Discover Best Live Chat Software Tool Benefits, Features And Comparison.

Empowering your decision with a comprehensive comparison, ensuring it seamlessly fits into your workflow and integrates effectively.

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Best Live Chat Software Solution For Every Business Needs

Offer an immaculate experience to your customer with Omni24’s live chat platform while enhancing employee productivity.

Superior Customer Experience

Provide customers with a personal, timely interaction that can help boost customer satisfaction rate.

Improved Brand Loyalty

Enable customers to get answers swiftly and without hassle, allowing for better relationships and higher retention rates.

Automate Bookings

Offer your customers a fast and efficient way to book appointments right inside your web messenger and eliminate the hassle of manual systems.

Faster Resolution Time

Solve customer issues in real time without waiting on multiple emails or phone calls.

Live chat software tools have become indispensable for customer service and support. They provide customers with immediate access to assistance while helping businesses save money by reducing the need for physical contact centers.

A perfect live chat tool will enhance customer satisfaction, increase efficiency and save cost, all while personalizing customer interactions quickly and easily.

The live chat tools help us track conversations between agents and customers to understand customer preferences and improve overall customer experience.

Let’s take a look at 12 live chat software options that are perfect for small businesses.

What is Live Chat Software?

Live chat software is a type of tool that allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real time using web-based chat messenger or mobile apps.

Live chat solutions typically allow customers to ask questions, provide feedback, and submit complaints without directly contacting a customer service representative.

With the power of live chat solution, your business can:

  • Streamline customer service processes by providing real-time support inquiries, setting automated responses, and personalizing conversations.
  • Increase customer satisfaction by providing a convenient and accessible communication channel.
  • Enhance brand loyalty by building personal connections with customers through quality conversations.
  • Generate leads by engaging website visitors with targeted messages, targeted offers and incentives.
  • Improve analytics tracking of customer conversations to gain valuable insights for future decision-making.

Comparison Chart for Best Live Chat Softwares for Businesses

Here’s a comparison chart for 12 best live chat software for small businesses, including key features, pricing, and trial information:

How Does Live Chat Software Work?

Live chat software allows businesses to communicate with website visitors or customers in real-time. The chat interface is usually embedded on their website or mobile app.

Here’s how it typically works:

1. Implementation: Live chat software is integrated into the business’s website/mobile app, usually through a code snippet or plugin. It creates a chat window that visitors can click to initiate a chat session.
2. Chat initiation: When a visitor clicks the chat icon/window, they can start a new chat conversation. Some live chat solutions also provide proactive chat invitations. A chat window automatically appears after certain triggers, such as time spent on a particular page, specific browsing behavior, etc.
3. Operator assignment: Depending on the live chat software’s configuration, incoming chats are either assigned to available customer service agents manually or automatically. You set predefined rules, such as operator workload, skill set, or language preferences.
4. Real-time communication: Once an operator is assigned, they can engage in a real-time text conversation with the visitor. They get to answer customers’ questions, provide support, or guide them through the website.
5. Co-browsing and file sharing: Many live chat solutions offer additional features like co-browsing. It allows the operator to see the visitor’s screen and provide guidance. They can also exchange documents or media files during the chat.
6. Chatbot integration: Some live chat software integrates with chatbots or virtual assistants. It handles simple queries or gathers initial information before transferring the chat to a human operator.
7. Reporting and analytics: Live chat solutions typically provide reporting tools to track chat volume, agent performance, customer satisfaction, and other metrics.

Live chat software is used by various types of businesses and organizations, including:

1. E-commerce businesses: Online retailers often use live chat to assist customers with product inquiries, purchases, and order tracking.
2. Software and technology companies: Live chat is commonly used for providing technical support, troubleshooting, and product demos.
3. Financial institutions: Banks, insurance companies, and other financial services providers use live chat for customer support, account inquiries, consultations, etc.
4. Travel and hospitality: Here, it becomes easy to leverage live chat for bookings, itinerary changes, and customer service.
5. Educational institutions: Live chat can be used for student support, admissions inquiries, virtual office hours, etc for all universities as well as online learning platforms.
6. Healthcare providers: Live chat is increasingly used in healthcare for appointment scheduling, medical inquiries, and telehealth consultations.

