The purpose of live chat software is to merge personalized customer service with the convenience and efficiency of automation. It serves as a business communication and conversational marketing tool, enabling real-time instant chat messaging between consumers and live agents, consumers and chatbots powered by AI, or a combination of both.
Conversations through live chat can occur on business websites, mobile apps, third-party messaging apps, or social media platforms.
The main function of live chat software tools is to
- Speed up the sales process by providing buying recommendations and answers to consumer questions
- Provide AI-powered customer service and support for basic issues, and transfer more complicated support requests to live agents
- Market to first-time or returning website visitors based on their demographics or previous behavior on a business website/app
- Collect valuable customer data (contact information, etc.) and evaluate lead quality
What Are The Different Types of Live Chat Software?
The live chat software of today has progressed significantly from the traditional popup windows that say “Chat Now”.
Chat tools now provide a diverse range of advanced solutions, each designed with a distinct approach to optimize chat conversations for both customers and agents.
Below, we will analyze the various classifications of live chat software.
Real-Time Chat: To Provide A Human Connection
Real-time chat refers to a messaging solution found on websites or mobile applications that allows for live, individual conversations between support/sales agents and website visitors (or app users).
The distinguishing factor in this situation is the “human connection.”
Real-time chat operates similarly to a business phone call in terms of providing the utmost personalization. Agents have the capability to share files and links, guide customers through troubleshooting processes, give precise pricing estimates, and deliver personalized assistance in any other form.
Real-time chat frequently utilizes pre-written responses known as canned responses that live agents can easily insert into the chat window. This is done to streamline sales and support procedures.
Automated Chatbots: To Keep More Live Agents Free
Automated chatbots, also known as flow-based chatbots, are chat tools focused on self-service. They function by following predetermined conversational paths established by the customer’s information within the chat window.
Frequently, customers are presented with a list of questions or multiple choice “answer buttons” when interacting with automated chatbots. These answers are based on pre-written scripts and typically include links to online knowledge bases, product pages, or prewritten automated responses.
If the chatbot is unable to provide an answer to a question, it will either terminate the conversation or suggest the customer to engage with a real agent.
Automated chatbots, although not entirely ineffective, have certain limitations in comparison to AI-powered chat tools. These chatbots are specifically created to automate responses and filter out basic and frequently asked customer queries.
Automated chatbots have limitations in handling longer, open-ended customer questions, as they are programmed to answer only specific pre-programmed questions.
Conversational AI: To Replicate A Live Conversation
Conversational AI is a software solution for live chat that is intelligent and utilizes machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to create an automated chatbot conversation that resembles human-to-human interaction.
When determining the most effective response to customer queries, these chatbots analyze customer intent, customer sentiment, website visitor activity, and existing customer account information by recognizing trigger words/phrases.
Although not all chatbots utilize conversational AI, it is conversational AI that enables chatbots to provide personalized, behavior-triggered, and high-quality live chat assistance. Conversational AI aids in boosting first contact resolution rates, expediting the sales process, filtering prospects of good quality, automating support, and prioritizing support matters that necessitate live agent intervention.
Conversational AI is employed for the purpose of arranging appointments, obtaining payments, recommending products/services, and promoting additional purchases to current customers.
Conversational Commerce: To Market To Customers Across Chat Channels
The use of automated and real-time chat on popular messaging channels to boost customer engagement and directly sell products/services is referred to as conversational commerce.
Agents can offer customer support through messaging channels such as social media, voice and video apps, SMS texting, etc, even though conversational commerce is mainly intended for sales generation.
With conversational commerce, customers and prospects can engage with businesses through well-known social media messaging apps, third-party communication apps, or simply via text, eliminating the need for them to download your business’s dedicated mobile app or visit your website in order to initiate a conversation.
What Are The Benefits of Using Live Chat Software?
Live chat software provides a range of advantages, including reduced operating expenses and quicker resolution of support issues, as well as increased customer retention rates and enhanced customer understanding.
Let’s analyze in detail what benefits your customers and team can anticipate from implementing conversational solutions.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Live chat software is responsible for an increase in customer satisfaction.
- Providing 24/7 “always-on” chat support/customer service
- Providing customers with chat wait time or chat queue position updates
- Empowering high-level customer self-service via AI-powered chatbots
- Letting customers choose their preferred chat channel (website, social media, WhatsApp, video, etc.)
