There are multiple ways that online businesses can connect to their customers today.
From emails to social medial platforms, live chats to WhatsApp, if you are doing business online you have many choices. However, among all these, Live Chat has proven to offer the best functionalities.
With customers increasingly becoming impatient most of them need an immediate response. This means if they have any query they should get feedback within 10 minutes or even less.
Live chat is the most preferred method of communication. With this method, you are likely to see an improvement in reviews concerning user experience. This implies that most customers want to be able to use live chat.
It allows you to engage your customers positively, convince them to make a purchase and even do some businesses with you in the future.
But with several Live Chat tools out there choosing one can be a bit tricky. Continue reading to check out our topic picks and recommendations.
1. Intercom
If you are looking for an all-in-one live chat tool then Intercom is probably the best. Apart from communication, the company provides customer service and marketing services.
To ensure that it serves the customers well its features are organized in three different categories: customer support, customer engagement, and customer acquisition.
Since it allows your clients to move from the sales very fast, it’s a service worth considering. It’s also the only company that boasts of AI and machine learning.
As a flexible tool it will help you to engage your users, capture leads, and enable you convert your clients into buying customers.
If you are searching for live chat software you may not maximize its use. But if you want to do other talks as well then you’ll enjoy using it.
One thing that you’ll love about it is that it’s quite easy to use. You can also integrate it into Google Analytics, email marketing, and Slack.
With this software, you can get live notifications concerning visitors moving away, active visitors, and even new ones. In nutshell, it will provide you with complete details of your customer activities.
Intercom Pricing
- Essential starts at $87 per month
- Pro plan starts at $153 per month
- The premium plan comes with custom pricing
Pros
- Provides excellent business messenger
- Comes with real-time reports
- Automation for flows
- AI-powered chatbox
- Several integrations with services such as Google Analytics, Slack and much more
Cons
- It can be challenging to stay on top with the additions of new features
2. LiveChat
When it comes to the live chat business, this can be considered as the industry leader. From installation to set up, it’s very easy to use.
It features beautifully designed live chat support apps that you can install on your tablets, laptops, and other mobile devices.
This implies that you can communicate with your customers even while moving. The good thing is that you can do all these without login into your WordPress website.
Before and after every session it provides you with a survey form that you can use to confirm whether your customers are satisfied with the help or not.
Even during your off times, customers can still send messages directly to the live chat.
Plus, it boasts of the best pricing plan in the industry. Once you sign up with them you get to enjoy up to 130 integrations in their app stores.
Another amazing thing about LiveChat is that it has a better user experience. After signing up you can choose from different colors or themes depending on what you are looking for.
To make your chats efficient you can automate pre-chat questions, welcome messages, and responses.
Once you are done with the chat you can urge your users to leave feedback for you. If you are unable to handle their issues you just need to open a ticket and then email them with the ticket number
LiveChat Pricing
- Starter Plan is $16 per month
- Team Plan is $33 per month
- The business plan is $50 per month
- The enterprise plan is $149 per month
Pros
- Providing real-time data
- Efficient
- Able to provided canned responses
- It’s easily accessible
- Has a great integration to Zendesk ticket management
- Lots of apps and features
Cons
- It’s a bit more expensive as compared to other tools
- Their automation greetings are not very sophisticated
3. ChatBot
Given that they allow you to connect with your customers 24/7 ChatBot is one of the best live chat software out there.
Whether you are just starting out or you are a pro, ChatBot will allow you to use AI to improve your business.
With its drag and drop interface, you can create a interface that suits your business needs.
Boasting dozens of ready-made templates any business can design a user interface that fits their business needs.
If you have an online store you can choose an eCommerce interface to guide you on how to deal with the customers.
On the same note, you can use their lead generation interface to book calls and improve your sales
Further, they have a sales bot interface that allows you to sell your goods directly to your customers.
This is an amazing feature that allows you to market your products through social media platforms.
Additioinally they have restaurant bot, customer service bot, package tracking bot, coffee soap bot, and many more bots. In nutshell, they have a bot for every need that you may as a business.
Overall ChatBot.com allows you to add AI for all your messaging apps, Facebook pages, and websites so that you can serve your customers well.
Depending on the needs of your customer, you can transfer them to your Facebook messenger, real person, or even phone support.
