Nowadays, companies have the ability to provide customer service through various channels. However, which channels are most effective in enhancing customer satisfaction?
Starting with a customer satisfaction rate of 85%, live chat proves to be an appealing option due to its ability to engage with website visitors. By utilizing live chat software, you can enhance customer satisfaction, thereby fostering customer loyalty and retention, ultimately resulting in increased revenue.
In order to assist you in making the optimal choice for your team, we have gathered a compilation of the finest live chat software and services currently available in the market.
What is live chat software?
Live chat software is a service that enables customers to communicate with support staff or sales agents in real-time through messaging on their device while they are on your website. Companies use a chat window for customers and representatives to interact with each other via instant message.
Live chat tools, such as HubSpot, can be integrated with CRM platforms and sales software, like Sales Hub. This integration ensures that all contact records, conversations, transcripts, and data are stored in one central location. As a result, your sales organization has a reliable and consolidated source of information about your customers.
20 Best Live Chat Software for Sales & Service Teams
1. Hubspot Live Chat
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Collaborative, customizable, automated, flexible, and easy-to-use.
HubSpot offers a customizable live chat and chatbot builder, which allows you to connect with your website visitors in real-time without the need for coding. By creating welcome messages that specifically target your business’s unique visitors while they are actively engaged on your site, you can enhance the possibility of conversion.
Live chat conversations with visitors are captured and stored in the Conversations Inbox and the visitor’s Contact Timeline to facilitate record-keeping. Enhance efficiency by engaging with visitors through the Conversations Inbox, where you can also manage meetings, make calls, send emails, or schedule follow-up messages.
2. LiveAgent
Best for: Service
Key features: Personalized proactive chat invitations and automated distribution
LiveAgent is a help desk software that operates on an omnichannel system and incorporates a live chat feature. It utilizes a hybrid ticket stream method to enable communication with customers across various traditional channels. Every interaction is recorded as a ticket in the universal inbox, allowing for convenient organization and efficient search. To facilitate quick retrieval, each ticket can be categorized with specific tags and color codes. By applying filters, agents can easily locate the chat conversation history in a matter of seconds.
3. Drift
Best for: Sales
Key features: VIP targeting and meetings.
Drift is an advanced chat program that enables automation of certain aspects of the chat procedure. Utilize the LeadBot feature to assess potential customers, aid in scheduling appointments, and enhance the rate of converting prospects.
One unique aspect is the ability to send highly personalized messages to specific accounts or individuals, which allows for increased engagement and responses.
4. ClickDesk
Best for: Sales
Key features: Video and voice chat software.
ClickDesk has a distinctive aspect which incorporates voice and video chat. Visitors are able to initiate a chat through interactive maps. Furthermore, valuable contact information can be collected through pre-chat surveys.
Sales reps can expedite the closing of deals through the utilization of video and voice chat, as they can swiftly engage in exploratory calls and conduct product demonstrations. Additionally, reps have the ability to engage in multiple chats simultaneously and even partake in three-way conferences with both other reps and visitors, thus enabling collaboration.
5. Smartsupp
Best for: Sales
Key feature: Video recording.
One distinctive characteristic of Smartsupp is its capability to record live chat with video. It has the ability to merge with platforms such as WordPress and Shopify, and you can monitor the effects of your chat discussions by using Google Analytics.
Sales representatives can gain a better understanding of customer behavior and friction points in the sales process by using live video recording to observe the movement of each visitor on your website.
6. Zoho Desk
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Customizable and automated responses.
Zoho Desk, a live chat software, aids in automating simpler aspects of customer conversation. While it is commonly utilized for customer service purposes, this live chat software can also simplify the lives of your sales representatives.
Zoho Desk also provides feedback forms within the chat widget, which enable prospects to communicate whether they have found the responses helpful or not. By obtaining this information, you can enhance the sales process and eliminate any hindrances in all contact instances.
7. Chaport
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Multichannel and group chats.
Chaport can assist your sales team in generating leads, minimizing cart abandonment, and fostering brand loyalty. It allows you to gather visitor emails and communicate with customers at any time. Moreover, if you are not the suitable contact, you can forward the message to a colleague or initiate a group chat, ensuring that you do not miss any sales opportunities.
8. Freshchat
Best for: Sales
Key features: Multichannel and priority inbox.