- Offering a more personalized customer experience
- Using chat routing to ensure customers connect to the appropriate agent
Faster Support Resolution
Through the use of live chat solutions, first contact resolution rates are increased and the overall support process is expedited.
- Using automated AI chatbots to instantly answer common customer queries
- Giving agents access to Live Agent Assistance or pre-written canned responses in a manually searchable internal knowledge base
- Storing chat histories in shared inboxes and integrating with CRM software to prevent customers from repeating themselves to multiple agents
- Dropping links to relevant knowledge base articles, video/written tutorials, or relevant product pages in chats
- Allowing customers to fill out forms, pay bills, review order/shipping status, schedule appointments, or create support tickets directly in chat windows
- Transferring customers to live agents upon request, or setting up a time for a future live chat/call
Shorter Sales Cycles
Live chat software can enhance profits and shorten sales cycles in their entirety in addition to enhancing the support process.
- Using analytics to determine the ideal time to proactively engage with consumers via chat
- Guiding consumers through personalized sales funnels according to chat responses
- Evaluating lead quality, passing only the most promising prospects to live agents
- Collecting key customer data
The act of initiating pre-set outbound marketing chat messages in accordance with:
- Account status and value
- Customer demographics
- Length of time spent on website/app
- Specific website/app pages visited or specific action taken on a website/app
- If the prospect has chatted with a team member before
Agent Optimization
Live chat software is a great choice for small businesses that don’t have enough staff or are new and need to offer better customer service and support, but don’t want to hire more agents.
Additionally, live chat tools also:
- Automate numerous support requests, keeping more live agents free for longer
- Automate routine business processes like data collection/account information updates
- Decrease employee turnover rates by offering a more balanced workload
- Allows agents to quickly access internal knowledge bases in-chat, without leaving the conversation
- Increase team productivity
Greater Insight Into Customer Behavior
Live chat software offers an exceptional level of understanding about customer behavior, demographics, pain points, and even their preferences for future business developments.
Admins have the capability to peruse saved chat logs and analyze chat data in order to assess:
- Overall support quality
- Most and least popular products or services
- Quality of employee training materials/internal knowledge bases
- Which chat channel customers prefer (Facebook Messenger, website chat, in-app chat, etc.)
- Common support issues
- Agent performance and productivity Live-Chat-Software-Features
- Effectiveness of automated chatbots and chat routing strategies
What Is Live Chat Software Used For?
Live chat software is utilized in numerous business sectors such as eCommerce, tech support, healthcare, and marketing/consulting, serving a wide range of purposes.
The capabilities of eCommerce chat software include:
- Make product recommendations
- Provide information about sizing or product warranties
- Provide order status and shipping updates
- Proactively send out promo codes
- Identify quality leads
- Remind customers about items left in carts
Customer support teams employ live chat tools for the purpose of:
- Automate simpler support requests
- Verify or update account information
- Direct customers to relevant internal knowledge base articles or video tutorials
- Flag serious support issues for live agent conversations and collect information the agent will need (account number, product type, issue description, order number, etc.)
- Help customers schedule in-person service/support appointments
- Co-browse and screen share with customers to completely resolve issues
Chat tools are utilized by service providers such as salons, home repair and installation specialists, etc. in order to:
- Direct customers to download their branded app
- Make appointment bookings/show available time slots
- Provide quotes and pricing
- Collect customer information
- Set reminder notifications
- Help customers add appointments to their calendar apps
- Offer upgrades
- Share photos/information packets on available services
- Ask for customer feedback and reviews
Chatbots are used by marketing teams in order to:
- Send out customer surveys
- Make proactive sales recommendations/engage in conversational marketing
- Automate lead follow-up
- Get more detailed information about target markets/customer demographics
- Analyze customer-agent conversation transcripts
- Collect prospect contact information
- Encourage visitors to sign up for e-newsletters/mailing lists
Healthcare providers have the ability to utilize chatbots in order to:
- Schedule virtual or in-person appointments
- Guide patients through filling out medical forms
- Answer patient questions about insurance coverage
- Collect patient payments
- Share links to telehealth appointment video sessions
Top 19 providers of live chat software
By using live chat software, you have the capability to directly engage with a customer while they are in the midst of making a purchase. This occurs when the customer has already made the decision to buy, making them more receptive to your sales pitch compared to any other stage of the process. By establishing a connection with them during this specific period, you have the opportunity to enhance conversions and maximize profits.