ChatBot Pricing
- In-House ChatBot.com cost is $50-$500 per month
- Agency ChatBot.com cost is $50-$500
Pros
- Its provides the best customer satisfaction
- Reduced labor cost
- Multipurpose platform
- The best customer service
Cons
- Limited responses to customers
- Customers are likely to be frustrated
4. Drift
As one of the best live chats platforms out there, Drift can be described as a marketing platform that allows you to chat with your customers.
Drift focuses on chatting with the customers to capture their attention and qualify them as leads.
Boasting a very nice user interface it allows customers and other visitors to arrange their meetings. Once you create a user interface you can invite your leads or prospective customers to chat with you.
Unlike other tools you can use it to promote and expand your business. This means you can always start simple with them and grow.
From live chats to account-based marketing, Drift comes with some of the best features.
It also tries to cut out the long customer acquisition processes by doing away with CRMs and email forms of communications.
Instead of these, you can use their automation and AI to send the best leads to your team.
Also, you can use its drag on Bot builder to create your chatbot within few minutes. It also has an account marketing feature where your sales team can communicate to your customers in real-time
In addition, it allows you to add internal notes, create several inboxes, and write down saved replies.
Although Drift features some of the best features if you want to enjoy everything you need to choose their enterprise plan.
Drift Pricing
- The standard pricing plan is $40 per month billed annually
- The professional pricing plan is $400 per month billed annually
- The premium pricing plan is $1500 per month billed annually
- The enterprise pricing plan is custom
Pros
- Comes with the best productivity and lead generation features
- Reporting dashboard that can impact your business
- Several integrations out there
- Ease of use due to the intuitive interface
Cons
- The free plan does not come with several features
5. tawk.to
If you are looking for a free-forever live chat app then this is the right choice. It comes with features such as support ticket creation, chats history, sneaks peek and automated triggers
It’s also perhaps the only software that allows you to see everything your visitor is writing before they send it.
Coming with several integration features you can comfortably integrate it to software such as Shopify, Zen Chart, Big Commerce and Square Space
As compared to others you can deploy your chats on unlimited websites or handle several visitors right from one dashboard.
This means you don’t have to subscribe to other live chat platforms if you have them. with its customizable chat widget , you can either set it or remove it from your website.
You can also choose how you want to receive your notifications with options such as estimated wait time, sound notification, and message preview.
One thing that sets it a part is that you can hire live native speaking agents. You can pay them $1 per hour depending on the number of huts that you want them to work
All messages that you receive are also categorized according to whether they are old or new.
Each message that you receive will indicate the location of the visitor, IP, and whether it’s their first time visiting the site.
tawk.to Pricing
- Starts at $1 per month
Pros
- It’s a free live chat thus suitable for small businesses
- You get all the features that you need in live chat
- Very easy to install hence you don’t have to worry
- Notes feature hence you can keep track of all your previous customers
Cons
- Since it’s free software you are not assured whether it will work for you
6. Olark
Olark is an effective live chat software that provides you with the best platform to communicate with your customers.
Whether you want to send data from your eCommerce platforms to CRM or other places its integrations will allow you to work with relative ease
What unique about it is that enables you to talk directly to your visitors. Plus its intuitive and clean user interface will ensure that you get real-time chat.
By allowing you to send messages to your prospective customers’ websites, you can significantly boost your sales. You can even solve the issues through quick conversations.
If you have a startup and you want to save on the cost then you can use its automated feature.
Also, it allows you to initiate a chat with anyone who visits your website. If someone responds to this message you can go ahead and chat with them.
With its real-time reporting feature, you’ll get a quick view of your customers to chat history to see whether you need to improve your marketing strategy or not.
Through this, you’ll determine what time of the days or days your chat feature is busy. Plus you’ll gauge the feedback that customers are giving to show whether they are happy with your service or not.
Olark Pricing
- $17 per agent per month
Pros
- It’s one of the simplest live chat platforms
- A variety of integrations such as Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce and SugarCRM
- Several customization options
Coins
- All reports are created and exported manually
- Live chat tool is a bit expensive
7. Sendinblue
Sendinblue live chat software is not only beginner-friendly but also comes with powerful features.
