat support service focused on enhancing sales, places great emphasis on the tone of voice. The founders refer to their service as a delightful mobile messenger. Aside from providing online chat support, Chatra also offers the option to deploy its chatbot. This feature allows you to customize the chatbot to address specific topics and automatically send predetermined messages to prospective customers.
Simply copy the code for the live chat widget and paste it onto the necessary pages, as it requires minimal time and effort. Chatra provides installation guides for well-known CMS platforms like Magenti, Wix, and WordPress. The installation is straightforward and can be completed within 5 minutes.
Chatra’s tool is suitable for a diverse range of companies.
• Online retail companies • Financial institutions • Automotive manufacturers • Law firms • Companies that produce goods.
What type of live chat instruments do you receive?
- Group chats;
- Conversation history and unfinished messages stored in one place;
- Messages editing available at any moment;
- SSL encryption in a free plan;
- Multilingual interface (English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian);
- Mobile app;
- Access from any device (even on Nintendo 3DS).
10. Pure Chat
Even with no prior experience, small and medium-sized businesses can easily establish contact with their customers via live chat using Pure Chat, a platform with an intuitive interface that simplifies the setup process.
To install, simply copy the script from the Pure Chat website and insert it before the tag in your website’s code.
In addition, you have the option to utilize Shopify, Weebly, or WordPress plugins. In case you encounter any challenges, feel free to reach out to the developers via email.
The pricing ranges from $39 to $79 per month.
Customers of the service can choose between two paid plans (Growth and Pro), with a starting price of $49 per month for monthly payments.
On our list, this platform provides the longest trial period, which is 30 days.
Which live chat features are included?
If you opt for this software, you will receive these essential tools.
- Triggers;
- Conversation history and transcript storage;
- Canned responses;
- Access management;
- SMS notifications (their number depends on your plan);
- Visitor behavior tracking;
- Mobile app;
- Chat and push notifications in a mobile app;
- Reports;
- Integration with Zoho, Salesforce, Mailchimp, etc.;
- Livechat customization.
11. ProProfs Chat
ProProfs Chat consolidates all of your chat communications into a single platform, providing a live chat software tool. By utilizing personalized greetings and announcements, you can actively engage with and manage your customers across various channels and domains, ultimately speeding up the sales process.
With over 50 integrations available, ProProfs allows you to easily incorporate a complimentary live chat tool into several popular e-commerce and content management system apps, enabling immediate customer support.
Some of the main features of ProProfs Chat are:
- Welcome visitors with a chat invitation pop-up
- Customize operator greetings
- Add live chat to multiple domains
- Store all your chat history by connecting with a customer relationship tool
- Store leads in CRM platforms
- Build chatbots for 24/7 automation
- Create a support bundle with ProProf apps
- Track unlimited chat data and analyze summary reports
12. EBI.AI
EBI.AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, strives to optimize your daily operations and boost your business’s profitability. Rest assured, you won’t have to delve into the complexities of AI, as the platform is supported by experienced professionals with a minimum of 20 years of expertise who will handle the intricate tasks on your behalf.
Right from the start, EBI.AI can assist you in resolving over 85% of your issues. In a matter of minutes, you can set up a real-time AI assistant on any of your devices, promptly supplying valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and ways to enhance your services.
Some of the key features of EBI.AI are as follows:
- Chat across a variety of channels anytime and anywhere
- Review expert analysis daily
- Brand and manage your AI assistant’s responses
- Connect your AI assistant with other business systems and integrations
- Add widgets to your chat window
- Access any AI service
13. HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch is a comprehensive customer service platform that integrates a live chat solution. It provides a wide range of customer service tools, with a strong emphasis on live chat functionality. The software offers a customizable chat widget and includes all the standard features associated with live chat, such as chat ratings, file sharing, canned responses, and more.
Wherever you are, you have the option to download the HelpCrunch app on your mobile device and provide client support.
The following are the main features of HelpCrunch:
- See what your customers are typing before they hit “Send”
- Automatically send chat rating to visitors after closing conversation
- Share files with your customers to speed-up support
- Manage customer conversations from all channels in one place
- See visitor’s personal and behavioral data (e.g last page)
- Automatically send chat transcripts after closing a conversation
14. LiveChat
With its high level of sophistication, LiveChat stands as one of the oldest live chat software solutions available. Its remarkable power and robustness provide an outstanding range of features. Additionally, LiveChat offers comprehensive reports on team performance and customer satisfaction, seamlessly integrating with over 170 other tools.
In addition to the usual features such as canned responses, automated messages, chat ratings, and others, LiveChat also grants the ability to send users cards containing images and buttons or even multiple cards arranged in a carousel.