Live chat software enables you to offer customer service that is quicker than email. If a customer has inquiries regarding a product or the process of placing an order, live chat can assist in promptly resolving their concerns. This can prove highly beneficial for customers who are undecided about making a purchase and can potentially be convinced to finalize a sale through receiving excellent service.
Now, we will examine the key advantages of live chat for customer service teams.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a cloud-based help desk software that is known for its leading position. It aims to simplify the process of doing business with you. With Zendesk, you have access to all the necessary tools for providing exceptional customer service in one convenient location. It allows your team to offer interactive conversations through various platforms such as the web, mobile, and social apps, making it easier for customers to contact you promptly. Furthermore, Zendesk is user-friendly when it comes to automating tasks and expanding to meet the requirements of every customer or employee.
Key features:
- Enable you to stay connected on any channel
- Manage all conversations in one place
- Provide proactive engagement
- You can provide 24-hour support
- Live chat analytics to make you more efficient
- Scale as your team grows
- Make it fit the look and feel of your company
- Do more with your live chat conversations
LiveChat
LiveChat is a customer service software that operates in the cloud and aids companies in delivering improved customer support regardless of their size. By providing both live chat and ticketing capabilities within one platform, it simplifies the process for agents to assist customers through their preferred communication channel. Additionally, LiveChat offers the ability to integrate with numerous external applications, resulting in a flexible customer service solution.
Key features:
- Proactive conversation
- Pre-written responses
- Form for offline use
- Customizable branding
- Capabilities for integration
- Routing
- Tracking
LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a cloud-based customer support software that offers a wide range of features, making it powerful and comprehensive. It enables businesses to provide excellent customer support, leading to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and reduced customer churn. The software covers various aspects of customer support, including ticketing, live chat, knowledge base, and self-service. Moreover, it includes a built-in CRM system to assist businesses in managing their customers efficiently.
Key features:
- Personalized proactive chat invitations
- Automated distribution
- Multiple integrations
- Increase customer and brand experience
- Create long-term relationships through ongoing conversations
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a software designed for businesses to provide efficient customer service and support online. It enables businesses to enhance customer service through various channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media. Additionally, Zoho Desk offers a comprehensive knowledge base to ensure consistent and accurate responses to customer inquiries. By utilizing its reporting and analytics features, businesses can monitor and improve their customer service performance.
Key features:
- Capabilities for automation
- Pre-written responses
- Adaptable widget
- Forms of feedback
- Proactive assistance
Tidio
Tidio is a customer experience platform designed to assist online businesses in offering exceptional customer service and turning inactive visitors into engaged purchasers. It offers pre-built sales and support chatbots that boost revenue and quickly address typical queries from your customers. Tidio serves as a straightforward yet robust helpdesk solution for your team as it consolidates all customer messages into a single location. Its efficiency is enhanced when used alongside Shopify features.
Key features:
- Communicate with your visitors via live chat to quickly
- solve problems and sell proactively
- Use pre-made chatbot strategies to increase sales
- Preview carts, check order history, and recommend products directly in the chat
- A simple ticketing system to manage and resolve customer requests.
Freshworks
Freshworks is an online cloud-based software that offers customer service support through a helpdesk. This software includes smart automation to increase efficiency and speed up tasks. Its purpose is to enhance team productivity and ensure excellent customer experiences. With Freshworks, users can conveniently handle all customer interactions and provide personalized service. The software provides various features such as ticketing, customer feedback, contact management, collaboration, help desk automation, live chat, and additional capabilities.
Key features:
- Strong backend environment for aligned conversations
- Tracking and analytics for customer insights
- Live Chat functionality combined
- API for unified messaging
- Real-time Reports
- AI-Powered Insights
JivoChat
JivoChat is a live chat software that allows businesses to offer real-time customer support through various channels. These channels include live chat, phone, email, and social media. The software offers a customizable chat widget that can be easily integrated into a website or mobile app. This allows businesses to engage with their customers in real-time, no matter where they are. JivoChat also includes advanced features like chatbots, visitor tracking, and pre-written responses. These features help businesses streamline their customer support process and manage multiple conversations at the same time. However, some users may find the user interface overwhelming, and the pricing plans can be complicated for those who need more advanced features.
