Website chat software allows you to have real-time text conversations with your online visitors. Because of their convenience and ability to literally start conversations, they’ve become a huge trend on websites. If you’re considering adding a chat to your website, but don’t know where to start, we can help.
In this post, we’ll be walking you through what a makes a chat software, a chat software. Then, we’ll give you some options and put them in layman’s terms so you know exactly which option is best for your business.
But First, How Does Chat Software Work?
Most pieces of chat software have three main components: triggers, visitor tracking, and individual operators.
- Triggers: Prompt a chat based on how long a user has been on your site, how many pages they’ve visited, whether they visit a certain page or more
- Visitor tracking: See site activity such as pages viewed or what triggers a user hit
- Individual operators: Essentially a user. Most chat windows will show an operator’s name and photo, so having accounts for each person who will be chatting with users allows for a more personal touch
Chat Options
Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim)
Used by large businesses such as the networking company Ubiquiti, Zendesk Chat is part of a suite of customer support services from Zendesk. It includes advanced visitor tracking, and in higher level plans, you can set automated operating hours to manage when online chat is available
Price: There is a free basic tier, with triggers starting at the $14 per user per month level
More information
Zoho Sales IQ
This software from CRM giant Zoho is used by companies such as Century 21 and Howard Johnson. It, of course, integrates with other Zoho applications, as well as services such as Zendesk, MailChimp, Google Analytics and Hubspot. It includes visitor tracking and triggers. In addition to being able to embed on your website, you can place Zoho chat on your Facebook page.
Price: There is a free basic tier, with triggers starting at the $19 per month level, which includes 3 operators
More information
Chatlio & Slack
Chatlio integrates with Slack, the messaging software we use at Romega Digital. Messages enter a special Slack channel, and anyone on your team can then respond to that user through Slack. When there are no active users in the Slack channel (or you manually turn off chat), you have the option to show an email form. Note: Chatlio works with the free Slack tier, so the only required price is the Chatlio fee.
Price: Starts at $29 per month, but at $49 you get unlimited operators as well as triggers and auto messages
More information
Tawk.to
A free alternative to the fuller-featured paid options above, Tawk.to includes features such as triggers, availability, and shortcuts, aka canned responses.
Price: Free
More information
If you have any more questions, or want to install a piece of software on your website, get in touch! We’re excited to help put your company in front of more potential clients.
