Best Live Chat Software

Online businesses demand access to more support and sales channels. Current generation technologies provide ample ways to communicate with users or customers. Nowadays, the channel which is gaining popularity is live chat. 

With live chat technique, the customers can have an immediate response to their queries on a website. The ecommerce businesses can capture leads, reduce bounce rate, and bring down the number of shopping cart abandonment by employing live chat software. 

B2B businesses can launch campaigns based on user behavior and can offer proactive support with the help of live chat solutions. Investing in live chat software will enable the smooth running of online business. This buyer’s guide is aimed at assisting the readers to know all about the live chat software along with the factors that need to be considered before picking the best live chat software for their business operations. 

Live chat serves as a medium that enables businesses to engage with website visitors. Customers can communicate with customer service representatives in real-time. On a website, the visitors can have a live interaction with agents in a chat box within a browser.

Live chat is a more personal and engaging method of communication. It is faster, and customers feel satisfied with this live chat channel. The point that defines live chat as one of the best ways of conversational commerce are as follows:

• Live chat helps in meeting customer expectations. The customers demand live chat to experience online shopping. The live chat has become the baseline requirement for everyone in the eCommerce game. All queries are answered by the live person during online purchasing, even if they are shopping with small retailers.
• A live chat system helps in building trust with visitors. The majority of consumers are likely to come back to a website that offers live chat options. The live chat option gives confidence to the consumers and assures instant support from the company.
• Live chat helps in increasing sales and conversions. The sellers prefer to have a friendly, interactive, and personal exchange with their clients and customers. The idea of building a connection with another human is the strength of conversational commerce. If the customers’ questions are not appropriately answered, then they abandon their purchase, so it becomes clear that live chat plays a crucial role in sales and conversion. 
• Commerce from a conversational standpoint provides lots of benefits to the sellers. The live chat option can reduce abandoned carts, boost the likelihood of visitors making a purchase, amplify average order value, and can reduce returns.
• Live chat can increase ROI on paid ad campaigns. The live chat option on the website can convert more visitors to buyers. It can make the ads more compelling. The live chat option on the website becomes essential when the seller is running the paid ad campaigns on Google or Facebook.
• Live chat helps in understanding the customers and enables them to get direct product feedback. The conversation with site visitors helps in making the right choice of the product or service. The conversations with site visitors help in learning more about their requirements. Even the customers and clients prefer to seek authentic interaction where they can be adequately listened to and can share knowledge along with recommendations. 

The customers' focus has shifted from the traditional modes of communication (like calls, letters, and email) to instant messaging. Nowadays, customers look for quick responses that can save their time.

An efficient way to connect and communicate with customers is through the implementation of live chat software. The steps involved to implement live chat software into your business are as follows:

• Know goals for live chat

First of all, identify the objectives for which live chat software is to be implemented. If you want to use live chat software for support, then your goal is to increase customer satisfaction. Make use of the ticketing system (helps in handling complex cases that can be resolved during a chat) so that you don’t leave support cases unresolved. You can use the satisfaction and average response time reports to keep track of the most critical metrics. 

If you prefer to use live chat for sales, then your primary target is to increase conversion and reduce cart abandonment rates. You can tag each conversation to go after trends and make use of greetings to target customers who are stalling on product and cart pages. See how much money live chat is bringing to the business by viewing the tracked sales report. 

In case you are employing live chat for lead generation, then the requirement is to have more valuable leads. Before the visitor starts a conversation, you can make use of the pre-chat survey to obtain the information you need. You can use automatic greetings on pages that can bring significant traffic. 

• The live chat box design 

Design the chatbox that will appear on the right corner of the website page. Make sure you customize the chat box to align with the theme of the website. Design an attractive chatbox that complements the company’s logo, color, and font type. The inconsistent chatbox with the website’s theme can remove you from your business strategy and can confuse customers.

• Bring people on board

For better results, quickly add teammates to live chat. This allows you to talk to your teammates about why you need a live chat and in what way it can be helpful in their (teammates) work. Being the owner of your business, you can assign roles to your teammates. Either your teammates can be admins or agents. Agents can answer chats along with tickets, and can also see reports. They can’t change settings. Admins hold all agent permissions and have access to all settings. 

