Live Chat Software for Website: How to Choose the Best Provider

In an era shaped by technology and digital communication, live chat software is an essential tool to have at your disposal.

With its ability to provide real-time assistance, maximum convenience, and online personalization, live chat has become a must-have contact channel for any business website.

It’s also one of the most popular consumer channels, with a customer satisfaction rate of 85%.

When it comes to choosing the right live chat software for your website, there’s much to consider.

With so many options available in the market, finding the right one for your business and contact center can be a daunting task. 

Luckily, we’ve created this essential guide to help you find the best live chat provider for your brand. We’ll cover:

• The benefits of adding live chat to your website
• How to choose the best live chat software
• A comparison of three live chat software providers
• Getting started with live chat software for your website

What are the benefits of website live chat for businesses and customers?

The addition of website live chat can benefit both your business and customers in the following ways:

• Improved customer experience: Thanks to live chat, customers can easily access personalized support and get answers to their queries with minimum disruption to their digital journey. This minimizes the effort required on their part and helps create the seamless experience that consumers crave. It’s why 52% of consumers favor brands that offer live chat customer service.
• Faster resolutions: The ability to chat with customers in real-time results in faster and more efficient problem-solving. It also increases the chance of a first contact resolution - the FCR rate for live chat stands at an impressive 70-75%.
• More conversions: Live chat enables businesses to proactively engage with website visitors, answer their questions, and address any concerns promptly. This leads to increased conversions as customers are more likely to make a purchase when their queries are resolved instantly. It's why the addition of live chat can improve conversion rates by 12%
• Competitive advantage: Offering live chat can help set your business apart from its competitors. It demonstrates a commitment to excellent customer service and can be a decisive factor for potential customers when choosing between similar products or services.
• Valuable customer insights: Live chat interactions provide businesses with valuable data and insights about customer behavior, preferences, and pain points. This information can be used to improve products, services, and the overall digital customer experience.
• Reduced costs: Live chat is a cost-effective engagement channel compared to traditional methods like phone support. With web chat, agents can handle multiple customer conversations simultaneously, reducing the need for a large support team and lowering overall operational costs.

Overall, live chat is a win-win for businesses and consumers, providing a convenient and efficient way for brands to assist, convert, and digitally engage more customers.

How to choose the best live chat app for website

Now that you know the benefits of live chat software, the next step is to find a platform that aligns with your business needs and goals.

Fortunately, we’ve compiled the key factors to consider when it comes to choosing the right live chat solution for your brand.

User experience

User experience is a critical consideration when choosing a live chat software provider.

You need to find a solution that’s easy to use, reliable, and able to meet all of your business needs.

You also need to determine your goals for this channel (e.g. improving customer support, driving live chat sales, etc.) and ensure the user experience will help you achieve them.

When you’re evaluating the live chat user experience, keep in mind the following factors:

• Usability: Is the live chat interface user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate?
• Omnichannel capability: Does the software support and integrate with your other communication channels? Can users smoothly transition from a live chat interaction to a web call or video chat if necessary?
• Customization: Is the platform flexible? Does it offer customization so that you can make your live chat widget fully on-brand?
• Features: Are all the additional features your brand needs catered for? Does the software include collaboration capabilities like cobrowsing? Does it provide AI tools (e.g. OpenAI responses, Google Agent Assist) to support your agents?
• Mobile optimization: Is the live chat software usable on mobile phones and other devices? Is the chat interface responsive and user-friendly on small screens?

By making the live chat user experience a priority, you’ll ensure that your chosen solution boosts customer satisfaction and adds value to the customer experience.

Multilingual support

When you’re choosing a live chat solution, you need to ensure it’s accessible to all your customers - whatever language they speak.

To achieve this, you need to invest in software that comes with multilingual technology as standard.

Talkative’s live chat, for example, provides automatic, real-time translation into over a hundred languages as well as editable glossaries.

By choosing a multilingual live chat, you’ll overcome language barriers and be able to provide inclusive customer support to consumers around the world.

Plus, you’ll demonstrate a willingness to cater to customer needs and a commitment to customer relations - both of which will contribute to building a positive brand image.

Integrations

It’s important to find a live chat solution that’s compatible with your current contact center systems and platforms.

If the software falls short in this area, it may pose a roadblock to successful implementation.

Ideally, you need live chat software that can be integrated with your existing CRM, helpdesk, and messaging channels.