Salient Features of a Website Live Chat Software

Website live chat software has become an indispensable tool for companies looking to deliver exceptional service and engagement.
The technology offers a multitude of salient features designed to enhance customer interactions, streamline communication channels, and gather valuable insights through data analytics.
Let’s learn more about it!

Personalized Interaction

Live chat allows businesses and organizations to customize their customer interactions with things such as customizable chat widgets, greetings, scripts, auto-responses, and other tailored replies. The representatives can offer personalized support, making the customer feel comfortable and creating a more meaningful conversation.

Multiple Channel Support

The live chat tool offers multi-channel support for companies to manage various communication channels simultaneously. Live chat, video chat, messaging apps etc. can all be managed in one place and easily accessed through the live chat software.

Workflow Rules & Routing

Live chat software enables businesses to create specific workflow rules and routing systems based on different conditions, needs, and preferences to provide customers with more efficient and appropriate assistance.

Visitor Tracking & Analytics

Live chat tools are equipped with tracking capabilities that allow companies to access customer data before even contacting them – including things like referral source, geographic location, web pages visited, etc.

Integrated Knowledge Base

Having an integrated knowledge base within your live chat software enables agents to quickly access relevant articles or reference material when talking with customers. The live chat software helps them provide quick & accurate answers while allowing them to spend less time on research or looking through FAQs.

Integrated Meeting Scheduler

Incorporating a meeting setting into your live chat software allows customers to plan and schedule appointments flexibly inside your platform. You can use this feature for internal team meetings as well!

Satisfaction Surveys

Utilizing surveys at the end of every interaction enables representatives to collect customer feedback about how satisfied (or unsatisfied) they were with the recent conversation. You can then identify if there are any service gaps easily.

Integrations

Integrating third-party applications into your live chat software optimizes your workflow further by providing quick access to tools AND data! Whether it’s analytics apps like Google Analytics or CRMs like Salesforce – integrating those platforms into one unified interface streamlines team communications and increases work productivity too.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Live Chat Tool?

Live chat platforms offer numerous benefits that empower businesses to deliver unparalleled customer experiences.

Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits of live chat software that boost customer engagement and satisfaction.

  • Improved Customer Engagement
    Many business owners find the tool invaluable for increasing customer engagement and loyalty, as customers can get accurate answers when they need them. Ultimately it leads to higher customer satisfaction, increased revenue and overall better customer relationships.
  • Higher Customer Satisfaction
    When customers have questions about a product or service, one of the easiest ways to get quick answers is through live chat support. Customers no longer have to wait days or weeks for a response via email or phone call. A live chat tool provides an efficient way of getting real-time responses, leading to higher customer satisfaction rates.
  • Solve Customer Issues in Real Time
    A live chat support team that is available 24/7 solves customer issues pretty quickly and efficiently without disrupting communication. It ensures no backlogs due to unanswered emails or long wait times on the phone lines. The concerns can be dealt with almost immediately, which leads to happier customers overall.
  • Reduction in Customer Support Costs
    An automated live chat system ensures businesses don’t spend on staffing unnecessarily. The chances of idle time are higher at certain points during the day or week, especially if you’re dealing with multiple time zones. AI bots will help route chats towards areas where people are needed most, leading to efficiency gains and saving costs over time as well!
  • Better Conversion Rates & Lower Lead Cycle
    Live chat software gives your sales reps an opportunity like never before; now, they have direct contact with any potential lead! Instead of waiting days on sales calls and email exchanges, the conversations now take minutes, leading to much higher conversion rates due to shorter lead cycles and less hassle overall!
  • Automated Support with Integrated FAQs
    Automating FAQs within your live chat tool saves your agents time and effort from typing out answers for repetitive questions! A curated list of FAQs allows instant access to knowledge regarding requested services without searching through multiple sources manually. Thus, drastically reducing response times and creating satisfied customers who would recommend your company moving forward!

12 Best Live Chat Software for Small Businesses Compared

Choosing the right live chat tool can be overwhelming when different products keep popping up with countless features and benefits.

