By implementing live chat, you can enhance your customer service promptly and inexpensively, which aligns with a customer-centric approach. Live chat has become a popular choice for addressing service concerns and boasts high satisfaction rates compared to other channels. Additionally, integrating this relatively affordable application into your current technology stack is feasible.
With an abundance of live chat apps available, it can be difficult to determine where to begin. To assist you in navigating through this, we have taken on some of the arduous tasks.
Best customer support live chat app for overall functionality
LiveChat (Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
LiveChat offers numerous support-focused features that can meet the requirements of most small teams. Furthermore, as your business expands, LiveChat provides the necessary functionality to assist you through separate yet compatible products such as chatbot, help center, and knowledge base.
Upon first observation, you will immediately perceive the chat console’s sleek and contemporary atmosphere. The primary functions including chats, traffic, tickets, reports, settings, and help, among others, are denoted by icons arranged vertically on the left side of the screen. To initiate the process, we effortlessly integrated the chat widget onto my website by utilizing LiveChat’s WordPress plugin, a task that only required a few minutes. Subsequently, by simply clicking on the settings icon, you gain access to all the essential tools for personalizing the widget and configuring other available features.
Every setting is accompanied by a concise description of its intended use, along with user-friendly, visual guidelines for both installation and enabling. It is unlikely that you will encounter difficulties during the setup process of your chat, however, in case you do, all plans offer around-the-clock assistance through phone, email, and chat, along with a vast knowledge base. Whenever I have had to reach out for their chat support, they have promptly replied and addressed my inquiries.
After you have started using the platform, you will have access to essential features such as chat transfer, message sneak peek (previewing a visitor’s typing in real-time), transcripts, and Messaging Mode. This functionality allows seamless communication between you and your customers through both chat and email, even if one party is offline. For instance, a customer can send a chat message outside of business hours, and it will be stored in the chat queue until you respond. Your response will then be delivered to both the customer’s chat widget and email.
The LiveChat price starts at $20 per month for a single user.
Best free live chat for websites
tawk.to (Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
Tawk.to’s free live chat software offers unlimited users, automated triggers, chat whisper, and a knowledge base. These are just a few of the features available. It remains free unless you opt for additional features like video, voice, and screen sharing for $29/month, hiring a live agent for $1/hour, or removing branding for $19/month. Given the extensive features provided in the free version, tawk.to is an excellent value and is likely to meet the needs of many small businesses.
You have the flexibility to customize Tawk.to’s chat widget according to your preferences. This includes determining its appearance and visibility on your website, as well as choosing how notifications are received, such as through sound notification, message preview, and estimated wait time. Furthermore, you can include a consent form and utilize a scheduler to automatically enable or disable the chat widget online.
The chat inbox arranges messages in a queue based on their chronological order, with the newest ones displayed first. The queue includes both closed and open messages, and each message provides information about the visitor’s IP address, location, email, operating system, and their recent visit status. This interface allows the agent to perform various actions such as attaching files, adding tags to the chat, emailing a transcript, and converting the chat into a ticket.
The cost of tawk.to is zero, providing unlimited users with a live chat feature for websites. However, additional features such as removing branding or including video, voice, screen share, and audio/video calling require payment.
Best live chat support software for user experience
Re:amaze (Web, iOS, Android)
Re:amaze is an app that appears to be tailor-made for the user from the start. It boasts a contemporary interface, simple setup process, and features that prioritize customer satisfaction, all of which contribute to a more pleasurable experience in managing support calls for both users and visitors. However, it’s important to note that if you require a chat app with integrated ticketing, Re:amaze won’t be able to assist. In order to log and handle tickets, you’ll need a help desk app and an automation tool such as Zapier, which can be connected to Re:amaze.
To begin, the user will encounter a clean and organized user interface where all the functions and settings of the app are located in the menu on the left side. By clicking on the settings wheel, various functions including departments, integrations, and automations are displayed. These functions come with examples, such as departments (service, sales), tags (urgent, low priority), and response templates (initial greeting, escalation needed), which can be customized easily.
The starting price for one user on Re:amaze is $29 per month.