• Sales Funnel

Have a thorough understanding of the sales funnel to generate revenue and prepare for the market. In the sales funnel system, different phases involve helping consumers make informed decisions and making the purchase. The different phases are the awareness phase, interest phase, evaluation phase, and purchase phase. In simple terms, it involves the customer’s buying process and the typical stages that the customer experiences before making a purchase.

• Configure and do a test run

If you want to know that everything is up to the mark, then before going live you can test live chat with teammates and friends. You can check the essential tools and features like agent status, canned responses, tickets, and much more. 

• Add the chat widget

Make your app live. Add the chat widget to your site and go live. With technical support or specialized knowledge, you can run your website smoothly by adding the chat widget.

• Conversion and traction  

Drive the customers in such a way that they can show interest in your product and finally purchase it. The welcoming approach should be able to engage visitors that help in generating business. Your live chat platform should be able to win people’s trust and educate the customers efficiently. Productive and useful conversations on live chat can bring long-term relationships with the customers and help in repeating business.

• Create shortcut templates 

You can create short templates based on the general questions of the customers. The shortcuts can help in multiplying response speed. Customized messages can provide better results. Customers lose interest in live chat platforms when they know that pre-scripted responses are used in the live chat system.  

• KPIs to measure ROI 

According to actual business objectives, the companies can set their KPIs. These KPIs help in understanding and measuring the critical metrics related to customer satisfaction, team, and agent performance along with cost and ROI associated with the live chat support. You can review your live chat implementation by tracking the KPIs. In this way, you can measure how profitable these KPIs have been in gaining the objectives.

• Social Networking

You can invite the customer on the social media profile if you have a successful chat with the customer. On the social media page, the satisfied customer can bring positive feedback. Business owners can reward customers for their feedback on the social media platform. They can offer complimentary gift coupons in the form of rewards. 

After knowing about the implementation of a live chat system into your business, let’s discuss the live chat software in detail:

Live chat software is the application that enables the service and sales team of the company to form a connection with the website visitors in real-time. The live chat & support system provides an easy and simple way to answer questions quickly. 

The online live chat software offers a wide array of functions for the website. The key features of live chat system are as follows:

• Auto messages  

Messages are sent automatically based on the visitor’s behavior. These automated messages help in providing proactive support. This type of functionality of live support software helps brands in getting more customers.

• Chat rating 

This feature of live chat software for websites helps in improving the quality of service. The confidence of the agent gets a boost up with positive reviews. The negative reviews encourage the agent to work on their overall performance. This feature plays a vital role in live chat apps. 

• Visitor Tracking  

This feature of a live chat service provider serves as a comprehensive tracking facility that helps in providing a more profound insight into the website visitor’s behavior. All the information related to the amount of time spent by a visitor in the chat, conversion tracking, agents’ overall activity, and record of transcript reports is included. 

• Chat forms 

Before starting the conversation, the chart forms of a live chat tool collect the visitor’s contact information with the help of pre-chat and offline forms. 

• Chat routing 

This feature of website live chat software assists agents in transferring chats to any free operators or automatically routing customers to the right agent. In this way, the agents will not be slumped if in case the chat volume rises. Customers will have proper and timely responses.

• Typing Insight

The feature of typing insight of live chat apps gives you an idea of when a chat agent or a customer is typing a message.

• Mobile optimization 

While browsing the internet, many people make use of phones. The mobile optimization feature of live chat website software enables the website to provide support to various types of website visitors without paying attention to what kind of device visitors are using. 

• Manual messages

With the existing customers, the live chat and support system can become one of the most engaging channels for communication. The manual messages are useful for announcing news/ new features to active users. 

• Reports and analytics

The significant data such as operator activities, chat histories, conversion tracking, visitor details, and the average time spent on the chats can be monitored with the help of reports and analytics features. These data of live chat software for business are essential for shaping effective strategies and areas for improvement. 

• Canned responses 

The online live chat software can pre-save common questions and answers for the users. (Canned response - pre-determined responses to common questions). This feature helps in speeding up the agent’s response time.