Key features:
- Multi-channel support-live chat, phone, email, Facebook, WhatsApp
- Customizable chat widget
- Advanced features including chatbots, canned responses, and visitor tracking
- Agent productivity tools such as keyboard shortcuts, and agent-to-agent chats
- Analytics tool that monitors chat volume, response time, customer satisfaction
- Integrations with CRM software, social media platforms, eCommerce platforms
Userlike
Userlike Live Chat is a suitable choice for businesses seeking to improve their customer support and establish stronger connections with their customers. By using its customizable chat widget, businesses have the ability to create a smooth and personalized experience for their customers. In addition, Userlike Live Chat offers multi-channel support, which includes messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, allowing businesses to remain connected with their customers no matter where they are. For businesses aiming to enhance their customer support, Userlike Live Chat serves as a valuable tool that can elevate their performance.
Key features:
- Customizable chat widgets can be easily integrated into a website or mobile app
- Offers multi-channel support, including live chat, WhatsApp, & Facebook Messenger
- Provides advanced features like chatbots, visitor tracking, and file sharing
- Integrations with CRM software, eCommerce platforms, and social media platforms.
- Analytic to help businesses optimize their customer support strategy.
- Free plan with limited features, making it a good option for small businesses.
Pure Chat
Pure Chat offers the perfect solution for businesses seeking to improve their online customer support and boost conversions. By utilizing its customizable chat widget, automated greetings, and chat routing, businesses can effortlessly provide a seamless and professional chat experience for their customers. Moreover, the software’s canned responses and file sharing capabilities enhance the efficiency of customer service, while its analytics and reporting features enable businesses to monitor and optimize their chat performance. With its integration with popular website platforms and tools, as well as the availability of mobile apps, Pure Chat enables businesses to conveniently communicate with customers even while on the move.
Key features:
- Pre-written responses to help agents save time and improve efficiency
- File sharing feature to share files with your visitors
- Integrate with popular website platforms such as WordPress, and Shopify
- Multi-channel support to increase efficiency
SnapEngage
Key features:
- Provide omnichannel support
- A range of reporting and analytics tools
- Proactive chat enables businesses to automatically initiate chat conversations
- Easy integration with third-party applications
Smartsupp
Smartsupp is an effective live chat software that aims to assist businesses in engaging with their customers in real-time. It provides a variety of features to enhance customer support and overall online engagement. Smartsupp is a comprehensive solution for businesses wanting to enhance their customer support through its customizable chatbot builder, integration options, and reporting tools. To meet the requirements of all businesses, Smartsupp offers multiple pricing plans. The basic plan, which is free, includes essential features like chat, email support, and a chat history that lasts for 14 days.
Key features:
- Customizable chat widget
- Chatbots and automation
- Omnichannel support
- Advanced customization options
- Integration with third-party tools
Hubspot-Live Chat
HubSpot Live Chat, offered by HubSpot, a top provider of CRM software, is a live chat tool that enables businesses to communicate with their website visitors instantly and offer immediate support. Using HubSpot Live Chat, businesses can engage with visitors in real-time by addressing their queries, sharing product details, or resolving any problems they may have. The tool is designed to ensure a smooth experience for both visitors and businesses, providing features such as automatic chat routing, chat history, and chat transcripts.
Key features:
- Route leads and customers to the right person on your team
- Use chat automation to deliver fast responses to common questions
- Provide real-time customer support while on the go
- Integration with HubSpot’s CRM and other third-party tools
- Personalized messaging and targeting
Chatra
Chatra is a software designed for live chat, which enables businesses to have real-time communication with their website visitors. By using Chatra, businesses can interact with their website visitors in a personalized and efficient manner. They have the ability to offer immediate support and assistance to customers, respond to their inquiries, and resolve any concerns they may have. This feature can contribute to enhancing customer satisfaction and boosting sales. Furthermore, Chatra’s interface is user-friendly, and its comprehensive features make it a valuable tool for businesses across various industries and sizes.
Key features:
- Chat with your customers from one app; desktop or mobile
- Answer messages sent through Facebook, Instagram, or email
- Use chatbots to do routine work for you and save your time!
- See who’s on your website, where they are from, and what they have in their cart
Chaport
Chaport is an innovative live chat software that has been created specifically to assist businesses in real-time communication with their customers. Its interface is easy to use, enabling businesses to swiftly and effortlessly connect with customers and offer immediate support. This can enhance customer satisfaction and ultimately result in higher sales. Furthermore, Chaport provides additional advanced features including automated messages, visitor tracking, and integrations with well-known CRM and messaging platforms. Whether you operate a small business or a large enterprise, Chaport can elevate your customer support capabilities.