Best live chat app for tracking customer satisfaction
LiveHelpNow (Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android)
With its customizable surveys, LiveHelpNow chat software simplifies the process of collecting customer feedback. Additionally, it provides sentiment analysis to monitor both negative and positive chat conversations.
It is possible to generate endless surveys, incorporating personalized colors and fonts, and utilizing either the 5-star format or the 10-point Net Promoter Score (NPS) (available for Enterprise accounts only). This ensures that customers can respond swiftly. The questions asked in the surveys can be designed by you and deployed after the chat in the chat window or distributed through a link in text, social media, or email. Afterwards, the survey results can be monitored in analytics, categorized by either agent or the overall company.
By utilizing artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis is capable of identifying words and phrases in a chat in order to ascertain whether the conversation was positive or negative. In the event that a negative chat is detected, the system will promptly send an email notification to the administrator, enabling them to take necessary steps to address a potentially unsatisfactory experience by reaching out to the agent, customer, or both. Each chat is assessed and rated on a 10-point scale (with 10 being the highest) through sentiment analysis and subsequently recorded in the analytics section.
The starting price for LiveHelpNow is $21 per month for one user, with the option to include add-ons such as Support Ticket, FAQ/Self Service, and Call Management.
Best live chat app with a full-featured service suite
Zendesk (Web, iOS, Android)
Despite 15+ years being a significant period of time in this particular field, Zendesk appears to have been in existence for an even longer duration, establishing itself as a widely recognized name in the support industry. The reason for this is quite evident, as Zendesk offers a comprehensive service suite that encompasses chat, talk, social, and a help center, all integrated into a robust platform that may require some time to familiarize oneself with.
After testing different chat apps, we discovered that directly installing the code on each page was generally more dependable (in contrast to employing a WordPress plugin), albeit more time-consuming for websites with numerous pages.
By accessing the main support page, you can reach all the settings and channels. Simply click on a channel to open a distinct window specifically for that console. To access Chat, you will be directed to the home screen where you can view real-time analytics for visitors and chats. By opening the settings, you can reach routing rules, triggers, and additional features. Through routing, you have the ability to assign chat limits for specific agents and assign skills to each agent, ensuring they receive only the chats they are capable of handling.
During a chat, an agent has the option to submit a ticket. The ticket will then go to the support page as an open ticket, be labeled as pending customer response, or be closed. If you want to keep other agents or managers informed about the ticket progress, you can tag them in the chat. The sidebar displays a timeline of all previous chats with a visitor for reference, and you can view the full chat details by hovering over any interaction.
Starting at $19 per month, Zendesk offers its services at this price.
Best free live chat app integrated with a free CRM
HubSpot (Web, iOS, Android)
HubSpot’s chat feature, which is a part of their always-free CRM, has remained largely unchanged in recent years. It continues to be comparatively straightforward in comparison to other chat applications. However, opting for HubSpot means prioritizing the use of their CRM, with the chat feature being an added benefit. Furthermore, being a part of HubSpot’s ecosystem ensures smoother integration with their other paid “hubs” like marketing, sales, and operations.
You have the option to personalize the chat widget with the colors of your company, pictures of agents, greetings, and away messages. Additionally, when a chat includes an email address, contacts are generated automatically in the CRM. With HubSpot’s Zapier integrations, you have the ability to further streamline this process by sending these contacts to other apps in your tech stack.
With the Chatflows feature, you have the ability to construct chat messages that capture the interest of various visitors. With every Chatflow you generate, you can assign the sender, select the recipients (such as all visitors or segmented lists), and decide the location on your site where visitors will come across it. To illustrate, you might prefer to send a proactive chat to a specific group of customers who have recently made a purchase and are browsing through your help page.
The cost of HubSpot: There is a free option available for unlimited users and a CRM that remains free forever. The Marketing, Sales, and Service hubs begin at $45 per user per month when paid annually.
Best live chat app for agent gamification
LiveAgent (Web, iOS, Android)
LiveAgent’s gamification feature can be your solution if you aim to enhance customer support and add an element of fun and competition to your representatives’ work. This functionality enables agents to track essential support metrics, acquire badges, and advance from Novice to King by moving through 12 support levels.
