Categories   >   Live Chat For Customer Service & Support
Last Reviewed: November 19th, 2024

Best Live Chat For Customer Service & Support Of 2024

What are Live Chat For Customer Service & Support?

Live Chat for Customer Service & Support is a digital platform offering immediate customer help through a chat interface. It addresses the problem of long response times in traditional customer support mediums like email and phone. The system ramps up customer service efficiency, enhances satisfaction levels and positively impacts overall sales conversions. Functions like real-time assistance, automated responses, chat transcripts, and analytics form the core of the tool. Emerging trends hint at AI and chatbot integrations for better automated responses and 24/7 support. Typical users are customer service teams across various industries, particularly in retail, tech, and financial services where quick responses are crucial. However, without proper management and sufficient staffing, the live chat may lead to customer frustration through inadequate or delayed responses. Summarizing, Live Chat for Customer Service & Support offers companies a powerful tool to provide instantaneous, potent support, leading to superior customer experiences and solidified customer loyalty.

What Are The Key Benefits of Live Chat For Customer Service & Support?

  • Improves response times
  • Enhances customer satisfaction
  • Increases sales conversions
  • Automates routine inquiries
  • Offers real-time assistance
  • Streamlines customer support
  • Records chat transcripts
  • Provides instant feedback
  • Supports multilingual communication
  • Generates actionable analytics
Read more

Overall

Based on the latest available data collected by SelectHub for 22 solutions, we determined the following solutions are the best Live Chat For Customer Service & Support overall:

Podium
Podium
Start Price
$0
Quote-based
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Key Features

  • Reviews: Receive notifications of new reviews in a single inbox for instant management. Integration with ERP, POS and CRM systems facilitates sending automated and customizable invitations to customers that help generate reviews. Monitor and compare company and competitor reviews to improve services. 
  • Automated Interactions: Strengthen customer engagement using an automated messaging system to interact with them. Send appointment reminders, request feedback and follow up on previous queries using SMS, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. 
  • Teamchat: Via one-on-one and group messaging, teams can discuss reviews, study customer questions and communicate developments through a centralized platform without needing emails, phone calls and other applications. 
  • Performance Analytics: Assess overall business performance. Its analytics package includes reports indicating key business metrics like leads generated, average site rating, total active conversations and reviews, median response time and more. 
  • Payments: Collect payments through options like Google Pay, HAS, Apple Pay, credit and debit cards, and bank transfers. Share payment links with customers via text messages. Incurs transaction fees for payments initiated. Provides instant refunds, invoices and fraud protection. 
  • Inbox: Organize customer conversations in a centralized location. View interaction history and customer profiles for context. Mark messages as read and unread, and allocate them to team members. Provides role-based permissions, customizable templates and automates responses. 
  • SMS Marketing Campaigns: Deliver brand-specific marketing campaigns via SMS. Evaluate their performance and results through the dashboard. 
  • Webchat: Use a chat widget on websites to initiate conversations, schedule appointments and answer queries. Customize it to add brand-centric greetings and avatars. Transfer conversations to different channels and auto-respond to FAQs. 
  • Video Chat: Personalize interactions by connecting with customers through secure video chat. Schedule virtual appointments, share screens and flip between selfie and regular mode.  
Pipedrive
Pipedrive
Start Price
$14.90
Annual, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales and marketing management tool for small and medium businesses. It helps visualize the sales pipeline, track important activities and hold client conversations, with mobile access for greater productivity.

Even with its data exporting difficulties, filter complexity and non-intuitive email integration, the platform overall is easy to use. Integration with third-party software, such as Google Apps, Mailchimp and Zapier, along with a powerful API, increases its usefulness in enhancing business sales processes. Overall, it is a great solution for companies looking to streamline sales processes.

