Live chats are an excellent way to reduce the amount of time it takes to contact your current or potential customers. According to 79% of customers, they prefer live chat over any other support channel because it offers immediate assistance. Rather than sending an email, a visitor on your online store can directly reach out to you with questions about delivery, specifications, or alternative products. Additionally, these conversations don’t have to be one-sided. You can also establish specific triggers to quickly address common questions your customers may have on specific sub-pages. For example, if a customer remains on a product page for more than 10 seconds, you can ask them if they have any questions about the estimated delivery cost by setting the trigger. When the right moment arises, the chat message will appear for the customer to see.
5 best live chat solutions for ecommerce businesses
Now that you are aware of the potential benefits of setting up a live chat for your business, your next step is to find suitable software. Good news: there is a wide range of options available. However, we are here to assist you! Our team has carefully selected five top-notch live chat software solutions that will greatly aid in the growth of your online store. But what qualities make them particularly suitable for an e-commerce business? We have analyzed the following aspects:
- Integration with e-commerce platforms, like Shopify, BigCommerce
- Additional features applicable for e-commerce businesses, like sales tracking
1. LiveChat – a great live chat for e-commerce, with goals/sales tracking, ticketing system, and automated greetings
LiveChat is a prominent live chat solution that prioritizes providing added value for e-commerce store owners. It is equipped with a ticketing system, advanced data analytics, and goals tracking to cater to businesses of all sizes. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce. It is worth noting that LiveChat is the exclusive live chat solution partnered with Magento, offering a customized solution specifically for users of this platform.
LiveChat e-commerce integrations
LiveChat can be easily integrated with the majority of popular e-commerce platforms.
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- Volusion – native Volusion’s live chat
- Magento – technology partnership with Magento
- Ecwid
LiveChat features for e-commerce
There is a range of LiveChat features that are particularly beneficial for e-commerce businesses, including:
- Ticketing system – for a large number of requests, save cases to be resolved later, via email
- Visitor’s analytics – an insight into visitor’s data when chatting, e.g. the product pages they visited earlier, what keyword they entered in Google to find your website, their demographics and time on site
- Sales/goals tracking – setting up the goals you want to obtain using live chat conversations, e.g. sale of a product and tracking the impact of your conversations on meeting these goals
- “Customers” list – a list of customers currently browsing through your website which can be easily filtered, depending on their on-site behavior, e.g. the time they spend on site
- Sneak peak into messages writing – a real-time view on the message typed by the visitor, before he/she sends the message (TIP! use it to prepare an answer before a customer asks a question )
- Eye-catchers – an option to set-up eye catchers and grab an additional attention of visitors browsing through your store
2. Tidio Chat – a freemium solution, with great WIX/Weebly integrations and native Shopify chatbot solution
Tidio is a freemium live chat solution that is well-designed and emphasizes integration with existing platforms. When using WIX or Weebly, you can easily customize the chat window and monitor chats within the WIX panel/dashboard. Recently, Tidio introduced a significant update to its popular Shopify integration, which includes a bot that automatically checks order status, delivery location, and product availability. This functionality is enabled through the chat’s native integrations with the Shopify store’s database.
Tidio e-commerce integrations
Tidio can be easily integrated with many popular e-commerce platforms.
- Shopify – native integration with an automated bot functionality, e.g. letting your customers check the delivery, order status
- WIX/Weebly – native integration letting you customize chat window and monitor your chats within WIX/Weebly e-commerce platforms
- BigCommerce
- Presta Shop
- 3DCart
Tidio features for e-commerce
Tidio offers a variety of features that could be particularly beneficial for e-commerce businesses.
- Easy-to-set automations, letting you target your visitors with automated messages based on their type of activity, e.g. by sending special invitations to people re-visiting your store
- Sending responses via email when you’re not available for an instant chat
- Setting up an automated bot handling requests concerning products’ availability or delivery options if you’re using Shopify
- Integration with Facebook Messenger, letting you handle requests at your Facebook Fanpage
- Live visitors’ list, letting you monitor people browsing through your website
3. LivePerson – a premium enterprise-grade live chat software with a focus on mobile messaging and more advanced data tracking
LivePerson is designed specifically for larger businesses and is the preferred live chat solution for e-commerce companies in the Fortune Global 500. It offers advanced functionalities to cater to the needs of demanding customers. Additionally, LivePerson provides various opportunities to integrate business chat with mobile communication channels such as Facebook Messenger and SMS. It also allows for seamless implementation of chat into a business’s mobile application.