Key features:
- User-friendly interface that is easy to navigate
- Ability to handle multiple chats simultaneously
- Automated greetings and messages to welcome visitors
- Detailed visitor information and tracking
- Real-time monitoring of chat performance and analytics
- Customizable chat widget design to match your brand’s style
Formilla
Formilla live chat allows businesses to engage with their customers in real-time, serving as a versatile and powerful customer support tool. Its user-friendly interface and advanced features ensure an exceptional customer support experience, leading to increased sales and improved customer satisfaction. Additionally, Formilla live chat enables businesses to monitor visitor activity on their website and engage with customers proactively by delivering targeted messages based on their behavior. This proactive approach boosts customer engagement and enhances conversion rates.
Pro:
- Marketing automation
- Canned replies
- Chat broadcast
- Advanced customization
HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch is a tool for live chat and customer communication that is designed to assist businesses in enhancing their customer support and boosting sales. It offers various features like customizable chat widgets, automated greetings and responses, and chat routing for businesses to provide immediate support to customers. This live chat platform seamlessly integrates with popular CRMs and eCommerce platforms, facilitating the management of customer interactions and tracking of their journeys for businesses.
Key features:
- Customizable chat widget to match your branding
- Automated greetings and responses
- Chat routing to ensure customers receive timely and relevant support
- Powerful reporting and analytics to better understand customers
- Integration with popular CRMs and eCommerce platforms
- Support multiple communication channels
HelpOnClick
HelpOnClick Live Chat is a customer communication tool that allows businesses to incorporate a live chat widget into their website or mobile app. This widget enables immediate conversations with visitors to the website. The platform is highly customizable, ensuring that the chat widget matches the business’s branding and messaging. Additionally, detailed analytics are included in the platform, which businesses can utilize to track chat performance, gain insights into customer behavior, identify trends, and improve the chat experience.
Key features:
- Customizable chat widget including color, style, and placement on the website
- Personalized greetings based on customers browsing behavior, and location
- Real-time visitor monitoring to track visitor behavior on the website
- Automated chatbots to provide quick responses to common questions
- Real-time monitoring of visitor’s behavior
Tawk. to
Tawk.to is a live chat software that enables businesses and organizations to engage in real-time communication with website visitors and customers. It is a free platform with various features, such as live chat, ticketing system, chatbots, analytics, and more. It can be accessed through a web application and also downloaded as a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. It is extensively utilized by businesses and organizations of all scales to enhance customer service and boost sales conversions.
Key features:
- Built-in knowledge base
- Multi-language support
- Monitor the entire customer journey
- Automated Translation
- Mail Notifications
MyLiveChat
MyLiveChat is a thorough live chat software that enables businesses to engage with their website visitors and customers instantly. It provides visitor tracking, which offers valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. Businesses can monitor metrics like page views, visit duration, and referral sources, aiding in website optimization and enhancing customer engagement. This data allows businesses to personalize experiences and provide relevant content, ultimately improving customer engagement while optimizing their website.
Key features:
- Compelling end-user experience with effective UI
- Email Chat Transcript for Visitors
- Multiple Simultaneous Chat Sessions
- Real-Time Website Visitor Monitoring
- GDPR Compliance
Why You Should Add a Live Chat to your Website
Phone and email support not only lengthen the waiting period, but they also result in increased resource expenditure due to the extensive back-and-forth communication involved. Time equals money! In order to offer phone support, a considerable number of customer support representatives will need to be hired. It is important to note that each agent can only handle one customer inquiry at a time.
Live chat support offers numerous advantages compared to phone and email support systems, guaranteeing customer service that is both more efficient and cost-effective.
Forrester Research indicates that live chat support is the optimal approach for delivering customer service and support. According to the research firm, companies were able to minimize their customer service costs by 17 to 30% with the implementation of live chat support. Additionally, the study discovered that live chat support elevated customer satisfaction by 20% and increased customer loyalty by 25%.
To put it simply, the purpose of live chat support is to help businesses offer a more customized experience to their customers. By utilizing live chat support software, customer service representatives can promptly address the unique requirements and worries of each customer.