Freshchat, developed by Freshworks, is a live chat software that aims to enhance sales performance through conversational, proactive, and automated one-on-one messaging.
Freshchat’s primary focus is on achieving conversions and effectively reaching potential customers at the most opportune moments. It provides triggered messages that actively promote the completion of purchases, email campaigns that prompt action once individuals have engaged with your brand, and chatbots that determine the potential value of leads.
9. Chatra
Best for: Sales
Key features: Group chat and automated messages.
By providing live chat software, Chatra enables your representatives to respond to inquiries, alleviate worries, and establish connections with potential customers. Through chat interactions, sales representatives can engage in cross-selling, upselling, and ultimately enhance the number of successfully completed transactions.
The features available include group chats, read receipts, automated messages, and multilingual chat options. Sales reps can use the group chat feature to communicate with multiple decision-makers and also involve other representatives or managers in conversations if needed. This helps to avoid the time-consuming process of individually emailing people and arranging separate meetings.
10. Tawk.to
Best for: Sales
Key features: Video and voice chat and screen sharing.
Tawk.to provides a completely free live chat software with various features such as automated messaging, widget customizations, reporting, multilingual chat, shortcuts, and integrations (with platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Magento).
Sales reps can use the group chat feature to communicate with all decision-makers and other reps within the tool, without needing to exit. Additionally, they can quickly engage in a video chat and share their screen, thereby expediting the sales process.
11. Tidio Live Chat
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Chatbots and automation.
Tidio Live Chat is a comprehensive live chat software specifically created for eCommerce businesses aiming to engage with their website visitors, obtain potential customers, and boost sales.
One of the most striking aspects of it is its chatbots, which assist companies in identifying their customers’ needs and desires and providing immediate solutions. Additionally, all customer responses are received in a single, well-structured inbox to facilitate collaborative handling of these matters by support agents.
12. Intercom
Best for: Sales
Key features: Smart routing and lead qualification.
Intercom’s chat software is designed particularly for sales teams, enabling them to direct leads to designated representatives, maintain communication through email, and focus on contacts based on their browsing behavior. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with various business tools like Slack, Zoom, and HubSpot.
Intercom, a conversational relationship platform, emphasizes lead generation, customer engagement, and customer support with its live chat and chatbot features. The platform utilizes smart routing and lead qualification, utilizing chatbots to qualify leads at any time, direct them to sales representatives, and schedule demos when the team is offline.
13. LiveChat
Best for: Service
Key features: Message sneak-peeks and multi-website chat.
One of the main benefits of LiveChat is that it helps convert your website visitors into leads. LiveChat offers various features such as chat transcripts and archives, multilingual chat, software integrations (including HubSpot), and report generation.
Keep track of your sales or customer service team performance to manage your team easily. The extended report features, which include “chat tags,” provide comprehensive data that enables you to make informed decisions.
13. Pure Chat
Best for: Sales
Key features: Comprehensive free plan and multi-website chat.
You can begin using Pure Chat for free with a 30-day trial, which includes unlimited chats and historical chat transcripts. It is possible to customize it to suit your brand and use canned responses for prompt replies to visitors.
Pure Chat is a suitable choice if you believe you’re prepared to opt for a paid plan, as the free trial is extensive and permits you to assess all the features it offers. These features include unlimited chats and transcripts, advanced customization, integrations with your CRM, chat alerts, canned responses, visitor information, and chat notifications.
14. LiveHelpNow
Best for: Service
Key features: Social integration and smart automation.
LiveHelpNow provides a comprehensive live chat suite and help desk system that empowers customer service agents. It boasts a straightforward setup process and offers advanced customization capabilities to personalize your workspace according to your requirements.
Additionally, this software is advantageous for call centers and partner relationships as it supports multiple brands without any additional expenses or difficulties. Moreover, it enables your representatives to promptly and effectively respond to customers by saving an unlimited amount of canned messages for frequently encountered problems.
15. Acquire
Best for: Service
Key features: Screen share and smart suggestions.
Acquire is a messaging platform that has multiple channels and includes co-browse and live chat features. Bots assist in welcoming new customers and responding promptly to commonly asked questions. Live chat offers a convenient way to provide rapid and personalized support. Additionally, profile management enables the option to escalate specific customer conversations.
16. SnapEngage
Best for: Service
Key features: Omni-channel chat solution and HIPAA compliance.