LivePerson e-commerce integrations
LivePerson is not able to integrate seamlessly with popular e-commerce platforms such as Magento or Shopify due to its focus on medium and larger businesses. Consequently, the implementation and integration of custom software are typically required in order to utilize LivePerson effectively.
LivePerson features for e-commerce businesses
LivePerson has several benefits for e-commerce businesses.
- Co-browsing functionality, allowing for guiding a visitor remotely through your store, while chatting
- Integration with mobile applications letting you set up a live chat option at your company’s Android or iOS application
- Integrating with your phone’s SMS system, letting you reply to chats quicker, using simple SMS messages
- Connecting your chat with iOS interface, letting Apple Maps users chat directly when they find your business on their iPhones [currently in beta mode]
- Adding a chat button to your AdWords campaigns increasing the chances of contact from the customer
4. UserEngage – a proactive live chat solution driving engagement and sales
UserEngage is a software that combines CRM, live chat, and marketing automation. It can be used by businesses of all sizes. Its drag & drop editor is simple to use and offers a range of creative templates, allowing users to design personalized chat boxes. When team members provide a short biography, it gives visitors a better understanding of who they are conversing with, creating a more friendly atmosphere during conversations.
UserEngage e-commerce integrations
UserEngage is compatible with:
- Magento
- SquareSpace
- tumblr.
- Weebly
- BigCommerce
UserEngages features for e-commerce businesses
UserEngage provides features that are useful for e-commerce businesses.
- Catching hot leads by analyzing visitor’s behavior, building customer profiles and sending required details to an assigned agent who contacts the visitor with a personalized inviting message
- Creating a visual pipeline canvas that gives you a clear view of your current situation and organizes the sales team and their activities
- Analytical tools that later create reports monitoring the progress of your business
- User tracking – UserEngage creates a profile of each user that includes all information about the events performed on a given website and provides a timeline of all interactions + later stores this data in one location in pre-selected logical units
- Sending follow-up email campaigns – requests for review or reminders to those who have added products to their cart but have not bought them
5. Chatra – a simple and intuitive live chat software designed for small and medium e-commerce businesses
Chatra is a live chat solution that is simple and easy to use. It offers a free plan for individuals and a paid version for those who require multiple agents. Chatra provides useful features that are ideal for small and medium businesses. It also offers integrations with platforms such as Slack and Google Analytics. Additionally, Chatra allows you to respond to your customers on the move through its mobile iOS and Android app.
Chatra e-commerce integrations
- BigCommerce
- Magento
- Shopify
- WIX
- WooCommerce
- Ecwid
Chatra features for e-commerce businesses
Chatra offers features that are useful for e-commerce, some of which include:
- Event and goal tracking with Google Analytics automatic integration
- Insights of what visitors are typing – it allows the agent to prepare answers in advance and provide faster help
- Screensharing via Median app – a real-time view of what your customers are doing on your website
- Group chats – in case of a more complicated issue many agents will be able to simultaneously chat with one client
- “Cart saver” option available with Shopify integration – helps closing deals by sending automatic messages to those who have put products in the cart and left without completing the order
- Conversation history is kept forever both for you and your customers – a visitor can continue the conversation even if they go to a different page while chatting or if they leave your website and come back later
BONUS: 15 Best Shopify Live Chat Apps
Live chat is a real-time digital conversation where two or more individuals communicate instantly. Shopify live chat, which takes place on a retailer’s e-commerce store using Shopify platform, offers additional features not found in regular messaging apps. These features include canned responses, branding customization options, and website visitor tracking.
Shopify’s live chat feature is a customer service tool designed for e-commerce that can be seamlessly incorporated onto store websites. Although they may appear to be regular chatboxes or widgets to customers, they often offer additional features that are not found in typical live chat applications. For example, numerous Shopify live chat software applications utilize artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the intentions of online shoppers, aiding customer support agents in identifying the assistance required, even when customers are unsure themselves.
1. Zendesk Live Chat
By using Zendesk’s live chat software, your business can provide Shopify live chat to online customers, which improves the customer experience in e-commerce by offering personalized service and making agents more efficient through time-saving automations, intelligent chatbots, and other features. Furthermore, Zendesk’s Live Chat simplifies the process for your team by consolidating all customer interactions and contextual data in real-time, within a single location.