Important Features of LiveChat:
- See what your customers are typing before they hit “Send”
- Add tags to your chats to give them context (and filter reports using those tags)
- Use filters to quickly find archived conversations
- Agents can work as a team and transfer chats when necessary
- Use eye-catchers to make the chat widget stand out on your website
- Add Chat Boosters to let customers complete actions that don’t involve talking to your team
15. Olark
Olark is a live chat software solution known for its dependable performance and straightforward approach. Its features include pre-written responses, chat forms, and automated messages, along with a live visitor list that allows you to identify those who are browsing your website (and initiate communication with them actively).
Although Olark’s customization options are somewhat limited, you do have the ability to employ attention grabbers to capture visitors’ attention as well as receive reports on your team’s performance and customer satisfaction rates.
The main features of Olark are:
- Easy-to-configure live chat automation rules
- Detailed live chat reports that update in real-time
- Full access to your complete transcript archive
- Custom chatbox forms to collect information from your visitors before a chat begins
- Start a conversation with anyone browsing your website
- Provide a personal experience for purchases, shopping, support, and other tasks with Visitor Co-browsing
16. Intercom
Intercom is a comprehensive customer communication tool designed specifically for sales purposes. With Intercom, you have the ability to direct potential customers to your sales team (or individual sales representatives), maintain ongoing conversations through email, or tailor messaging based on visitors’ browsing habits. Intercom’s live chat widget provides a wide range of features, including a knowledge base, chatbot, news integrations, and more, making it an incredibly powerful customer support software solution.
Intercom provides assistance in capturing and converting leads, guiding new customers, enhancing engagement, providing support, maintaining customer loyalty, and enabling self-service alternatives.
Key Features of the Intercom:
- Automatically assign sales inquiries and support requests to the right teams and individual teammates
- Automatically qualify, prioritize, and route leads 24/7 with Custom Bots
- Offer 24/7 support and provide real-time answers to 33% of common questions with Resolution Bot
- Provide real-time support at scale with a collaborative inbox, automation, and proactive self-service
- Introduce customers to your product with guided experiences
- Welcome target accounts to your site and instantly connect them to sales
17. Zendesk Chat
In 2007, Zendesk initially focused on ticketing and later incorporated a live chat feature through the acquisition of Zopim. Although its live chat service may seem somewhat limited, it encompasses typical chat functionalities one would anticipate (such as chat routing, tags, canned responses, etc.) and is specifically designed for help desk solutions.
In order to monitor Zendesk’s variety of reports on customer satisfaction, site analytics, and agent performance in real-time, an Enterprise subscription is required.
The key features of Zendesk Chat are as follows:
- Send targeted and behavior-based messages to customers
- Use pre-chat forms to ask visitors for their contact information before starting a chat
- Monitor website visitors and the pages they’re browsing
- Use chat ratings to gather feedback that will help you improve your performance
- Automate simple, time-consuming tasks with chatbots
18. Help Scout
Help Scout is a comprehensive solution that offers a wide range of features. It offers canned responses, tags, and private team notes, along with a Help Bot that gathers emails in lieu of a conventional chat form. Additionally, Help Scout enables users to send personalized messaging campaigns to visitors by utilizing their data.
With an integrated knowledge base, Help Scout provides users with an excellent self-service solution. Within the chat widget, users are given the choice between live chat (“Ask”) and utilizing the knowledge base (“Answer”).
The main features of Help Scout are:
- Manage all your email, chat, and phone conversations in a shared inbox
- See who else is viewing or replying in real-time to avoid duplication of efforts
- Use the sidebar to see everything you need to know about the user
- Manage phone, email and chat conversations all from a single mailbox
- Trigger messages based on one or more conditions that you set
19. Tidio
On our list, Tidio stands out as a free live chat software solution that can be integrated with email and Facebook Messenger. With this software, you have the ability to include up to 3 agents in your account. Additionally, Tidio offers various features such as canned responses, customer profiles, email forwarding, and more. Even on the free plan, you can benefit from basic trigger-based chatbot scenarios that help engage with visitors and assess their suitability beforehand.
Tidio features live visitor tracking and new visitor notifications, enabling your agents to promptly respond to ongoing activity on your site.
The main features of Tidio are:
- Use browser, desktop, and mobile apps to provide customer service wherever you are
- Customize your chat widget to match your brand
- See who is browsing your website in real-time
- Automate chats with AI
Benefits of Live Chat Software
Live chat is an efficient and economical method to engage with customers and other visitors to your website. It enables individual agents to manage multiple conversations concurrently, and customers can conveniently receive assistance while continuing their computer activities.