Pros & Cons

  • Sales Pipeline: 80% of reviewers referring to this aspect said the platform is good for keeping a close eye on deals at every stage and tracking individual progress to understand outcomes.
  • User Interface: Of the users mentioning the UI, 60% suggested that it’s functional and easy to use.
  • Mobile Application: 70% of the reviewers mentioning the mobile app stated that it makes Pipedrive easy to use anytime, anywhere.
  • Integrations: The platform helps users work seamlessly, with integrations for customer acquisition, goal achievement, application sync and more, as stated by 40% of reviews about integrations.
  • Data Exporting: Glitches and a lack of control make data querying and extraction slow, according to 50% of those who mentioned the exporting tool.
  • Filters: Filtering is complex, and 40% of users who referenced it stated it could improve in terms of usability and design.
  • Browser Extensions and Email Integration: Email integration, browser extensions and workflow automation are dated and not user-friendly, according to 70% of reviews on these features.
  • Expensive: 60% of users who reviewed pricing suggested that the features are overpriced in comparison to the competition’s products.

Key Features

  • Lead Management: Includes a product catalog, lead import tools and deal probability, in addition to visual pipelines. A color-coded feature called “rotting” uses different colors to represent how hot or cold a lead is, providing visibility into which leads require follow-up or are best to pursue. 
  • Contact Management: Import contacts from a previous CRM or spreadsheets, or sync from Microsoft or Google. Once in the system, contacts are stored as organizations and people, which can be attached to deals. Record and access a history of interactions to clarify where things stand. View contact locations by adding Google Maps integration. 
  • Web Forms: Generate leads via web forms embedded on a company website or shared in emails and on social media channels. Customize fields to capture personal details specific to company needs. Configure where the leads appear (e.g., as a deal or contact). 
  • Leadbooster Chatbot: Collect and qualify leads 24/7. Route leads to a custom destination, such as a stage or sales rep. Calendar syncing lets leads book meetings with sales reps from within the chatbot conversation. 
  • Activity Management: Contains a scheduling tool, reminder notifications and a premade list of activity types, which can be configured based on company needs. 
  • Sales Forecasting: Pursue the best deals and effectively plan strategies for open deals. Access and customize different views: 
    •  Individual views provide in-depth details for sales reps. 
    •  Forecasting views let managers filter deals based on criteria like date started or product. 
  • Integration: Integrates with dozens of other apps, including Asana. Connects with platforms like Zapier and Automate.io, allowing further integration with tools like LinkedIn, Zendesk, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Jira, Salesforce, Dropbox and various G Suite tools like Gmail. 
  • Marketplace: Supports dozens of third-party plugins. Thumbs-up/thumbs-down ratings and user reviews help gauge how an app performed for other users. 
  • User Access Control: Set user permissions and determine how users log in, whether it’s via two-factor authentication or using a single sign-on (SSO) platform. Track the identity and location of anyone who logs in on a dashboard. Receive alerts when an unrecognized device logs in. 
  • Data Security: Features include data encryption, daily backups and GDPR compliance. Also provides a data protection officer and multiple certifications. 
Nextiva
Nextiva
Start Price
$20
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Nextiva

Nextiva is a cloud-based platform that helps businesses communicate better with their clients. It offers SMS, chat, voice, video and surveys. The platform allows companies to provide improved customer service experiences. Users unanimously appreciate its usability. The customer support team is forthcoming and helpful according to most. Internet dependability is a major drawback witnessed by users. A huge chunk of users also complain about wait times. In short, organizations of any size looking for software that provides excellent phone services and affordable prices can give this a try.

Pros & Cons

  • Customer Support: Extremely helpful, friendly and knowledgeable customer representatives, according to 91% of users.
  • Cost: According to 90% of users who reviewed this pro, the software is affordable considering the services it offers.
  • Usability: 100% of users who mentioned the functionality said it’s easy to use.
  • Mobile App: Encounters technical glitches, according to 100% of users who reviewed the mobile app in particular.
  • Wait Times: According to 67% of users who reviewed this aspect, hold times are longer than usual.
  • Internet Dependability: 100% of users who mentioned this said the software heavily relies on high-speed internet connection.