A live chat software comparison of the leading providers side-by-side can help determine which product offers the most value for money whilst meeting all of your specific criteria.
Without any further ado, let’s get right in!

1. Omni24

Omni SMB Support Tool

Best Live Chat Software for Sales, Support and Marketing 

Omni24 is an omnichannel customer communication platform with live chat and collaboration features. The platform helps businesses quickly connect with customers, answer their questions and resolve any issues they might have in real time. It also offers other features such as automated workflows, collaboration tools and customizations.

Pros

  • Highly user-friendly interface to easily accommodate conversations between the support team and customers.
  • Automation capabilities reduce any reservation time for customers
  • Easy integration with existing web or mobile apps with several prospects to personalize the customer experience.
  • Effortless chat sessions.

Cons

  • More advanced features are only available on their higher tier plans which can be expensive for large businesses.
  • Limited customer analytics to understand customer needs efficiently.

Pricing: The pricing starts from $34/month. The pricing depends on factors like the number of users, the level of features required, and the scale of customer support operations. Omni24 also offers a 14-day free trial for businesses to explore its features before making a commitment. Check out their pricing for more detailed comparison

2. Veemo Chat

Veemo Omnichannel Inbox

The top live chat tool with easy integration with marketing tools

Veemo Chat is another popular live chat software solution used by small businesses and larger enterprises alike. It provides all the basic features like automated workflows, customizable chat widget tools and CRM integration along with industry-specific add-ons that extend its functionality even further.

Pros

  • Easy implementation process with short set-up periods so companies can start engaging customers quickly
  • Support multiple channels such as email and SMS to provide better customer service. Integration of proactive live chat bots that help streamline conversations faster without manual involvement.
  • Productive chat sessions with easy chat integrations and chat widgets.

Cons

  • Some business functionalities may be limited due to the lack of third-party integrations resulting in scalability restrictions.

Pricing:There are three pricing plans – the Growth plan starts at $34/user/month with basic features. The Team plan is priced at $79/user/month with more features. The Enterprise plan is priced at $149/user/month which includes advanced features. The software pricing is also customizable as per business requirements. It also offers a 14-day free trial. Check out the pricing plans for more detailed comparisons.

3. Intercom

The ultimate customer live chat platform with efficient self-service support

Intercom is a customer service tool designed to connect customers with brands from around the world in real-time. It offers features like personalized conversations, free live chat, self-service customer support, and more. Intercom also helps you understand your customers better with data analytics and reports.

Pros

  • Automation capabilities enable agents to close cases quickly and move on to new issues.
  • Offers integrations with popular CRMs and creates stunning chat boxes that look great on any website while building easy chat sessions
  • Include advanced automation tools like bots and triggers.

Cons

  • The setup process can be complicated for new users.
  • Lacks robust knowledge base management tools
  • Chat windows require extra code to embed properly into your site.

Pricing: Plans start from $39 per month for a basic live chat plan with up to 5 user profiles and unlimited chats.

4. Drift

A great live chat software to with effective personalization strategy

Drift is a conversation platform empowering companies to talk to their customers in real time through live chat, AI-powered bots, email and webinars. They help businesses build deeper relationships with their customers with personalized messages, automated workflows and meaningful conversations.

Pros

  • Offers pixel installation for a simple setup for automated messages and adds customer fields if needed.
  • Provides unlimited message history searchability
  • Features various customization options, including chat integrations, customizable chat widgets, colors and branding graphics allowing for a seamless chat session.
  • Integrates easily with other software (Salesforce)

Cons

  • Lacks some reporting features such as sentiment analysis and sentiment tags in conversations
  • Not all features are available on mobile devices that reach twice as much as desktop platforms do
  • The knowledge base is limited only to frequently asked questions.

Pricing: The Live Chat pricing plan starts from $50/month for unlimited contacts or leads for one website or domain name, plus premium integration options such as Salesforce or Hubspot starting from $60/month.

5. Userlike

The best cloud-based live chat tool with interactive chat interface

Userlike is a cloud-based customer service solution that enables companies to engage with customers in real time. Businesses can customize their interactive web chat interface and manage online conversations directly from their web browser or mobile device.

