Are you in search of the top WordPress live chat plugins available in the market? Do you require assistance in selecting the plugin that perfectly suits your business requirements? Your search ends here!
In this article, you will find a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the top WordPress chat plugins and software options.
During certain stages of a company’s development, prioritizing customer acquisition becomes crucial, making support services a significant area of competition.
The usage of live chat plugins provides customers with nearly immediate access to your support team as a way to offer assistance. These plugins enable users to communicate with either a live agent at that moment or an intelligent chatbot that guides them to the appropriate location.
An Introduction to Live Chat (And Why You Should Implement It)
For those who are not familiar, live chat does exactly what it promises. Essentially, when a customer visits your website – typically in search of assistance – they can initiate contact with a representative by clicking on a button displayed on the webpage.
The prevalence of tailored bots in live chat has increased due to advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), even though real individuals were initially responsible for handling it. This development has resulted in several advantages.
- The initial heavy lifting when uncovering a user’s support needs can be handled in a routine way by sophisticated tech.
- Users are essentially self-solving their issue, which means you can treat aspects of the live chat experience as an extension of your knowledge base .
- You can ‘qualify’ the user for more advanced support. This lets you create dedicated ‘tracks’ and processes for your support chain, and makes them more efficient.
Implementing live chat on your website is an effective approach to guide users through your support funnel, considering the aforementioned reasons.
What Is WordPress Live Chat?
With WordPress live chat, your website visitors can easily communicate with your support agents, sales representatives, or anyone responsible for customer-facing tasks, through an instant messaging service specifically designed for your WordPress website.
With a WordPress chat plugin, you can provide customers and prospects on your website with immediate, individualized, and effective assistance.
Given the intense online competition and customer service at its core, the significance of having a live chat website plugin has increased tremendously.
Why You Need a WordPress Live Chat Plugin
Chat plugins are extremely popular among people, who tend to prefer chatting over using the phone or email. A study conducted by Kayako suggests that businesses offering live chat support are more likely to retain or gain repeat customers, with 51% of customers showing increased loyalty or willingness to make future purchases.
By utilizing live chat for WordPress, you can address customer inquiries without causing any interruption to their daily activities, thus ensuring client satisfaction and increasing the chances of converting visitors into customers.
There are several advantages to utilizing a live chat plugin.
- Reduce cart abandonment
- Redirect users to social media profiles
- Grow sales
- Boost engagement
- Increase leads
- Improve customer loyalty
Our Picks for the Best Live Chat Plugin for WordPress
We will now explore the roster of top live chat plugins for WordPress to discover the most suitable one.
1. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is an outstanding WordPress plugin designed for conversion optimization.
It is quick and easy to add OptinMonster to your WordPress site, and you can use a visual drag-and-drop builder to create chatbox forms.
You have the option to select from a variety of live chat forms and templates with OptinMonster. Subsequently, you can easily add a live chat block to your preferred form using drag and drop functionality.
After clicking the link on your website, your site visitor initiates a live chat.
OptinMonster’s display settings are highlighted as one of its finest features, allowing users to select whether or not to show the chat option depending on user behavior.
With OptinMonster, you can also create a opt-in for live chat that floats on the screen.
OptinMonster Pros
- Easy to use
- Noticeable but unobtrusive pop-ups
- Straightforward integration
2. LiveChat
LiveChat is compatible with more than 200 products, such as Shopify, Zendesk, widely-used CRM tools, and email marketing services.
LiveChat is a WordPress live chat feature that enables your team to communicate with customers using various devices, while its speed is lightning-fast.
LiveChat Pros
- Sneak peeks of messages
- Customized chat widgets
- Extensive security
- Several messaging channels
- Chat history and transcripts
LiveChat Cons
- Chat may end if you open another window
- Clients may not receive chat notifications
3. HubSpot
HubSpot provides live chat and chatbots to simplify the tasks of your customer service representatives. The software archives the entire chat history, and your team members can also add notes.
Through the use of HubSpot, you have the ability to engage in real-time conversations with visitors. Additionally, for assistance outside regular hours, HubSpot offers 24/7 chatbots that can qualify leads, respond to inquiries, and schedule appointments.
When the office is open, customers can send follow-up questions as emails using bots.
HubSpot Pros
- Part of a more extensive CRM
- Respond to messages from HubSpot’s universal inbox
- Personalized designs
- Target chats based on visitor behavior
- Hundreds of integrations
Hubspot Cons
- Limited use cases for bots on the free HubSpot tier
4. Sendinblue
With Sendinblue, it only takes seconds to set up your chat function. You have the ability to effectively manage your team and initiate conversations with visitors. Additionally, you have the capability to track the page the customers are on during their interactions with you.
Furthermore, the optimization of workflow permits agents to hand off conversations as necessary.
A robust CRM program integrates their chat function along with email marketing, SMS marketing, and a shared inbox in their setup.
Sendinblue Pros
- Fast installation
- Email marketing and SMS integration
- Workflow organization
- Part of a thorough CRM program
Sendinblue Cons
- A bit of a learning curve
- Live chat only at the Enterprise level
5. Olark
According to Olark, a majority of customers, 79% in fact, prefer using live chat over email or phone communication.
Olark can tailor CoPilot, a chatbot, to align with your workflow needs, allowing you to provide live chat services to your clients. This flexible approach enables you to qualify leads even if there is no support agent available.
Olark live chat can be integrated with Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, and other platforms. Users can connect to Olark live chat using apps on both iOS and Android devices.