Other essential features of live chat & support system:

• Operator monitoring – This feature of the live chat tool helps supervise the operators by making use of relevant insights regarding their performance. 
• Chat monitoring- The live support software features chat monitoring to track the detailed chat conversation in real-time. It enables you to see who among your agents are currently chatting. 
• Compelling end-user experience- The live chat system holds a unique set of features that include rich text, image emoticons, sound effects, text and avatar icons, and user-selected fonts.
• Offline forms- The live chat service provider allows customers to reach the agent even if they are not online 24/7. 
• Smart triggers- The live chat software arranges a custom trigger for specific circumstances by making use of a smart chat system.
• File transfers- The live chat tool has built-in functionality of transferring the files between chat operators and website visitors that ensures convenience.
• Queue times- Before starting the live chat conversation with the agents, the live chat apps offer the visitors a close approximation of wait time. It happens especially when there is a high volume of chat.
• Security- The live chat software has a security feature that manages encryption, credit card masking, data storage, compliance, single sign-on, logging in with Google, access restriction, and visitor banning. 
• MSP (Managed Service Provider)- The live chat service provider helps remote teams to manage IT infrastructure and end-user systems.
• Customizable visitor popup messenger- The live chat system uploads the company’s logo and agent photo. It customizes agent greeting and system messages.
• Remote work – The live chat system supports teams and customers that are unable to interact from a shared office space.
• Customer Feedback – The live chat system enables the customer to rate the conversation and share the feedback with the manager of the company. 
• Online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) - The live chat software manages all the company’s relationships with prospective and current customers. This feature aims to track and improve all relationships. 

The live chat software provides instant and approachable customer support to all types of businesses. The customer support gets more efficient for the agents along with the customers by employing live chat software. The advantages of live chat website software are as follows:

• Quick resolutions  

The website visitors do not require a longer time to answer a simple question with the help of website live chat software. Visitors can easily engage with the company as they know that their time will not be wasted. The agents are more productive and answer questions quickly. 

• Lessens cost of customer support

The traditional methods of customer support like phone and email are often proved to be expensive and inefficient. These systems allow agents to handle only one customer query at a time. On the contrary, the live chat system enables agents to address multiple questions simultaneously.

• Address pain points

The live chat system is more personal and can directly address issues in comparison to the post on specific problems that the customers encounter that are created on other channels.

• Cost Savings

From both customer and the agent, the live chat service provider takes less effort and is relatively cheaper as compared to phone calls. Moreover, the live chat and support system allows for more support in less time and is considered effortless to multitask between different chat conversations. 

• Improved sales conversions 

In real-time, the customer queries related to a product or service are addressed with the help of live chat software. As a result, the sales process is accelerated. The live chat apps increase sales volume.

• Expand market reach 

The live chat website software provides a more accessible and convenient way to make contact with international customers who may not be able to form connections through calls. 

• Enhances innovation 

The live chat software for business provides a log of customer inquiries, complaints, requests, and suggestions. All these things can be analyzed to have new ideas about products and services.

• Boost services and customer loyalty 

The live chat solution enables customers to develop a sense of commitment to products that offer satisfaction. It helps in reducing the level of stress.

• Offers convenience 

The live chat apps allow customers to multitask, which they can easily shop, and they can wait for chat support.

• Accessibility

The live chat software for websites serves as a simple and easy way for customers to approach a company. The customers are more likely to engage themselves due to their suitability.

• Lead Generation  

The live chat solutions servers as an easy way to begin a sales conversation. It is approachable for customers and provides an excellent opportunity to bring in a sale. The sales conversation becomes more comfortable for the customer due to the informality of live chat.

• Proactive Outreach 

The live chat and support system allows visitors and customers to reach the managers of the company instantly. The proactive outreach abilities of the live chat system make it truly powerful.

• Analytics 

Live chat analytics provide valuable insight into the agent. The manager can monitor agent performance with the help of a couple of visitor data that offers chat histories, agent performance reports, and wait time reports. As a result, the live chat apps help in adjusting staffing and training as per the requirement.