To install and start using it you need to set up your account and then link it to your website.
By allowing you to answer your visitors’ most important questions you can convert them to customers with relative ease.
Given that it’s connected to their marketing automation, you are able to attract even more customers. If you are looking for software that will provide you with more leads it’s the best.
Featuring, retargeting for Facebook ads, and built-in email marketing integration you can complete your marketing automation with ease.
It also offers a marketing package complete with landing pages, email marketing, CRM, and SMS. These are some of the best tools that you need to use if you want to get more paying customers to your website
While it comes with different pricing plans if you want to access the chat feature you should subscribe to the premium plan.
Although it may have some weaknesses in its overall design, it’s a competitively priced and a well-designed live chat that you need to try out
Sendinblue Pricing
Pricing starts at $44 per month per 10 team members
Pros
- Built-in email marketing integration
- Workflow organization to ensure that your team is on top of things
- Very easy to use software
- Social media retargeting for Facebook ads
Cons
- If you want to enjoy the chat features you must sign up for the premium plan
8. Smartsupp
This is software that provides live chat to all businesses regardless of their sizes. Since it features video recording it’s completely different from its competitors.
Boasting one of the best platforms you can chat with your visitors and even answer all their questions in real-time.
Every time someone visits your website you’ll be notified hence you can start chatting right away.
It also boasts of automatic messages, video recordings, 14 day chat history, a variety of agents, and unlimited chat conversations.
With their video recording feature, you can monitor how your visitors are engaging while chatting with you.
The recordings will also show how their mouse is moving and where they click. You’ll also see where your visitors are spending a lot of their time.
Apart from Google analytics it also integrates with platforms such as Magento, Shopify, and Bigcommerce.
Plus, if you need a large support team you can still comfortably use most of their features without paying any additional amount.
You can also install a message automation feature and receive messages only at specific times.
You can set this message such that whenever your visitor meets certain criteria they get a welcome message.
If you are starting out it’s a good idea to start with a free version. If you realize that it’s good you can upgrade to other to the pricing option that you need
Smartsupp Pricing
- The free plan is free forever
- The standard plan is $10 per agent per month
- Pro plan is $23 per agent per month
Pros
- Compatible with websites created on any platform
- Record a video of your visitors’ screen
- Real-time commutations with the visitors
- Easy to customize the way you want
Cons
- The free plan may not have the kind of features that you need
9. LivePerson
Launched in 1995, LivePerson provides one of the best communication platforms for both brand owners and users all over the world.
What sets it apart is its high level of security and attention to detail.
Even if you have a big company you don’t have to worry since it has everything you need for your communications needs.
Featuring enterprise chat software, users can have a 360 degrees view of their customers’ activities. In fact, you see what your customer is doing on your site even before they initiate a chat.
Once a visitor answers an automated question in a certain way or clicks a button they will be directed to the right department as soon as possible.
This not only minimizes wastage of time but also ensures that customers’ questions are answered fully. It has remote administration feature that can track all the conversations
Besides, it has features that allow you to integrate it with other social media sites
You can use it to intergrate with Facebook and Twitter among others. For instance, if your business has a Facebook page you can create a chat now button.
This means that everyone who visits your site can start the chat as soon as possible.
Unlike others, it has other customer conveniences and operator functions including internal operation chat and an offline messaging system. Plus, it has one of the best securities out there.
LivePerson Pricing
- The starter plan is $16 per agent per month
- Pro plan is $33 per agent per month
- The business plan is $50 per agent per month
- The enterprise plan is $149 per agent per month
Pros
- Dedicated app
- Can do custom integration if needed
- Very easy to set up and use
- Able to automate reports through emails
- Everything that you need is easily accessible
Cons
- Glitches and outages
10. Pure Chat
As free live chat software, Pure Chat has almost everything that you need for your live chats.
From adding live chat widgets to up to 3 operators during the chat, this is a platform that you’ll definitely enjoy using.
Once you are on the website you just need to click start. Here, you’ll be directed to their different pricing plans.
This allows you to choose the right plan for your business. The good thing is that you can start with a free trial and before upgrading later.
Given that it’s live chat software, it will not only help you attract customers but also convert them to hot leads. You can also track every visitor and start a conversation with them immediately.