How can live chat software help you turn website visitors into customers?
Suppose you operate an online store with a live chat feature, and you are conversing with a customer in search of a specific product available on your website. Although the customer is fond of the product, he is uncertain about the suitable size. You assist him in selecting the correct size, resulting in his purchase of the product from your store.
Now, imagine that the same customer returns to your website after a few weeks to make another purchase. However, this time, they are unable to locate the item they desire. As a result, they become increasingly frustrated and are on the verge of leaving your site. Fortunately, they recall that your website offers a live chat function. Consequently, they activate the live chat option and seek your assistance. You successfully assist them in finding the specific product they are seeking, leading to their purchase from your website.
If your site did not have a live chat feature, the customer would have left without making a purchase. However, due to the presence of the live chat feature, you were able to assist the customer in finding what they needed, resulting in their purchase of two products from you.
By offering assistance at the right time, Live chat software can assist you in converting website visitors into customers.
How to Choose the Right Live Chat Software for Your Business
If you are a business owner, you likely know that live chat software is a highly significant customer service tool in today’s era. The appropriate live chat software aids in reducing operating expenses, improving customer contentment, and boosting sales.
Not all live chat software is equal in terms of effectiveness, cost, and complexity.
When selecting a live chat solution for your business, it is highly subjective and contingent on your objectives. However, there are a few essential features that you should definitely consider. Take a look at them:
Visitor tracking is a capability that enables you to observe the real-time viewing of pages by your visitors. Through the interface provided by the live chat software, you can monitor the activities of visitors on your website.
This proactive chat feature is intended to interact with your customer in a proactive manner with the aim of creating a connection and enhancing the likelihood of turning them into loyal customers.
This feature of a chatbot enables you to establish one for your website. By employing a chatbot, you can provide responses to frequently asked questions like “What is your return policy?” or “How can I track my order?”. Additionally, chatbots have the potential to promote and offer additional products and services.
4. In terms of sequential thinking, the Message Templates feature enables you to generate pre-designed templates for your messages. This can serve as an efficient time-saving technique when communicating with customers.
5. The Message History feature enables you to access a record of all the messages that you have sent to customers, serving as a valuable tool for monitoring your conversations and evaluating their effectiveness.
Offline forms provide businesses with an effective means of obtaining contact information from individuals visiting their websites. These forms typically consist of various fields, including first and last name, email address, phone number, and comments. Additionally, businesses have the option to display a message to visitors, assuring them that they will be contacted in the near future.
Monitoring chats is essential to track your agents’ activities when they use live chat software. It is important to be aware if a customer is dissatisfied with the service they are receiving. By monitoring chats in real-time, you can quickly identify which of your customer service representatives are actively providing assistance. This functionality is included in live chat software, enabling you to determine agent availability and identify who is unavailable.
The feature of chat rating in live chat software is significant because it enables customers to evaluate the quality of their interaction with support agents. It helps businesses assess the quality of customer interactions and, most importantly, identify the agents who provide the best support.
Chat routing enables you to transfer customer chats to other available support agents or automatically direct clients to the most suitable agent for their issue. This feature enhances customer service, streamlines workflows, boosts sales, and enhances customer relationships.
The Live Chat has a feature called canned responses that enables users to create pre-written responses for quickly replying to customer messages, eliminating the need to manually type out each response. This feature proves particularly helpful when frequently sending identical messages.
The file sharing feature is one of the most significant additions to live chat. Now, you can easily share images, videos, PDFs, and other files with customers directly through the chat interface. This simplifies and accelerates handling customer queries.
Auto-responders have been added to live chat as an important feature. This allows you to automatically respond to customer queries without the need to manually type out each response. As a result, a significant amount of time is saved and there is also guarantee that no customer queries are overlooked.
Small triggers are a significant aspect in live chat software as they enable the automatic triggering of a greeting message to website visitors when specific conditions are fulfilled. These conditions may include the visitor’s location, the page they are currently visiting, the referring URL, and other factors.
The Queue Time feature in live chat lets you incorporate a waiting period for your visitors on your live chat interface. This enables you to inform them that you are currently occupied with other chats and will assist them shortly.
Usability Factors to Consider in Live Chat Software
- Ease of Use
Nobody wants to spend their time trying to understand how to use live chat software. Even if you don’t have technical skills, the ideal software should be easy to learn and use. The key is to ensure that the software is simple and efficient. Before making a purchase, make sure that you can use the software without needing much help from the service provider. This will ultimately save you time and money, as you won’t have to hire an in-house technical employee to operate the system.