Key Features

  • Mobile App: Connect with customers on the go. Stay in touch with customers, partners, employees and others, regardless of geographical locations. 
  • Web Conferencing: Enhance meetings by using unique and advanced tools. Access unlimited web conferencing to increase productivity and give prompt answers to customers. 
  • Team Chat: Send secure messages over a shared platform. Enable instant messaging, screen sharing, message history, video calls and more. Access it via iOS, Windows, macOS and Android platforms and allow up to 30 participants. 
  • Number Porting: Take your existing phone number and transfer it from the current carrier. Keep the existing number to ensure customers can connect without any hassle. 
  • Extension Dialing Number Change: Control and customize the extension numbering scheme for each location. Enable extensions from two to five digits. Decrease hold time for customers by allowing them to contact employees directly. 
  • Auto Attendant: Ensure customers don’t waste time. Play an instant automated greeting for customers to choose and connect with the correct department or individual. 
  • Advanced Call Routing: Determine the number of calls handled. Use a welcome message that lists extensions to ensure they speak with the appropriate individual. 
  • Call Analytics: Analyze historical data, ensuring informed and objective business decisions. Make predictions regarding future business opportunities and genuine connections with customers. 
  • Call Screening: Quickly identify spam and don’t waste time answering unwanted calls. Filter incoming calls by matching them to predetermined criteria. Use anonymous call rejection, private call rejection or number blocking to avoid spam callers. 
  • Call Recording and Rating: Access recordings directly from the reports. Listen, rate and share call recordings with team members. Create reports that organize and analyze company calls. 
  • Call Park: Place the call on hold or park it to continue conversing with a customer on a different telephone rather than disconnecting the call. 
  • Conference Bridge: Add a group of people to add to the phone call to facilitate collaboration. Listen to instructions and express options. 
  • Three-Way Calling: Increase productivity by taking two separate calls and turning them into one. Increase collaboration and efficiency, resulting in faster customer service. 
  • Conversational AI: Allow callers to describe the reason for calling in a preferred language rather than listening to a menu. 
  • SIP Trunking: Establish, modify and terminate multimedia sessions. Control voice, video and messaging applications required to converse with customers. 
  • Priority Alert: Make the phone ring differently based on particular contact and call information. Enable each priority alert to have a list of up to 12 numbers, a specific schedule and a holiday. 
  • Enhanced Voicemail Options: Add a personal touch to the customer service experience with a voicemail greeting. Send voicemails to another extension’s mailbox, enabling easy sharing of the voicemail with team members. Receive voicemail directly through email and access them whenever required. Read them in a text format instead of listening to the audio repeatedly by receiving it directly on the mobile phone. 
  • Live Chat: Offer customers the live chat option to connect with real human beings instead of bots. Enable instant responses to customer queries, reducing the time spent waiting endlessly for appropriate answers during chats. 
  • Unlimited Chat History: View customer conversations starting from their onboarding date. Ensure customers do not waste time by repeating information and become a part of their support team. 
  • Internal Chat: Allow employees to chat with one another using the same internal messaging tool. Communicate and collaborate with multiple team members without any hassle. 
  • Internal Wiki: Use help desk software to provide employees with the required information to respond promptly to customer queries. Enable employees to assist an increased number of customers while saving time and maintaining consistency. 
  • Faster Customer Assistance: Convert the chat into a case for a more extensive conversation. Activate chat/voice/email options in one place, allowing for better customer assistance. 
ChatBot
ChatBot
Start Price
$0
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Key Features

  • Templates: Create code-free conversational chatbots with ready-to-use, task-specific templates. Import, customize and automate easily using the drag-and-drop feature. Available in 10+ formats for marketing, sales and support. 
  • Data-Supported Analytics: Make better decisions with real-time analytics. Use reports, segments, archives and user data to measure performance, compile contact lists, analyze customer behavior, create personalized experiences, import leads into marketing software and more.
  • AI-Driven Interactions: Deliver consistent customer support via intelligent chatbots and self-service resources.
  • Interactive Messages: Configure chat widgets with features like images, quick replies, clickable buttons and carousels. Other settings include customizable logos, color-coding, machine learning, user segmentation and multimedia support.
  • One-Click Integrations: Add chatbots to websites and other messaging platforms to interact with existing and future customers. Supports integration with third-party applications like LiveChat, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Zapier and WordPress.
Drift
Drift
Start Price
$2,500
Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Drift