SnapEngage is capable of integrating with various CRM databases, allowing chats to be managed through multiple channels such as Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and Tweet-to-Chat via Hootsuite. One notable aspect of SnapEngage is its compliance with HIPAA, ensuring the security of patient information for medical businesses.
17. Olark
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Customizable forms and powerful add-ons.
Assuming they have chatted previously, Olark enables you to customize chat messages by checking the page an individual has viewed and retrieving any previous conversations.
The specific pages can be enhanced by adding the chat tool, which can then automatically send a chat message tailored to the page being viewed by the visitor. Additionally, it is designed to seamlessly integrate with well-known business software and platforms such as HubSpot, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.
18. Genesys
Best for: Service
Key features: AI-powered and self-service options.
Another provider that integrates AI with the chat process is Genesys. Additionally, personalized engagement can be used to enhance customer acquisition.
The main focus of this software is to closely integrate artificial intelligence and live-agent software, aiming to offer a simple, customer engagement solution. The objective is to equip employees with the necessary information to promptly and individually assist customers, ultimately delivering immediate and personalized outcomes.
19. ThriveDesk
Best for: eCommerce websites, Woocommerce users
Key features: Lightest, customizable, automated, and multi-use live chat assistant.
ThriveDesk live chat assistant is specifically designed to be the lightest live chat solution for eCommerce websites. It offers a range of built-in features such as instant reply, file sharing directly within the chat widget, relevant emojis, satisfying surveys, and reports for tracking and monitoring your eCommerce sales. By utilizing these features, you can effectively engage with a larger customer base for your eCommerce platform.
20. LivePerson
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Multichannel messaging and AI-powered conversations.
This chat software enables you to connect with potential customers via SMS, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. It also provides a feature called BotStudio, which streamlines the process of bot creation by offering pre-made templates. Through the use of AI-powered conversations, individuals can effortlessly make purchases and obtain responses to inquiries within their preferred messaging platform.
LivePerson states that almost 70% of consumer inquiries have the potential to be automated. This live chat tool enables you to create, control, and enhance chatbots that can be expanded to suit your business needs. Furthermore, LivePerson provides chatbot templates designed specifically for different industries, which can be easily incorporated and personalized. Consequently, when a potential customer engages with your chat, they will prompt the bot to provide responses, resulting in a smooth conversation.
21. Zendesk
Best for: Service
Key features: Robust chat analytics and shortcuts.
Zendesk Chat is a chat tool that can be customized and integrates seamlessly with Zendesk and other widely used software. It provides comprehensive chat analytics, which aid sales teams in pinpointing problems and assessing the performance of agents.
Zendesk includes features like automated triggers, pre-chat and offline forms, chatbots, chat routing, tags, shortcuts, and analytics.
Automated triggers allow you to send specific messages to potential customers based on their actions or behavior. For instance, when a person is viewing your pricing page, it indicates that they have progressed further in the process of becoming a buyer.
22. Userlike
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Operator routing and scalability.
Userlike enables salespeople to generate individualized conversations and permits contacts to offer feedback regarding service and functionalities. Upon receiving an individual’s email address, the chat tool transforms this anonymous data into a contact equipped with a sophisticated profile.
Moreover, individuals who browse the website have the option to select their preferred department (either sales or service) as well as specify the desired skills of the representative. As an illustration, if you are the proprietor of a music store, a visitor could opt for a sales representative who possesses expertise in teaching guitar.
23. Nextiva
Best for: Multi-use
Key feature: Collaborative and internal chat.
Nextiva is a company that provides telephone and technology services, including live chat, through a cloud-based communication system.
The text above can be rephrased as follows: The main characteristics of the tool consist of shortcuts, the ability to set business hours and an offline form for after hours usage, and unlimited chat history for referencing conversations and enhancing user experience.
24. Help Crunch
Best for: Multi-use
Key features: Chat transcripts and rating.
Help Crunch is a live chat software that aids sales reps in pre-qualifying leads by automatically gathering contact information and messages. The software continuously collects leads for your reps, enabling them to allocate more time to constructive conversations.
Crunch can help with tracking user behavior, saving responses, collecting live visitor profiles (including behavioral data), and retaining chat transcripts. These transcripts offer valuable insights on effective chat communication with potential customers, similar to how sales representatives would learn from call recordings.