Additionally, Zendesk allows for the integration of all your service channels including social media, phone, email, messaging, and live chat. This means that your representatives can initiate conversations in a chat and easily transition it to a different channel, all from one consolidated dashboard.
Benefits of Zendesk Live Chat for Shopify
By integrating Shopify and Zendesk, your team has the ability to:
- Embed live chat with the click of a button to any Shopify site.
- Customize your support rep’s dashboards with important customer data.
- Access relevant, consolidated customer info to solve support issues faster and more effectively.
- Deal with refunds, returns, or cancellations without leaving Zendesk.
Key features of Zendesk Live Chat for Shopify
- Native and third-party chatbot integrations
- API
- Chat queue management
- Branding customization
- Canned responses
- Out of the box integrations for Discord, Loops, Team Status, Ditto, and more
- Performance metrics
- Pre-built analytics dashboards
- Knowledge base management
2. Chatra Live Chat
Chatra is a cloud-based live chat app for Shopify that is suitable for small businesses and online retailers. It offers essential features such as group chat, chat notes, multi-lingual support, and more. The benefits of using Chatra include its user-friendly interface, effective group chat, and comprehensive set of user-friendly features.
Support reps can use live typing insights to see what customers are typing before they hit send, which allows them to start working on the best response more quickly. They can also use the real-time visitor list to determine the number of people currently on their website and easily offer assistance to those who appear to need it.
You have the option to use Chatra Live Chat to gather actionable feedback from customers, helping you enhance your live chat strategy. Nonetheless, some reviewers have expressed dissatisfaction with Chatra’s lagging or crashing issues, as well as the limited features available on the free plan.
3. Tidio Live Chat
Tidio’s live chat app for Shopify enables businesses of all sizes to enhance customer communication and address more inquiries. Notable aspects of Tidio include its visual chatbot editor, automated responses, and customizable pricing. Tidio users often highlight the software’s effortless setup and user-friendly interface.
Tidio’s Shopify app provides various customer service platform features, like chatbots and email integration. The chat widget can be personalized to match branding colors and supports multiple languages. The app is simple to install and compatible with mobile devices. Nonetheless, certain users have expressed dissatisfaction with Tidio’s charges for features that are typically complimentary in other apps.
Key features of Tidio Live Chat:
- Live visitor data
- Desktop and mobile apps
- Account access permissions
- Javascript API
- Live typing
- Visitor’s profiles’ notes
- Multichannel communication
- 20+ integrations
4. Facebook Messenger
If brands want to recreate the appearance and sensation of Facebook Messenger on their Shopify site, they should consider using the Messenger app for Shopify. This is a popular option for numerous businesses as many customers are already acquainted with the appearance of Facebook Messenger. The process of installing the app is straightforward: just add it from the Shopify app store, connect your Facebook Page, and select your desired styling.
The main attraction of this app is that it offers a customer experience that users are already familiar with. Additionally, it includes detailed analytics that allow users to determine which widgets or campaigns should be improved in order to boost sales. Recently, it introduced a new shipping notice feature that sends automatic shipping status updates after an order is made. However, when compared to other live chat apps for Shopify, it is lacking in terms of customization and features.
Key features of Messenger:
- Abandon cart campaign
- Welcome pop-up
- Add to cart widget
- Custom widget position
- Custom chat icon and color
- Device targeting
- Page targeting
- Custom CSS
5. Gorgias ? Live Chat & Helpdesk
Gorgias is a live chat and help desk solution designed for dedicated support teams of small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses. Its Shopify app enables the integration of live chat within a comprehensive omnichannel strategy, aiming to enhance support ticket management and boost sales. Through the Gorgias Shopify live chat, customers have the opportunity to seek assistance for a variety of concerns, including refunds, order cancellations, subscription inquiries, and more.
Gorgias offers a comprehensive approach to live chat, allowing users to handle their conversations through various means such as email, phone, and social platforms. It enables users to access message histories, create automated responses, and monitor the pages that customers find most appealing. Additionally, users can mark specific responses as urgent for immediate attention and even reward loyalty points directly within the live chat widget.
Key features of Gorgias :
- Loyalty points awards
- Pre-made templates
- Triggered live chats
- Ticket management
- Reporting and analytics
- Social media integrations
- Autoresponder
- Multi-store connection
- Macros