Adding a live chat software solution to your website offers several benefits, including the ability for visitors to have their questions answered quickly and in real-time, allowing them to complete their purchase efficiently and continue with their daily activities. According to eConsultancy, 79% of live chat users appreciate the medium due to its prompt and timely responses.
- Faster resolution. According to SuperOffice, emails can take 12–17 hours to get a resolution, but the average response time for live chat is 2 minutes.
- More sales and conversions. Live chat can boost conversion rates by 40% and average order values by 10%.
- Greater customer satisfaction. Live chat has a satisfaction rate of 92%.
- Better customer loyalty and trust. 63% of customers who used live chat said they were more likely to come back to that website again and 62% said they were more likely to purchase from that website again, according to eMarketer.
How to Choose the Best Live Chat Software Solution
When faced with numerous options for live chat software, how do you select the most suitable one for you, your business, and your customers? To make an informed decision, you need to consider two key factors: the specific type of live chat software available and its primary features.
Types of Live Chat Software
There are two primary categories of live chat solutions. The first category comprises stand-alone solutions that solely provide live chat functionality and necessary features for interacting with website visitors. The second category encompasses all-in-one customer service tools that not only include live chat but also incorporate additional customer service features such as support ticketing, social media integration, a knowledge base, and more. If you anticipate needing these additional features in the future, it is advisable to opt for an all-in-one solution right from the beginning.
Main Features of Live Chat Software
When selecting live chat software, it is important to consider that it offers more than just real-time chat. It is essential to choose a solution that includes the necessary features to support both your agents and customers. Certain live chat software solutions go a step further by providing features that enable you to predict the requirements of your website visitors, allowing you to engage with them proactively.
In this section, we will discuss several important factors to consider when selecting a live chat software.
- Automated messages. Sending messages proactively can help you capture visitors before they leave your site based on their behavior.
- Canned responses. If you handle a lot of the same questions over and over, being able to save canned responses is a huge timesaver and ensures consistency in your answers.
- Contact forms. With forms, you can collect contact information before starting a live chat conversation. This is helpful if you get cut off or want to follow up with the visitor later or get permission to add visitors to your email marketing list .
- Broadcasts. If you want to make announcements about news or features to your website visitors, a live chat solution with broadcasting features is helpful.
- Ratings. Letting users rate their live chat experience can give you valuable insight into how your agents or chatbots are doing.
- Widget customization. Chances are, you want your live chat solution to blend in with your existing branding and website design . A live chat software that offers customization of your chat windows will help it feel like a cohesive part of your platform.
In this article, we have covered all platforms for live help tools. If you are unfamiliar with these tools, here is a brief summary.
- Dashly is an omnichannel platform for optimizing customer assistance service. In addition to customer chat support, it offers chatbots, a knowledge base, emails, pop-ups, and data collection. Dashly is suitable for various kinds of businesses: SaaS, eCommerce, consulting, education, and large enterprises. The agent’s number in a livechat is unlimited. The price is determined by your website traffic. For support on the go, Dashly offers its own apps for iOS and Android and live chat with push notifications that can be integrated to other apps.
- Kayako is a platform for customer support. Kayako offers a version for corporate users. The platform may be more complicated to navigate, and customers point out a lot of bugs in the system.
- User.com is a multifunctional platform for sales, marketing, management, and support teams. The price depends on the number of contacts. Any plan includes an unlimited number of agents in a live chat. User.com is great for startups striving to enhance their support.
- Crisp is a multilingual platform for startups and small businesses. Its livechat software allows your agents to make audio and video calls right away without third-party software involvement and communicate with users via mobile apps. The service offers a free version with limited functionality.
- Sendinblue‘s customers are mainly small and medium-sized business types. The price for their livechat software depends on the number of emails you sent and the number of agents. The service offers no trial period.
- Convead is mostly a marketing automation platform, but suits support too. Their main customers are marketers and marketing agencies. The number of agents is unlimited. The price depends on your website traffic. No free plan available. No mobile apps.
- Tawk has a unique offer of hiring an agent. But the service’s functionality is rather limited, so this livechat software suits mostly small and medium business.
- Usedesk offers a livechat with basics for small businesses looking for ways to enhance their customer support. Its interface is very user-friendly. But the minimum period here is three months, and you’ll have to pay for at least three agents. The price is higher than other competitors offer.
- Chatra is an online chat with a chatbot and mobile apps. It offers basic functionality for support. The pricing here depends on the number of agents. The service has a free plan, but most of the instruments are unavailable. The trial period is ten days.
- Pure Chat offers its users easy-to-use, intuitive live chat software. Your team will get 30 days to test the platform’s functionality.