25. iAdvize
Best for: Service
Key features: On-demand experts, tailor-made support.
iAdvize assists businesses in establishing a conversational strategy that is both profitable and scalable. It provides access to a community of 25,000 experts who can offer authentic advice around the clock, for which they are compensated. Additionally, iAdvize offers intelligent features, such as a targeting engine and chatbot builder, which automate engagement campaigns and assess the quality of conversations.
The unified messaging interface enables agents and experts to address customer queries through chat, call, and video seamlessly in a single conversation thread, regardless of whether the conversation initially began on your website, app, or social media.
The mirroring feature of the tool, in addition to the integrations with top CRMs and APIs, offer your agents a comprehensive context for a personalized, one-on-one customer experience.
Benefits of live chat software
Live chats with customers provide real time support that enhances customer experience and boosts conversion rates.
Customer service solutions such as live chat are essential for adjusting your business to meet the individual needs of consumers. The change from separate to interconnected customer experience implies that conventional support methods are no longer sufficient.
By implementing live messaging software for your website, you can experience several advantages that result in improved customer experience (CX) and business performance.
Reduce service costs
The reason why live chat is the ideal tool for reducing operational business costs is because it is much cheaper than a phone call. Agents spend less time dealing with support requests due to the minimized resolution time.
In addition, these systems have the capability to serve multiple customers simultaneously and handle multiple interactions. This results in substantial cost savings for businesses as they require fewer agents to deliver customer support. Furthermore, the ticketing system guarantees accurate redirection of requests to the appropriate agents on every occasion through clever routing.
Boost agent efficiency and productivity
The implementation of live chat has brought about a transformation in the conventional call center procedures. By utilizing live chat, agents are capable of responding more quickly and delivering efficient and synchronized answers to customers and visitors of the website. Enabling agents with live chat empowers them to:
- Keep answers short and offer quick solutions with visual aids (through co-browsing and file sharing)
- Save time by using canned response to answer common queries
- Engage in multiple conversations at the same time and chat with your customers based on priority
- Chat bots can be deployed to handle simple inquiries, allowing human agents to deal with more complex support requests
Optimize conversions
Live chat is beneficial in improving conversion rates because it eliminates the need for visitors to leave your website in order to reach out for assistance. By having support staff readily accessible to address any queries, visitors are more inclined to make a purchase as they obtain information and resolve issues without delay.
Prevent cart abandonment
There are various reasons why a customer may abandon their shopping cart before completing the purchase. In case a customer is uncertain about their credit card being accepted, for instance, they may choose to abandon the cart and review their available funds. Alternatively, if they are unable to quickly find the shipping costs, they might feel frustrated and decide to try their luck with a different website.
Cart abandonment rates can be reduced by live chat, as it demonstrates to customers that there is always someone available to address their queries during their interactions with your company. This promotes transparency between brands and customers and ultimately fosters trust in online business.
Provide context to customers
A live chat platform enables you to exchange files, images, gifs, and videos with customers, which is not possible through a phone call. Unlike email, live chat offers additional context that can assist customers in finding solutions more effectively.
If a customer contacts a support agent with a request regarding the functionality of a product, the agent has the option to provide the customer with a product demo video that visually showcases how to use it.
Collect customer data
The process of live chat involves the collection of customer data that can be analyzed and utilized to enhance the overall customer service experience.
- Analyzing support request messaging transcripts
- Feeding customer data into your CRM to provide 360-degree views of your customers
- Determining common questions that help you to pinpoint gaps in your website and support content resources
- Building better relationships with customer profiles that enable agents to personalize customer messaging
Increase customer satisfaction
Live chat offers customers synchronized support, which is more preferable than speaking to unknown individuals through phone calls. It effectively addresses several customer frustrations commonly experienced in traditional phone-based support channels, such as expensive charges, lengthy response durations, and asynchronous communications.
Live chat improves customer satisfaction rates in various ways: – Some ways in which live chat enhances customer satisfaction rates involve:
- Increases first contact resolution by enabling customers to find an immediate answer to their concernsCustomers don’t have to provide personal information
- It’s inclusive, particularly for the hearing-impaired, making it an accessible way to contact service teams
- It’s device-friendly and allows customers to seek help from desktops or mobile apps in a way that’s convenient for them
Track agent performance and success
Live chat service solutions provide analytics that allow organizations to track key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with their business goals. Regardless of what is most important to your business, such as enhancing satisfaction rates or boosting conversions, equipping agents with a live chat tool will yield quantifiable outcomes. Additionally, data insights can be utilized to offer feedback to agents and shape customer service strategies.
