Live Chat Software Buying Guide: Guide to Live Chat

One thing that all online businesses would agree to is that customer satisfaction is the utmost priority for their success. At a time when each shopper is looking for a unique experience on your website, the importance of live chat software can’t be overlooked.

Where the Future of Live Chat Software Lies

More than 70% businesses believe that by 2022, Live chat on site would surge ahead of traditional channels of communication such as emails and calls. With rapid developments in technology, the future of web chat software has completely changed. We try to tell you how it will look like:

• Voice enabled assistant

Voice recognition technology has already been successful as shown by Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa.

If the same technology powers live chat web, in the future customers might register their queries vocally rather than typing them out.

• Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is already being merged with chatbots at present. In the future, AI-enabled chatbots are likely to offer more personalized help to customers based on their intent.

Freshchat is already using the AI-enabled engine to power their fresh chat technology to help businesses elevate their customer support service.

• Augmented reality

When chat software adapts augmented reality technology, customers and chat agents would be able to engage in a better sense through visual assistance.

For example, customers can virtually show damaged products to the agent. The agents, also using AR technology, can virtually mark the areas that need fixing, all on the chat software.

Essential Features of Live Chat Software

• Quick response to common queries

Best live chat on web allows you to save responses and reuse them for commonly asked questions. This helps respond to customer queries quickly

• Chat tags

Live chat software for website makes use of chat tags to segregate conversations with customers. These tags are useful for drawing metrics on issues most customers face, what service they want, etc.

• Tracking visitor’s actions

Companies can use live chat on site to track the actions of visitors across different web pages. This helps chat executives improve their suggestions to customers regarding their intent and preferences.

• Easy sharing of files

Using web chat on web, customers and chat executives can send across files such as screenshots, product catalogs, order invoice, etc.

• Transference of chat

Live chat software allows you to send over chats to teammates for better resolution of a customer’s grievances. Such features of live chat software for websites allows for better collaboration within your teams.

Industries which are Leveraging the Benefits of Live Chat Software

Although live chat is present on most online sites these days, there are some specific industries which have benefited the most from the usage of web chat software.

1. Healthcare
2. Education
3. E-commerce
4. Software

• Healthcare

Healthcare industry has successfully utilized live chat on web, which has enabled patients to seek personalized and confidential consultations.

Cancer Research, UK, has implemented live chat web through which a dedicated team of medical professionalscan cater to cancer patients.

• Education

For educational institutions, the presence of live chat on site makes it easier for students and parents to get all information about their preferred course quickly.

For example, IUBH University of Applied Sciences makes use of chatbot IVA to solve various queries of prospective applicants through chat software

• E-commerce

E-commerce companies are aided by live chat feature to provide outstanding customer service and unique experience to each customer.

Take Ruffwear for example. It is an online ecommerce store which sells specialized equipment for dogs. They make use of live chat on site to provide customer service on specific pages of their website.

• Software

Software industry can make use of web chat software to address queries related to software updates, post-implementation hassles, or any specific software module.

For example: Occipital is a software development company which used to spend several hours in a week answering customer queries across several platforms. They then started using live chat feature, which helped them to integrate all conversations in one platform and provide better customer service.

How to Select the Best Live Chat Software for Your Website

If you have not implemented live chat for your business yet, refer to the following pointers to select the best live chat software:

Criteria	How it Helps to Choose Live Chat Software
Integration	Live chat software should integrate different social media apps within its platform.
Customization	Opt for a Live chat web software that offers customization so that you can design the interface according to your brand’s requirement.
Notification	Live chat software should send out notification each time a message is received so that the chat executives don’t miss out on any customer.
Analytics	By using chat software, you need to get access to visitor details, time spent on different pages of your website, conversation history, etc.
Security	The best live chat software ensures data security to prevent hackers accessing important customers details.

Best Examples of Live Chat Software: Freshchat vs Tawk.to vs Chatra

Let’s have a comparison of some of the most popular live chat software:

Criteria	FreshChat	Tawk.To	Chatra
Use	Suitable for marketing and sales team of SaaS, E-commerce companies to provide customer support	Suitable for communicating with visitors on website	Suitable for businesses looking to serve their customers better
Integrations	Offers seamless integration with third party apps	Offers integration with third party apps	Does not offer third party integration
User interface	Easy to use and interactive user interface	Some users might find that the interface lacks proper features	Some users might find the interface to be less interactive
Chat functionality	Enhanced chat functionality that alerts you about new messages and lets you reply quickly to a customer using chat tags	Dashboard might need refreshing once in a while which ends conversation with a customer abruptly	Users might miss out on new message notification
Support services	Full support is available 24X7	Users can seek support services in case an issue arises	It does not offer support services

Made up your mind already about which software to buy? You can also talk to our experts to decide on the best option.