- Mobile-Friendly
To ensure constant communication with customers and achieve increased engagement, stronger relationships, increased sales, and leads, it is important for every member of your team, regardless of the type of device they use, to utilize live chat software. However, caution should be exercised when choosing the software as not all options are compatible with every mobile device. This approach will help in selecting the right software that can be accessed by all employees using any mobile device from any location, thereby facilitating effective communication with customers.
- Security Features
When choosing a live chat software, it is important to prioritize security features. This is due to the fact that as technology has progressed, hackers have identified online security flaws as a chance to exploit. These individuals were successful in gaining unauthorized access to personal data and utilizing it for nefarious intentions. Therefore, top-quality live chat software should offer robust security features to safeguard customers and their information from these hackers.
- Custom Options
For businesses, it is crucial to have a consistent visual experience throughout their website, including the live chat interface, as branding is essential. Therefore, selecting a customizable live chat is vital in order to maintain the brand image consistently. This customization includes the ability to modify languages, chat banners, styles, colours, and fonts, among other elements.
- Onboarding
To avoid a lengthy learning process and setup, select a user-friendly tool that can be quickly integrated into your website by simply copy-pasting chat codes onto the web page. This allows you to initiate the tool within minutes.
- Multi-Channel Support
When deciding what type of chat support you need, take into account your business requirements. Your customer support system can either be simple or multi-channel. Some chat support options offer additional features and functions to provide comprehensive support, including call-back support, integration with knowledge base, and NPS surveys.
- Integration Capabilities
To maximize the benefits of your live chat solution, it is essential to seamlessly integrate it with your existing business platform. This will enable you to enhance workflow efficiency, minimize manual labor, and uphold the high standard of customer service. Thankfully, the majority of live chat solutions provide an extensive selection of integrations.
What are the key performance indicators of live chat software?
The metrics used to measure the success of live chat software in meeting its objectives are known as key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs may differ depending on the specific goals of the software, but commonly include metrics such as
The quantity of chats is an important measure for live chat support. It enables managers and team leaders to monitor the performance of their team in delivering customer support and the overall utilization of live chat. There are various methods to track chats, such as using customer satisfaction surveys, customer support ticketing systems, and live chat software.
The agent utilization rate is crucial for achieving success in live chat, as it determines how efficiently agents are utilized. A high agent utilization rate indicates optimal utilization of agents and allows for measuring their productivity and call duration.
Wait time, which measures how long visitors wait in line, significantly affects customer satisfaction, with almost 80% of Americans considering speed a crucial factor in having a positive customer experience. The wait time report consists of a vital metric known as average wait time, offering details on the average and longest waiting periods during a specific time range.
The average chat time is a measurement used to evaluate agent performance and it represents the average duration of each agent’s chat interactions. By monitoring the average chat time, you can guarantee prompt and concise resolution of customer concerns.
First-call resolution, also known as FCR, is a significant metric used in call centers to measure the percentage of customer service calls that are resolved by the initial customer service representative (CSR) during the first call. It is an integral part of a customer support system.
The invitation acceptance rate refers to the rate at which customers accept and use your chat invitation, indicating how effectively you are targeting customers in need of assistance. Therefore, if no one is using your chat, it could pose a problem. By assessing the invitation acceptance rate, you can identify if agents are not picking up your chats. In such instances, it may be necessary to make strategic adjustments.
Sales conversion rates are a commonly used metric that provides insight into the effectiveness of your live chat team in converting chats. A higher conversion rate indicates better performance from your team.
Our live chat software includes a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) feature, which enables you to gauge your visitors’ opinions on your customer service. By utilizing this feature, you can enhance the quality of support services you offer.
Knowing the peak hour traffic for live chat is as valuable as knowing the peak hours for receiving emails. This information reveals when customers are most engaged, helping determine the need for additional staff or hiring individuals in particular time zones to address the demand effectively.
The customer retention rate, also known as CRR, measures the probability of customers continuing to utilize the live chat service after engaging in a few conversations. To determine the rate, divide the number of customers who remained users of the live chat service after 3 months by the total number of customers who began using it within that timeframe. The resulting figure represents the customer retention rate, with a higher value indicating superior performance.