Pros

  • Easy to use with an intuitive user interface
  • Automated & manual filters for better conversation monitoring
  • Bot integration for automating frequent queries & tasks

Cons

  • Limited analytics & reporting features compared to others
  • Limited customization options for the chat window design

Pricing: Userilke offers three pricing plans – Starter ($12/month), Professional ($41/month), and Premium ($99/month). All the plans come with unlimited chats, team members, Slack integration and sentiment analysis features.

6. Chatra.io

A great live chat app that offers comprehensive analytics

Chatra.io, a live chat software, comes with an AI-powered assistant called “Christian” that can help reduce the need for agents to manually answer customers’ questions. The software also offers color schemes, layout settings and logo placement among others. Its analytics enable businesses to gather information on website visitor interactions and their needs.

Pros

  • AI-powered auto assistant for handling frequently asked questions
  • Multiple customization options are available like chat integrations, customizable chat widgets, etc.
  • Quick installation process
  • A comprehensive set of reports & analytics

Cons

  • Limited access control options
  • The mobile app version is not as comprehensive

Pricing: Chatra has three pricing tiers depending on your business size – Start (free), Grow($15 per month), and Pro($50 per month). All the plans give access to basic features such as automatic messages, transcripts, animation etc., while premium features like support integrations are only available in higher tiers of the pricing plan.

7. Gorgias

The ultimate customer live chat tool for SMBs

Gorgias is a robust customer service platform geared towards e-commerce companies who want to automate repetitive helpdesk tasks such as refunds & returns. The live chat tool enables customer service agents to focus on complex problems rather than dealing with routine ticket work every day.

Pros

  • Intuitive ticket management system
  • Integration capabilities with popular e-commerce stores like Shopify
  • Inbuilt internet search engine capability

Cons

  • Lack of mobile app support

Pricing: Gorgias comes with three pricing plans – Solo ($25/Month), Increased traffic ($50/Month), and Huge Traffic ($100+/Months). There are no limitations on chats regardless of which plan you choose, but some features, such as automated workflows are unavailable in lower plans.

8. Tidio

An excellent omnichannel live chat tool with effective bot technology

Tidio comes with unlimited channel messaging capabilities, allowing you to send messages via different channels – traditional and modern alike! The tool enables companies to craft personalized messages, integrate them into CRMs, keep track of customer data, and much more.

Pros

  • Affordable price point compared to competitors.
  • Automation, customisable chat widgets, Chat integrations & search queries.
  • Bot technology interaction is available 24/7.

Cons

  • With excessive usage, search queries tend to become slower.
  • Does not have direct integrations with some cloud systems providers like Dropbox, making file transfers difficult.

Pricing: Using Tidio isn’t free, but affording it isn’t bearable either. Single users can avail level-0 package, which costs $9 a month. For large organizations, they are priced according to their user base.

9. Zendesk Chat

The best online live chat tool for remote businesses

Zendesk Chat is a web-based live chat software and customer service platform designed primarily to meet the needs of businesses and online organizations. With Zendesk Chat, users can easily create custom automated messages, engage customers in real-time conversations, and monitor results with analytics.

Pros

  • Automated Messages
  • Real-time conversations
  • Monitor results with analytics.

Cons

  • Limited customization
  • Expensive plans for larger businesses.

Pricing: Different plans range from $19/month for the basic plan to $89/month for the Advanced one.

10. Freshchat

An excellent live chat software to enhance the messaging solutions

Freshchat is an AI-powered messaging solution created by Freshworks to help businesses respond quickly and effectively to customer inquiries and requests. It provides a robust set of features that allow users to create custom chatbots, and integrate Mashups into their platforms or plugins.

Pros

  • AI-powered messaging solutions
  • Integration and deployment options
  • Optimized chatbot training tools

Cons

  • Limited customization power of bots
  • Requires additional coding.
  • Not very good visualization tools.
  • Expensive plans for advanced features such as CRM & AI integrations

Pricing: Plans range from $12/month up to $50/month depending on the packages chosen by the organization or team size.