Boasting of an on the go chat feature you can chat with your customers anywhere. Further, you can use it to have a conversation with your team and even invite them to chat with the visitors.
You can save your chat history and look at them later on. You’ll also know what the visitors are doing on your website, the number of visitors, and their websites.
It has android and smartphone apps that allow you to chat wherever you are. Even when you are offline you can still receive messages from your customers. This allows you to reply to them later on.
The most amazing thing is that you can integrate it with several platforms such as 3dcart, Salesforce, Shopify and Weebly among others
Pure Chat Pricing
- Free plan totally free with unlimited live chat
- The grown plan is $39 per month
- Pro plan is $79 per month
Pros
- Comes with several integrations
- Forever free plan
- Great user interface
- Quite easy to set up and use
- On the go chat features
- Have a friendly customer support
Cons
- Free plans have some limits
- Majority of their integrations require paid plan
11. Salesforce Live Agent
Whether you want to attract customers or create the best chat system on your website Salesforce Live Agent has it all.
Salesforce Live Agent offers the best way to support and engage your customers while browsing your website so that you don’t lose them.
Depending on how they are engaged you can decide whether to initiate a chat with them or not. With this software, you can chat with your clients through your app.
To make it even better they have multiple languages. This way, it does not matter whom you are dealing with. You can still chat with them in their languages
What sets it apart is that it has customized assistance in real-time.
With this in mind, your customers can visit the site while knowing very well that they’ll get the help that they need.
Featuring a productivity suit it empowers your agents to be productive at what they are doing. This feature ensures the right agent answers the visitor.
You can also use it monitor agent queues and also look at the indicators such as the full history of their performance.
This will enable you to know whether your agent is productive or not.
In case you realize that they are not doing the right thing you can train them on how to respond in the best most appropriate through live chat.
This will enable you to attract customers and maintain them. In the long run, it will go a long way in boosting your business.
Salesforce Live Agent Pricing
- Plans start at $150 per agent per month or $300 per agent per month
Pros
- Can integrate with all the other salesforce.com platforms
- Agents have context during chatting
- Service Cloud is part of Cloud elements
Cons
- All reports are created and exported manually
Get Salesforce Live Agent Here
12. Zendesk Chat
Formerly known as Zopim, Zendesk is also among the best live chat software out there.
Whether you want to strike a conversation or reach your customers Zendesk chat comes with everything that you need.
Although it has a free plan you may not get premium features. Popularly known as help desk software, it provides excellent customer chat support.
With this in mind, their pricing system is quite affordable hence you don’t have any excuse at all for not choosing it.
When it comes to choosing the templates that you need you’ll realize that you can customize it the way you want.
You can also integrate it with Magento, Salesforce, and Word Press. Also, if you are looking for software with good platform analytics it’s the best one.
However, since it has several products out there it might be good for some companies and not for others.
Further, it has a very attractive and beautiful customer chat box designs. The design also has good support for avatars and Background images.
Overall this live chat has strong features that make it the right option whether you have a large business or a small one. It’s therefore great thus worth trying out
Zendesk Chat Pricing
- Lite Version is 0 per month
- Team plan is $14 per month
- Professional plan $29 per month
- The enterprise plan is $ 59 per month
Pros
- Real-time dashboard with the agents’ metrics
- Easily integrated with Zendesk Support to ensure that all your support in one place
- Robust visitor and agent management capabilities
- Mobile-friendly software
Cons
- As compared to others it has limited functionality
13. SnapEngage
If you are looking for the best chat features and secure chatting you should to try out SnapEngage.
Suitable for insurers, healthcare providers, and other related companies, this live chat software will never let you down.
By using this chat the agents can gather information such as credit card numbers and payments, social security numbers, and even get some notes with just a few clicks.
Once the visitor provides the information they’ll get a receipt in the form of a notification.
To ensure that the visitor’s information is safe it’s only the agent who can see the information. Other people cannot access the visitors’ details.
To make the setting easier they provide onboarding assistance with all their plans. You can also integrate it into platforms such as WeChat, Facebook messenger, SMS to chat, and Zalo among others.
Another good thing about this live chat is its proactive chat feature. For instance, if a visitor is spending a lot of time on the pricing page an automatic message may pop up
It also boasts of a capacity report that determines whether the agents have reached the maximum number of chats in process.