Each support level can be tailored to specific conditions, such as the number of chats per hour, the number of answers provided per hour, the number of missed chats, and many others. For instance, let’s take a look at the Pro level: Congratulations on becoming a Pro. Your responses are now concise and accurate, leaving customers eagerly anticipating your replies. To attain this level, you must either answer 500 tickets or engage in 500 chats. You have the flexibility to adjust both the required number and the condition outlined in this description. These levels are earned gradually over time and cannot be lost due to inactivity. Additionally, agents have the opportunity to earn customizable badges, such as the one for the quickest chat response time.
After defining these elements, monitoring performance on the LiveAgent dashboard becomes possible. The dashboard provides insights into agent productivity and presents a leaderboard that can be filtered based on time periods and conditions like positive ratings, work time, badges, and levels.
The starting price for LiveAgent is $29 per user per month.
Who uses live chat software and why is it important?
Live chat software is utilized by companies of all sizes and industries, including startups and major corporations, to enhance the experience of both customers and employees. Its main purpose is to offer immediate one-on-one support to prospects, customers, and employees without disrupting their browsing activities.
Your business can achieve great things with the use of live chat.
- Increase sales by proactively engaging customers on your website
- Help more users in less time and boost satisfaction
- Anticipate user needs and offer help as soon as they need it
Live chat is often favored by many businesses seeking to enhance their digital service offerings, alongside the addition of new features. This preference for live chat over phone communication is frequently observed in these companies.
- Live chat is more efficient (and cost-effective); agents can help multiple users at once
- It’s easier to scale
- It’s easier to analyze chat transcripts
- Teams can provide 24/7 support with the help of an AI-powered chatbot
According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report, using the best chat software enables businesses to engage with customers in their preferred communication channel, leading to increased sales. It states that 64 percent of customers are willing to spend more if their issues are resolved on the platform they already use.
Internal support live chat is just as effective, enabling companies to engage in conversations with their employees at any place or moment, thereby enhancing both employee experience and overall engagement.
Features of live chat software
Most live chat web apps have a set of key features that are usually present. While certain solutions may provide additional capabilities or more sophisticated features, the top software solutions will have the same essential elements in common. Below are five features that you should seek out and assess.
Proactive chat and visitor list
By using proactive chat, your agents or salespeople have the ability to start a real-time conversation with a visitor on your website. Additionally, you can establish triggers that automatically start a chat with a returning visitor, aiding and promoting sales during the checkout procedure.
Smart triggers are pre-established rules that determine the course of action to be taken in specific situations. As an illustration, you have the option to configure a smart trigger that prompts the live chat window on your website to appear with a pre-written message once a visitor has spent a specific duration on a particular page.
In order to provide optimal assistance, it is essential for your chat to incorporate canned responses, which are prewritten sections of text intended for specific situations. As support agents frequently encounter similar scenarios, they can develop canned responses to carry out tasks automatically, such as:
- Greet a returning customer by name
- Offer a discount
- Transfer a chat to another agent
- Answer a common question
Dashboards and real-time analytics
Get enhanced visibility into performance across all your support channels by utilizing live chat metrics that are customized to your needs. This enables you to create personalized dashboards and reports. By using real-time analytics, your management teams will have access to precise and actionable data such as chat volume, visitor experience, and agent performance. This data allows you to evaluate the effects of wait times and missed live chats effectively.
Utilize the ability to track chat history effectively, whether it’s for a specific date, department, agent, visitor, or with specific tags. These insights can be utilized to anticipate customer requirements, enhance satisfaction, and boost the efficiency of your team.
By utilizing conversion tracking, you can assess the beneficial influence of chat on your overall profits, whether it involves making a purchase or subscribing to your product. Utilize this information to enhance the conversion process on your website and acknowledge the agents who are excelling in their performance.
Routing
Routing customers to the wrong department and then re-routing them leads to a negative user experience, potentially causing customers to leave the chat and resulting in lower CSAT scores. By using live chat software, you can determine the most suitable department to direct the conversation. This functionality takes into account agent availability, capacity, location, skill set, and priority of the conversation. Intelligent routing ensures swift and appropriate assistance for the customer, ultimately enhancing the overall customer experience.