11. Tawk.to

A great live chat software for quality video embedding

Tawk.to is a live communication platform created for organizations looking for better ways to engage with their customers through personalized interactions. The advanced features of embedding videos/images into chats and auto-complete options save time, while the agent provides a faster service.

Pros

  • Customizable chat widgets and design themes
  • Easy chat integrations
  • Rich content (images/videos) support
  • Auto-complete options and Live translation during conversations.

Cons

  • Fewer integrations are available compared to other leading live chat services.

Pricing: While the starter pack is free, Pro costs 9$ per month and Business costs 49 $per month.

12. Hubspot Service Hub

Hubspot Best Live Chat Software Tools

An excellent live chat software for small business and corporations alike

Hubspot Service Hub provides an all-in-one solution to help teams manage customer relationships, automate customer service processes and provide actionable insights on customer interactions with the business.

Pros

  • Easy set-up process
  • Natural language processing powered by AI algorithms
  • Automated welcome messages based on defined criteria
  • Compatible with both desktop and mobile devices

Cons

  • Limited customizability options

Pricing: Free plans are available, while the premium plans start at $49 per month onward, depending on usage needs.

What are the Key Use Cases of Live Chat Software

Live chat software is crucial for successful online customer service. From providing quick, personalized conversations with customers to engaging potential buyers and offering remote technical support, surplus use cases are available for the versatile communication tool.

Live chat software is crucial for successful online customer service. From providing quick, personalized conversations with customers to engaging potential buyers and offering remote technical support, surplus use cases are available for the versatile communication tool.

Let’s learn more about the five key uses for live chat software:

Conversational support: Live chat offers a fast, convenient way to engage with customers who need help or have questions about your product or service. You can quickly provide answers to customers and build trust in your brand with conversational support.

Conversational marketing: Use live chat to communicate with potential customers and explain why your product or service is the best solution to their needs. You can help them make an informed purchasing decision while potentially boosting sales.

Conversational sales: Live chat can be used as an effective sales tool to generate leads and close deals faster. Initiate engaging conversations with prospects and answer any questions they ask. It becomes simple for them to fully understand what you’re offering them and decide if it’s right for them or not.

Remote technical support: Businesses can offer their customers a fast and efficient way to get help from technical experts. It reduces the wait time and scheduling appointments in advance. The customers get the assistance they need in real time without any added expense.

Collect customer feedback: Customers want their concerns heard and addressed promptly which is why businesses should take advantage of live chat tools to capture feedback almost immediately after providing service to their customers. The companies can then actively monitor customer sentiment while working proactively against creating negative experiences (and losing business).

How to Choose the Right Live Chat Tool for Your Business ?

1. What Type of Customer Service are you Looking for?
Live chat can be used for different types of customer service such as providing pre-sales or technical support or to handle incoming requests from prospective customers. Know the goals and objectives of your customer service requirements and determine the best live chat software/tool.

2. How Specific is the Integration with your Current Software/Tools?
Certain live chat solutions may require more integration with existing systems than others. Assess if you need a compatible solution with your existing programs and whether it should integrate seamlessly with any APIs you may have built to provide a flawless customer experience.

3. Is There an Option for Self-Service Automation?
Automation tools are available in some live chat solutions. The live chat tool can provide customers with an efficient and effective solution to find answers to their questions without having to wait on hold or wait for a response from an agent via email or text message.

4. Are There Customized Reporting Capabilities?
It would be beneficial to look for software/tools that offer customized reports so that you can measure metrics such as performance, sentiment, customer retention rates etc. The metrics will help in decision-making within your organization while measuring progress towards meeting objectives. But, look into features such as agent scoring and analytics to track their performance over time and improve productivity accordingly.

5. Does it Offer Conversation Continuation?
Look out for features like conversation continuation so agents can pick up where they left off in conversations if they have to step away temporarily or if interrupted by another conversation while they’re talking with a customer. Customers will not have to waste time repeating themselves when discussing multiple issues simultaneously, resulting in higher satisfaction levels.