Fortunately, the Talkative platform has all bases covered when it comes to compatibility and integrations.

We offer seamless integrations with a vast range of systems and platforms, including (but not limited to):

• Salesforce
• Mitel
• Google Business Messages
• Microsoft Teams
• Messaging apps- SMS/MMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger

Our live chat software can also be easily embedded within your mobile app, as well as your website. That way, it’s effortless for your customers to find and access chat support on any device.

Reporting & analytics

Live chat analytics are crucial because they allow you to manage performance and identify areas for improvement.

They can also provide valuable insights into the behaviors and experiences of both customers and agents.

So, it’s imperative that the live chat software you implement comes with a range of tools for reporting and analytics.

When evaluating live chat providers in terms of analytics, there are a number of factors to consider:

• Metrics: Look for a platform that allows you to track and analyze a wide range of performance metrics. Make sure that the metrics provided align with your specific business needs and goals.
• Google Analytics: Ideally, you want a live chat solution that can be integrated with Google Analytics. With this tool, you’ll be able to take advantage of Google’s tracking capabilities for a greater overview of live chat performance - without any additional costs.
• Monitoring: Monitoring capabilities are important for tracking agent performance and identifying issues as they occur. It’s why the Talkative platform supports real-time chat viewing and sentiment analysis.
• Data visualization: The ability to visualize data in a clear and concise way is critical for monitoring performance and making informed decisions. It’s important that your chosen provider offers customizable data visualization tools such as charts and graphs. With Talkative, for example, customers can achieve this with the use of our flexible dashboard editor.

With the right analytics and reporting capabilities, you can continuously improve live chat performance and ensure that your brand is consistently delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Chatbot functionality

It’s important that the live chat solution you choose also allows you to deploy a chatbot.

Chatbots augment the human experience by providing automated support to customers around the clock - even outside of your operating hours.

While live chat allows for real-time interactions with agents, chatbots can handle FAQs and resolve basic issues - without human intervention.

Advanced chatbots can also triage all chat support requests. That way, they gather the initial details of the customer’s query before transferring them to the most appropriate advisor/department.

This not only saves time for your agents but also guarantees that your customers receive the best service for their specific situation - without having to repeat themselves to multiple representatives.

By deploying a chatbot alongside live chat, you can provide a seamless support system that optimizes efficiency and enables agents to focus on the customers who need them most.

Security

You must ensure that your chosen live chat provider has robust security measures in place to protect your customers’ privacy.

These measures are vital because chat interactions may involve the exchange of customer data and sensitive information.

Here are some specifics to consider when you’re assessing live chat software security:

• Data protection policies: Look for a provider that has clear policies and controls in place for user data, including how data is stored, who can access it, and how it’s used. Always check the provider’s privacy policy to ensure that your data is not being shared or sold to third parties without your consent.
• Regular software updates: Your live chat provider should regularly update its software to address security vulnerabilities and ensure that its systems are up to date with the latest measures.
• Compliance: Depending on your industry or location, you may need to choose a live chat solution that complies with specific regulations, such as CCPA in the US and GDPR in the European Union.

Clearly, there’s much to consider in terms of security when choosing a live chat solution.

Thankfully, Talkative’s live chat includes a wide range of essential security features to keep your customers - and their data - safe. 

This includes card masking capabilities and PCI compliance for online sales, GDPR and CCPA compliance for data security, and data sovereignty procedures for global brands.

Cost & scalability

It’s always necessary to assess the cost of implementing new technology - and live chat software is no exception to this.

The cost of live chat can vary depending on the features you need and the number of users.

You should first determine your budget and then seek the options that are affordable for you. 

Try and seek out a provider that offers tiered pricing plans and flexible payment options, such as monthly or annual subscriptions.

It’s also important to consider scalability - as your business grows, you may need to add more users or increase your live chat usage.

So, make sure that the provider you choose can easily scale your plan up or down to meet your needs.

Many live chat providers (Talkative included!) offer a free-trial period, allowing you to test out their platform before committing to a paid plan.

That way, you can ensure that your chosen live chat software meets all your needs before investing.

Live chat software for website providers compared

Now that you know the key factors to consider when choosing live chat software, the next step is to decide which provider is right for you.

Fortunately, we’ve provided a comparison of three solid live chat solutions below. 