Designed for all support and sales teams this software is made in such a way that it will help your business convert more leads and improve customer satisfaction.
SnapEngage Pricing
- Essentials plan is $16 per month per 3 users
- Professional plan is $26 per month per 3 users
- Enterprise pan is $40 per month per 3 users
Pros
- The overview of the chats is great
- They have amazing customer support
- The proactive chat feature is good
- It’s customizable and easy to use
- It provides real chat
Cons
- The interface is a bit hard to work with
- The transfer of the chat from one agent to the other can be clunky
Frequently Asked Questions
What is live chat software?
Live chat software is a tool that you can use to directly communicate with your website visitors. Since it offers a chatting pop up it serves as the best connection between you and your visitors.
To ensure that the customers get all the information that they need, this software boasts of a number of features.
For instance, if you are looking for a more detailed conversation you can go for the software with video chats.
With their unique features, your team can know more about the visitors and provide them with all the information that they need.
How can I use a live chat?
One of the most important things about live chat is that it can help you to convert leads into customers. Once it appears on the window it will connect your visitors directly to you.
It will also help you to quickly respond to your customers’ queries so you can generate more leads. Plus good software will allow you to use pre-written messages to reply to your customers when your team is not around.
To make sure that the agents answer the questions accurately it will display customer information such as geographical locations, names, and service records of the company.
Do I need to invest in a live chat app?
It’s obvious that customer support plays a very important role in the success of any business.
When your customers are happy with the service that you give they are likely to spread the word around and bring more customers.
So it’s the best way to ensure that your customers are engaged and satisfied with all your products. Whether you are looking for the best-selling or marketing strategy it’s the right option for you.
With this mind investing in good live chat software is one of the best things to do.
What are some of the features that you can get from live chat customer support?
Live chat customer support is designed to ensure that the customers get answers to their queries in real-time.
To allow you to enjoy all the benefits it’s created in such a way that you can chat with all your customers from one dashboard.
One of the most important features of live chat is a proactive support system. This feature allows you to chat with your customers in real-time.
Live chat software should also have real-time tracking feature to help them monitor all the people who visit the website.
The chat route is also another feature that you can use to direct the customers to the right agent who can comfortably answer all their questions.
The main work of this tool is to ensure that customers’ questions are answered accurately.
What are the advantages of live chat software?
From lesser waiting time to increased brand value, best customer analysis to the best support, live chat software comes with a number of benefits.
What are some of the things to consider when looking for the best live chat software?
Before you settle on any live chat software, there are a number of things that you need to consider. First, you should know about your company’s needs.
Since you cannot choose software that cannot work for you your company needs should be your number priority when looking for the best software.
This will not only help you analyze the features but also know the right software for you. You also need to know the number of users you have.
Besides the tools and facilities provided by these software you should know the number of people who will use the software.
If you know the number of users you can make the process of choosing one very easy. For instance, you’ll only choose software that can comfortably accommodate the users.
Finally, it’s important to know whether you need the software or not. Although using live chat is very important sometimes your company may not require it.
So instead of wasting money, you need to check whether you require it or not.
How much should I spend on live chat?
The amount of money that you need to spend on live chat generally depends on the tools, facilities available, and the needs of your business.
While some software can charge as low as $7 per month you can expect to pay up to $399 per on some of the best software.
There are also companies that require you to only pay for the services when you use them. This means that they won’t charge you every day.
However, before spending cash you need to start with a free version and see how it works.
The free version will help you understand the software and see whether it’s something that you need to invest in.
Wrapping Up
So which is the best live chat software out there? Well, with several live chat software out there choosing the best one generally depends on you.
Given that all live chat software comes with a free trial you can always choose one, try it out and see whether it’s the best.
You can start by going through the reviews and making a list of the features that you are looking for. You can also look at the options and try them out.
Neil Trevor
Neil loves to travel. Whenever he finds some time to take a break in a cafe, he loves to sit down, sip a cup of cappuccino and write. Chief travel editor at WhatRocksAndWhatSucks.com, right now Neil probably is somewhere in Europe (or in South America, who knows!). Reach him at neil@wraws.com or on WhatRocksandWhatSucks.com.