With this live chat plugin, you can effectively keep track of visitors and proactively assist them when necessary. Additionally, you have the ability to access immediate reports on volume, agent activities, and ratings.
Olark Pros
- Easy to use
- Proactive chat feature
- Real-time reporting
- Users report far less time on the phone and email
- No contracts
Olark Cons
- Agents need to type in some commands
- Can be glitchy
6. Zendesk Chat
With Zendesk Chat, customers can communicate across different channels without having to repeat their stories.
Users with complex issues can engage in group messaging to communicate with multiple experts.
You also have the option of implementing proactive messaging, such as notifying customers about the progress of their delivery.
If you are looking for advanced analytics, Zendesk Chat is the solution for you.
Zendesk Pros
- Personalize chat with each customer
- Customers can do most work themselves
- Customizable bot
- Proactive communication
- Group messaging
Zendesk Cons
- Admin load time can be a bit slow
- Simultaneous conversations can be challenging to balance
7. Chaport
Chaport, a live chat plugin for WordPress, offers customers the opportunity to reach out to you via your website, Facebook, or various other messengers. Rather than responding through individual platforms, your agents can conveniently reply through Chaport.
The program promotes customer self-sufficiency by allowing you to program your bot to address queries and propose articles, with connecting to a live agent being utilized only as a final option.
Chaport is compatible with more than 2,000 apps through Zapier or any other app that utilizes an API.
Chaport Pros
- Free plan available (1 operator)
- GDPR compliance
- SSL
- Operator photos
- Email chat transcripts
Chaport Cons
- Limited features at the lower-cost options
8. SnapEngage
SnapEngage is a comprehensive chat solution that assists customers on various channels including Facebook, SMS, Twitter, WeChat, and others.
SnapEngage’s pre-set features are effective for a large number of users. However, you have the flexibility to tailor SnapEngage to your specific preferences. It seamlessly integrates with your existing contacts, leads, and customer support system.
SnapEngage complies with HIPAA and offers standard privacy features.
SnapEngage Pros
- Customer reviews
- Technical support
- Multi-channel live chat solution
- Proactive engagement using rules and triggers
- Offers various bots, including Info-Capture and Answer
SnapEngage Cons
- Some consider it a bit pricey
- Occasional lag
9. Tidio Live Chat
Tidio is the next company in line, providing a highly reliable live chat plugin that has received positive feedback from users. It has been specifically developed for WordPress site owners and includes integrated email marketing services and a chatbot as well.
Setting up multiple chat windows across different pages is quick once the installation is complete. The plugin has a wide language support of nearly 200 languages and provides various customization options to ensure Tidio’s chat windows align with your brand.
You can utilize integrated email marketing to reach out to users even after they have left your website, thus transforming your support channels into a gateway for sales opportunities. Additionally, you have the option to incorporate various third-party integrations.
If you have a WordPress website, we strongly believe that Tidio should be your top choice for live chat. It offers a contemporary solution with an impressive range of features. Moreover, our investigation shows that it is one of the most well-maintained plugins out there.
10. Crisp Live Chat
Crisp Live Chat is part of a comprehensive marketing and support solution, including a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and email marketing features among others. Although it shares similarities with Tidio and Sendinblue, there are distinct differences to consider.
Crisp presents its service as a solution known as a ‘shared inbox’, allowing users to be managed from a single central location regardless of the support channel. This feature proves beneficial for teams that require support escalation among themselves. Additionally, users have the capability to integrate a knowledge base, enabling them to address queries on their own.
Crisp Live Chat is designed to connect users with support teams and strives to make the typically impersonal digital experience more human. We believe that it achieves this goal effectively, especially with outstanding features like ‘MagicBrowse’, which allows support agents to browse a website together with a user.
Therefore, Crisp is an ideal choice for teams that prefer guiding users or providing assistance for intricate products that inherently require support.
11. Tawk.to
The last item on our list stands out for its one-of-a-kind provision of entirely free live chat capability, without any requirement to upgrade to a premium membership. Tawk.to presents a wide range of features and functionality under a “no-charge” business model.
It’s fantastic news that Tawk.to stands out as one of the top live chat plugins with excellent features. Although you can activate it on your website by adding a JavaScript line, the installation and usage of the WordPress plugin are simple. Numerous customizations are available, and the live chat window’s content can also be localized.
Tawk.to is the ideal choice if you’re looking for a live chat plugin that offers a comprehensive range of features but have a limited budget. Additionally, if you have a small budget and no support team, Tawk.to is still top-notch due to its premium services.
How to Choose the Best Live Chat Plugin for Your WordPress Website
Choosing the right live chat plugin depends on your specific requirements, financial situation, and available resources, just like any other feature you add to your website. Different businesses will have different optimal solutions.
Our recommendation for those who want to take a simple and free approach to trying out a wide range of features is Tawk.to. Additionally, if you enjoy using the plugin, a premium upgrade option is also available.
On the other hand, if you aim to improve an already established support team, Tidio could be the perfect solution. You probably have allocated the necessary funds and your team has already identified the areas in which support requires reinforcement. Therefore, incorporating this plugin into your system will not cause significant disruption.
Wrapping Up
Live chat appears to be everywhere, and there are several reasons for this. It serves as an excellent method to interact with customers seeking assistance, provides a means for customers to solve problems on their own, and allows for a controlled entry into your support system.
Tawk.to or Tidio are both good choices for finding a suitable solution, with Tidio being particularly beneficial for those who own WordPress sites. However, Sendinblue, LiveChat, and HubSpot’s Live Chat all provide distinctive features.
