Which Live Chat Software To Choose?

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Here is the second instalment in my Live Chat blog series. You can read the first 9 Reasons To Use Live Chat Software post here.

There are literally hundreds of live chat providers on the market offering different features, prices and integration. I cant claim to have tried all of them but I have given a fair few a run for their money free trials, including LiveEngage, LiveChatInc, Olark, ZopIM, ZenDesk and JivoSite. Of them I believe that these are your two best options for easy installation, great feature sets and low cost:

ZopIM – www.ZopIM.com

zopim

ZopIM claim that over 147,200 sites use their software, 63% visitors return to websites which has a live chat and that it increases sales & conversions by 38%. This happens to be my current software of choice, mainly because they allow me to block the chat from mobile and tablet users.

Noteworthy Features

  • Visitor Visualisations – These let you clearly see your various live visitors in a pretty graph formats.
  • Triggers – These let you set up various rules to make pre-set messages pop up when a user has been on a page or site for a certain amount of time.
  • Customisation – They offer a great deal of widget customisation from branding to avatars (not available in the Lite version).
  • Automatic Translation – For those dealing with international clients ZopIM’s auto translate function may aid your agents.
  • Disable on Mobiles – You can edit the code to ensure that mobile or tablet users don’t see the chat function. For me this was important because ZopIM doesnt function as well on these devices.
  • Refund Policy – A very liberal refund policy where if you request a refund within five days of making any form of payment, you will get a full refund, no questions asked.

See more ZopIM features here: https://www.zopim.com/product

Cost

ZopIM offers three tiers of pricing options:

  • Starting with their free Lite package allowing one agent and one chat at a time.
  • For $14 (about £8.50) per month per agent you can get their Basic package giving you unlimited chats, two triggers and two departments.
  • Then there is their Advanced package that will set you back $25 (about £15.20) per month which will get you unlimited chats, unlimited triggers, weekly analysis reports

It’s worth noting that they also offer a 20% discount when you buy a  one year subscription and 30% for a two year subscription.

Free Trial?

Yes they offer a full-featured 14-day trial with as many agents as you want and full customisation options. They claim that over the course of the 14-day trial, you will understand the feature set, and be better positioned to select a suitable package.

Installation?

ZopIM uses a simple piece of coded added to your website’s header which then allows you to operate the software and edit the widget through their online dashboard. There are also iPhone and Android Apps that you let you login and chat on the move.

JivoSite – www.JivoSite.com

jivosite

Jivosite claim their live chat software is currently being used by 50024 sites, can lead to average order values doubling and conversion rates increasing by five times.

Noteworthy Features:

Proactive Invitations – This feature lets you send a popup chat message before the user contacts you. They claim this feature once activated can significantly increase a site’s conversion rate.

File Transfer – Sending files can be crucial for some customer service functions and JivoSite gives your chat agents the option to do exactly that.

Agent Ratings – JivoSite lets you collect reviews of your agents by users to quickly identify who is or isn’t performing with their customer service duties.

Black List – Your agents can block naughty or rude customers with JivoSite’s ‘Black List’ feature.

Chat Calls – JivoSite actually let your agents have voice calls with the customer via the internet.

Preview Messages – A little sneaky but JivoSite actually lets your agent see the visitors messages as they type them in real time which can save time typing a response and increases the response speed.

See more JivoSite features here: http://www.jivosite.com/features

Cost

Jivosite offer two tiers in their packages:

  • There is the Free Edition which unsurprisingly, costs nothing and offers up to five agents, chat transcriptions and no time limits.
  • Then there is the Professional Edition which varies in cost depending on the payment option chosen. It’s lowest cost is $10.49 (about £6.36) per month per agent and gives you features including visitor information, Google Analytics intergration, triggers and file transfer.

It’s worth noting that they have a Special Price offer of $8 (about £4.85) per month per agent if you sign up before 31st March 2014.

Free Trial?

Yup they offer a 14-day free trial on their Professional Edition and all its features.

Installation?

JivoSite uses a Mac OS/Windows friendly application that syncs with the script which is simply added to your sites header or footer code. There are also iPhone and Android Apps that you let you login and chat on the move.

 

Now go forth and at the very least, try out live chat functionality on your client or business’s website.

 

I would love to hear which software you prefer. Pop me a comment and lets get chatting.

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On March 23, 2014
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