Auto-translation
Thanks to technology, people from different parts of the world can now communicate with each other without being hindered by language barriers. The use of auto-translation features ensures that support agents and customers can instantly translate their conversation into their respective native languages, resulting in smooth customer communication without delays caused by waiting for a human translator to join the conversation.
Chatbots
Chatbots are chat programs that have the ability to engage with customers on your website. They are an ideal addition to live chat website applications as they can independently manage straightforward and recurring inquiries, while redirecting complex requests to live agents. This accelerates team growth and enhances customer service efficiency by catering to a larger volume of customers.
Benefits of live chat support software
Drive more efficiency and cost savings
Live chat allows support teams to achieve more with limited resources. Unlike phone support, agents can efficiently manage multiple chat conversations on various channels, resulting in enhanced efficiency and reduced costs. According to a recent study by Forrester, the inclusion of live chat can boost productivity by 25 percent, resulting in substantial savings amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars for your business.
Improve customer satisfaction
Customers desire quick assistance. When do they desire it? Immediately!
With the correct live chat solution, businesses are able to provide users the choice to engage with prospects and customers swiftly.
- Self-serve with relevant knowledge base content, delivered by a chatbot
- Request to connect with a live agent
- Leave a message for internal or external support
- Continue conversations from where they left off
Thanks to the availability of chatbots and self-serve options, companies are able to provide round-the-clock customer support. This leads to increased CSAT scores and a support team that can scale exceptionally well compared to the past.
Boost sales and reduce shopping cart abandonment
According to our CX Trends Report, actively engaging with customers through live chat can effectively decrease online cart abandonment rates and boost sales. By providing proactive and conversational assistance, businesses are able to promptly address customer concerns, thereby enhancing the overall buying experience and motivating them to complete a purchase. For instance, if a customer encounters difficulties with the online shopping cart, offering immediate support during their browsing session can resolve the issue hindering the sale.
Live chat can enhance the lifetime value of your customers, as indicated by these statistics. Additionally, it can also improve the value of your agents. Here are several ways in which live chat can benefit your agents:
- Chatbots and self-service options filter out easy, repetitive questions
- Automation handles tedious logistics (i.e., tagging and routing support tickets)
- Chat analytics deliver relevant insights
Chatbots allow live agents to dedicate their attention to delivering personalized services that cultivate brand loyalty, leading to increased sales volume and larger purchases, by eliminating straightforward inquiries.
How to choose the right live chat service for your business
When selecting the most suitable live chat software for your company, it is crucial to take into account factors such as your business model, desired features, customer base, and other relevant considerations. To assist you in making the right choice, here are some common factors to consider when choosing the appropriate live chat services for your specific needs.
- Integration with your support ecosystem
In order to optimize the efficiency of your live chat software, it is crucial that it has the capability to seamlessly integrate with your existing support systems, possess sufficient power to accommodate intricate business requirements, and provide resources that effectively support your teams. Essentially, it should be compatible with the individuals, procedures, and tools that your agents are already utilizing.
By integrating live chat, agents can have a comprehensive view of each customer including their conversation history, interactions, and context across different channels. This helps avoid the need for customers to repeat themselves when transferred to different departments, and guarantees that all individuals, including chatbots, possess the necessary context to deliver a consistent and personalized experience.
- Ease of use and fast implementation
Your team can seamlessly provide exceptional customer service without any disruptions when you have live chat software that is user-friendly, intuitive, and can be set up easily. On the contrary, if the software takes several months to implement and lacks integration with existing systems, it can result in additional expenses and time for agent training. In order to avoid any interruptions, it is vital to choose software that can be quickly set up and used immediately, ensuring smooth operations and excellent service to your customers.
- Scalability and total cost of ownership
Live chat website tools should be implemented swiftly and operated easily, while also possessing the ability to adapt to the evolving needs of your expanding business if they are deployed within a versatile and integrated workspace.
- Scalable: One-to-many interactions enable agents to serve multiple customers or employees concurrently.
- Fast: Automated workflows and self-service options help users solve simple issues.
- Personal: Chatting with support agents feels much more like the back-and-forth customers have with their family and friends.