The major types of live chat software are:

• Live-text chat support- Many companies provide this text-only chat support system to its customers, which in turn helps increase customer engagement and conversation.
• Live video and Voices- This type of live chat system is more personal and reliable as it allows customers to chat and speak with agents. Not only this, but the customers can also see agents.
• Co-browsing – This type of online live chat software allows customers and agents to engage in co-browsing. Both customers and service agents can easily access an application on the web collectively. Here also, customers can speak to, chat with, and see agents.

The critical points to be considered before picking the live chat website software are as follows:

• Easy and simple customization – Choose the live chat software for businesses that provides easy customization as a business brand plays a vital role in forming an identity.
• Third-party integrations- Check whether your live chat support software can integrate with third-party integrations as small businesses prefer to use several customer-facing solutions to support their sales, marketing, and CRM.
• Security- Ensure that your live chat tools are well protected against cyber threats and other types of possible attacks. 
• Mobile-responsive interface- Make sure that your live chat app enables customers to use their smartphones for sales and customer support. In the absence of a mobile-responsive interface, the customers have to depends on laptop and desktop to access live chat support systems.
• Simple or multi-channel support- As per your business requirement, consider the type of live chat system. Few live chat systems offer additional features and functions that help in providing 360-degree support. It includes integrations of call-back support and knowledge base.
• Cloud-based vs. self-hosted- Depending on your business requirements, choose the best live chat software among these two deployment options. Nowadays, many live chat products are available as cloud-hosted apps. This type of deployment provides regular updates, no IT infrastructure, security and bug control, data backups, recovery, 24/7 support, accessibility anytime, and anywhere. 
• Value vs. price – Make sure that you opt for the live chat support software that can give value to your business and can give higher returns in the long run. The cheapest option is not necessarily the apt choice for your business. In more top-price product packages, you can get advanced features that can fulfill your business requirement.
• 24/7 Support- It is better to have a reliable live chat system that can reach your vendor 24/7, 365 days a year, and ask for assistance in the time of need.
• Onboarding – Make sure that your live chat support software is easily integrated into your website. You don’t have to undergo a long learning curve in understanding and setting up the live chat system. The live chat tools should be easy-to-use.

The latest trends to be observed in live chat support system are :

• Significant customer support activity will happen without a human agent due to the increasing popularity of chatbots.
• Most consumers prefer human agents to AI (artificial intelligence) technologies.
• End users can majorly use live chat tools that can seamlessly integrate with their existing e-commerce, help desk, and CRM systems. 
• Initiating the chat by the brand can help in converting visitors into potential customers.
• Integration with social networks can assist with growing customer reach without making the customers re-direct.

The average cost of live support software can be decided by considering the several crucial factors that are:

• Number of users and admins
• Business size
• Core functionalities of live chat support software
• Key elements offered by live chat software for business
• Type of Interface
• Cloud-based or an on-premise live chat app

The live chat and support system that offers basic features and is affordable to buy can be the right option for startups and growing small organizations. While the large organization can pick advanced plans so that they can have more powerful features of a live chat system that can effortlessly meet their business demands. The price of the live chat service provider that offers advanced plans can be a bit costlier.

The cost of the live support software can begin as low as $9per month(for example, Sugester). The live chat system can reach as high as $1500/month(for instance, Whisbi). Apart from these costs, there are some other charges linked with the vendors’ live chat software. The charges are included for installation, support, and maintenance.

Small businesses and start-ups can check free live chat software too. If you are looking for the best free live chat software, then feel free to explore the Goodfirms platform. LiveAgent, EngageBay, ManyChat, LiveZilla, Zoho SalesIQ, Rocket.Chat, LiveHelperChat, HelpCenterLive, SimpleChat, Chat4Support are some of the renowned free live chat software. 

If you are hunting for the best live chat software for your business, then Goodfirms is there to assist you. The thorough research and in-depth survey by Goodfirms on the software can help in making a sound buying decision for the user. This well-researched and huge platform believe in a customer-centric approach. Vendors and well-known software companies find this platform the right place to meet their business solutions.

Delve into the list of top-notch quality live chat software to discover their pricing data, core functionalities, deployment, and business size along with the authentic reviews. The dedicated and qualified experts at Goodfirms are always on their toes to answer the queries of their valuable readers.