6. What are your Scalability Requirements?
Live chat tools come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s important to find one that can meet your specific scalability requirements. If you’re looking for a tool that can handle multiple chats at once, look for one that has dedicated agents and bots built-in so you can accommodate larger volumes of traffic. On the other hand, if your customer base is smaller, then a simpler solution may be sufficient.

7. How Secure is the Chat Solution?
When dealing with sensitive customer information, security should always be a top priority data breaches could lead to serious legal action against companies unaware they allowed their customers’ information through insufficiently protected applications or sites! Look out for full visibility throughout network logs including encryption standards compliant with ISO 27001 standards as assurance measures.

How to Add Live Chat App to Your Website?

Adding a live chat app to your website is easier than ever. Follow the simple steps mentioned below to begin a great customer service experience.

  • Choose a live chat software/tool: First, research and select a live chat tool that best fits your website needs. Many services today offer different features such as automated messages, scheduling availability, file-sharing capabilities and more.
  • Sign up for an account and configure settings: Once you have signed up for an account with the live chat provider, it’s time to configure your settings according to how you want to manage incoming chats.
  • Create user profiles: You should create personal profiles for all potential customers using the live chat tool on your website, setting the permissions they can access, such as adding contacts or viewing support history.
  • Install live chat snippets on the website: Most services provide instructions on how to install the code snippet on your website so that users can start having live conversations as soon as they arrive on your site/landing page.
  • Set up rules and flows: Configure all settings like triggers, auto-replies, etc., to personalize how users will interact with the chat system on your website. Setting rules can help ensure that customers are greeted appropriately at any given time of day, and workflows can be customized so that responses from support agents are more accurate based on keywords detected in conversation threads.
  • Integrate Other Services: The live chat app can be integrated with other services, such as CRM or help desk applications for automated responses and greater efficiency in responding to queries quickly and accurately.
  • Monitor data & analytics: The best way to run a practical live chat program is by paying attention to its performance, including response times and total chats handled per agent or department.
  • Optimize for success: Now is also time to set up custom automated messages that are sent out when there are no available agents or when customers ask a question which was already answered before.

Kickstart with the Best Live Chat Tool for Your Team

Live chat software provides a great way to connect with customers and offer real-time support. Businesses can increase their customer satisfaction while improving sales conversions with suitable tools in the customer service arsenal.

The right live chat tool provides a competitive edge to businesses in the dynamic industry.

Significant features like automation capabilities, integration options, analytics, security protocols, and cost-effectiveness play major roles in determining the success of your business customer service.

However, look out for customization features (like chat integrations, easy chat sessions, customisable chat widgets, etc) tailored accurately to your business requirements. A perfect live chat software for your business ensures optimal performance and customer engagement.

Scale Your Conversations with Omni24’s Digital Customer Experience Platform

Omni24’s DCX platform harnesses automation and AI to deliver unified customer experiences across digital channels, while keeping human touch.

FAQs about Best Live Chat Software Tools

Absolutely! Live chat software is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. It can be valuable for small businesses to provide personalized support, compete with larger companies, and build customer trust and loyalty. Many live chat software providers offer affordable plans tailored to every business need.

Live chat software has been proven to increase conversions by providing real-time assistance during the buying process. Customers who get timely responses to their queries are more likely to convert. Live chat also allows businesses to engage with potential customers proactively, offer personalized recommendations, and resolve concerns instantly, ultimately boosting conversion rates.

When choosing a live chat software tool, it’s essential to consider the security measures in place. Look for software that offers data encryption, secure connections (HTTPS), and compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR. Read reviews and consider the reputation and trustworthiness of the software provider.

The cost of live chat software varies depending on the features and functionality offered. Some live chat software providers offer pricing plans based on the number of agents, while others have tiered pricing structures based on the number of concurrent chats or additional features. It’s advisable to compare different options and choose the one that fits your budget and requirements.

Yes, most live chat software tools offer integrations with other business tools such as CRM systems, help desk software, email marketing platforms, and e-commerce platforms. The integrations allow for a seamless flow of information and streamline the customer support process.

Yes, most live chat software tools offer integrations with other business tools such as CRM systems, help desk software, email marketing platforms, and e-commerce platforms. The integrations allow for a seamless flow of information and streamline the customer support process.