All-in-one customer service solutions
Every great customer service solution should provide certain features. These features include an all-in-one solution, which is a set of integrated tools. This solution is responsible for collecting, organizing, responding to, and reporting on support requests. It allows businesses to efficiently respond and effectively resolve issues across traditional and digital channels.
How To Assess Outsourced Customer Service Companies
Every service provider will possess their unique qualities and deficiencies, but there are certain requirements that all of them should fulfill. The following checklist encompasses the fundamental aspects of each provider.
Before starting with a company, it is advisable to assess them by examining their testimonials, user reviews, and any evidence or documentation they provide, such as case studies of companies that have outsourced customer service to them. However, it is important to note that some aspects may only become apparent over time. Therefore, it is crucial to consider these factors continuously while working with the suitable outsourcing company.
Average Response Time
Speed is a significant quality for modern consumers, and when it pertains to customer service, response time can be an initial indication of your promptness.
The duration it takes for your business to respond to a customer is known as response time. Although the time for an initial response holds significance, customers will generally expect prompt attention whenever they have a request or inquiry.
Once you have a service provider working with you, it is beneficial to assess the average response time for various channels, processes, or points of contact. By doing this, you can identify areas of your customer service that require attention based on performance, such as excelling in live chat support but struggling with email or your support ticketing system.
First Contact Resolution
First contact resolution (FCR) is when a customer service representative successfully resolves a customer’s issue or addresses their concern in the initial interaction. As a measure of service excellence, you can assess FCR by comparing the frequency of successfully resolved issues to the overall number of customer contacts.
There are ways to measure issue resolution both internally and externally. Internally, it can be done through CSRs’ task tracking, while externally it can be measured through post-contact surveys. Managing internal measurement is easier, but external measurement provides valuable insights into customers’ opinions about your resolution standards.
It is advantageous to find a service provider who has a high FCR rate, but it is also crucial to consider your own processes and instructions for resolving issues in order to maintain this rate. It is even more beneficial if you can find a service provider who assesses FCR internally and externally.
Handling Time And Efficiency
Handling time pertains to the duration in which a customer interacts with your CSRs until their problem is resolved. Please note that the average handling time (AHT) encompasses the time spent by the customer waiting, whether it be between email responses or while placed on hold during a phone call.
Requiring customers to repeat information they’ve already provided is a factor that can rapidly increase handling time. Moreover, it causes frustration for customers and may result in perceiving the team as unprofessional.
When evaluating a potential customer support provider, examine their average handling time (AHT) and the procedures they follow to resolve problems. If their approach involves frequent transfers of customers, ensure that they excel in communicating information, so customers don’t need to repeat themselves. An efficient customer service ticketing system can greatly contribute to resolving such issues.
When evaluating AHT, it is essential to consider that it can significantly differ across channels. Synchronous channels, like live chat and email, usually necessitate quicker resolution compared to asynchronous channels like email and social media. In case your customers have a strong preference for one channel over another, the provider’s AHT in that specific channel holds greater importance.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) gauges customers’ overall outlook on the service provided by your business. Despite being reliant on self-reported surveys, CSAT remains valuable in evaluating this subjective aspect of business as it lacks objectivity and standardization.
When assessing a provider’s capabilities, the CSAT scores from their clients can serve as a reliable gauge of their overall service quality. However, solely relying on the scores is not sufficient. Obtaining an accurate assessment of CSAT requires well-designed surveys that are distributed at appropriate moments in the customer service journey. If feasible, request to view examples of CSAT surveys and determine the specific stage of the customer service process when they are administered.
InfoSec And Data Privacy
Nowadays, people are greatly concerned about information security and data privacy. Although many users are willing to grant access to their data in exchange for enhanced services, a violation of privacy could still have a significant impact on your business.
It is important to ensure that an outsourcing agency has appropriate information security measures and complies with data privacy laws before proceeding. For instance, if you have customers from the EU, any firms you hire should conform to the GDPR regulations. This is particularly crucial when considering customer relationship management (CRM) outsourcing, as it entails handling a significant amount of user data.