With this guide, you can make an informed decision and find the perfect provider for your business and contact center needs.

1. Tawk.to

First up is Tawk.to - a popular live chat platform that allows businesses to monitor and chat with website visitors for free.

Tawk.to provides a range of features designed to facilitate online communication and customer support, including a ticketing system, screen sharing, a chatbot, and basic analytics.

One of the key advantages of Tawk.to is its pricing model. The standard features of the platform are available for free, making live chat accessible to businesses of all sizes.

The platform also provides a mobile app, allowing businesses to stay connected with their customers even while on the go. The app enables agents to respond to customer queries, monitor chat activity, and manage conversations from their smartphones or tablets.

While Tawk.to is a great option for small to medium-sized businesses, it’s limited in terms of scalability. It also lacks the advanced features required by larger enterprises or by brands with more complex needs.

So, if you’re a start-up or small business looking for a basic, cost-effective live chat solution - then Tawk.to could be the right provider for you.

However, if you’re a larger business or contact center looking to invest in a more comprehensive platform that’s tailored to your needs - then you might want to explore other options.

2. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a customer service software developed by Salesforce, a leading CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. 

The platform is a scalable solution that’s particularly well-suited for medium-sized to large enterprises.

It provides businesses with an omnichannel support solution, enabling them to engage with customers through live chat and other channels such as email, phone calls, and messaging platforms. 

One of the primary benefits of LiveAgent is its link with Salesforce. As part of the larger Salesforce platform, it offers robust CRM integration, allowing agents to access and leverage customer data, history, and context during interactions.

However, this deep integration with the Salesforce ecosystem may be a hindrance for businesses that do not utilize Salesforce or prefer alternative CRM solutions. 

Additionally, while LiveAgent supports text-based communication channels effectively, it’s not a suitable solution for businesses that require a strong emphasis on voice or video calls as well as live chat.

It’s why many Salesforce brands opt for Talkative instead when it comes to optimizing the live chat customer experience - take Bugaboo and LendInvest as examples of this in action.

Salesforce’s Live Agent is also limited in its customization options and the advanced features necessary for high-value customers and interactions.

This is important because increasing sales, as well as service and support standards, requires more than your run-of-the-mill chat solution.

So, if you’re a mid-sized or large business looking for a chat-focused platform that’s only compatible with a Salesforce environment - then LiveAgent could be the provider for you.

On the other hand, if your business requires a more advanced customer engagement solution that emphasizes voice and video as well as text-based customer support channels - then you may be better off with a different provider.

3. Talkative

And finally, we’d be remiss not to mention Talkative in a comparison of live chat providers.

For brands with high-value customers, Talkative provides an omnichannel suite of digital channels designed to humanize the customer journey.

Our forward-thinking live chat solution can be deployed across your website, app, and messaging channels. 

It offers a myriad of features and capabilities to help you engage and convert more customers, such as:

• Real-time translation
• AI agent assist tools
• Dynamic canned messages
• Granular customization with our enhanced widget editor
• Engagement tools, including proactive chat nudges and pop-ups
• Cobrowse and screen-sharing
• Sentiment analysis
• Interaction logs
• Advanced reporting and analytics

In addition to live chat and messaging, the Talkative platform also provides web calling, video chat, and an AI-powered chatbot - all of which can be managed within a single pane of glass.

We also offer deep integrations with a vast range of systems and platforms, including Salesforce, Mitel, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, and much more.

As for cost, Talkative offers a flexible pricing model based on the number of seats needed. This makes our platform accessible and scalable for businesses and contact centers of all sizes

Overall, Talkative is the best choice for any business looking to optimize its customer engagement and deliver next-level experiences at every digital touchpoint.

The takeaway: Getting started with live chat apps

Live chat has become an essential channel for any business or contact center – but you need the right software for your brand. 

One that ticks all the boxes covered in this guide, and is specifically tailored to your business needs.

That’s where Talkative comes in.

As we’ve demonstrated, our live chat solution is one of the strongest contenders in the market today.

And, with our platform, you’ll gain a complete suite of engagement channels that’ll empower your customer advisors to connect instantly, and effortlessly, with all your online customers.

It means you’ll be fully equipped to wow your website visitors with a level of digital customer service they won’t experience elsewhere.

Want to learn more?

Book a demo with us today and discover how you can power premium live chat customer service with Talkative.