Drift streamlines business communications using live chat widgets, custom chatbots, videos and integrations. According to reviews, it offers a user-friendly platform, detailed reporting tools, useful lead routing and excellent customer support.
Users appreciated that it helps to generate leads and navigate complex sales. However, some users reported technical issues with push notifications and chats, and some considered the product expensive.
Overall, Drift is suitable for businesses seeking to improve and refine their customer engagement.

Pros & Cons

  • Usability: According to 90% of users who mentioned this aspect, the software is intuitive and easy to use.
  • Reporting: 73% of users who commented on this aspect said the reports are clear and detailed.
  • Multimedia Capabilities: According to 60% of users who reviewed this aspect, it’s easy to create, record and share videos.
  • Customer Service: 70% of users who reviewed this element said that customer support is attentive and professional.
  • Cost: According to 80% of users who mentioned this, the product is expensive, making it unaffordable for small businesses.

Key Features

  • Reports: Get detailed reports on website engagement, team performance, sales, response time, routing, leads acquired and other performance metrics.
  • Playbooks: Leverage automated message workflows that use IP data to create customized chat experiences for users, send targeted messages, run marketing campaigns, monitor site visitors and connect leads to teams.
  • API and Integration: Use the API to access bot features, sync contacts, enable permissions for agent information, support widget configurations and assist with data retrieval and deletion. Integrate with Hubspot, Salesforce, Zapier, Marketo and Clearbit.
  • Email Bots: AI-powered email bots manage email conversations with contacts, improve conversion rates, distinguish human email replies from autoresponders and route them to the right representatives, guarantee follow-ups, track responses and drive more pipelines.
  • Customer Data: Collate user data from third-party sources like Crunchbase, SixSense, and ZoomInfo to segment and personalize customer information. Collect and manage contact profiles with fields like visitor name, contact details, company name and industry.
  • Visitor Intelligence: Increase website engagement and personalize interactions using Visitor Intelligence. This visitor identification software records information shared by customers, like email address or location, and uses it to personalize customer interactions with the bot.
  • Live Chat: Connect with website visitors, capture leads, engage target accounts and manage conversations with multiple inboxes. Make internal notes and get conversational ratings on the website.
Intercom
Intercom
Start Price
$39
Per Seat, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Intercom

Intercom offers a comprehensive platform to manage communications and increase engagement, via chatbots, product tours, email campaigns, automated answers and more. Based on user reviews, the product offers an intuitive interface, excellent customer support and useful onboarding resources. Users appreciated that they can customize automated tasks and in-app messages.

Many reviewers also liked that they can assign conversations, use add-ons, send emails, send attachments and handle all customer outreach from a single platform. However, some users mentioned that the product is expensive and has limited reporting capabilities. All things considered, Intercom is a great solution for businesses in need of a complete communications platform.

Pros & Cons

  • Usability: The platform is easy to use, straightforward and intuitive, according to 94% of users who commented on this aspect.
  • Customer Support: According to 74% of users who mentioned this, support reps are knowledgeable and helpful.
  • Training: Of the total users who commented on this feature, 90% liked the onboarding resources, training guides and simplicity of navigation.
  • Communication: 90% of users who commented on this appreciated being able to answer a high volume of questions, customize bots, automate responses and organize conversations.
  • Value for Money: The pricing is hard to understand and skews expensive, according to 100% of users who mentioned this.
  • Reporting: According to 67% of users who reviewed this feature, internal reports are limited and inaccurate.

Key Features

  • Mobile Carousels: Manage communication with a customizable, code-free interface on a single or multiple screens. Request device permissions, add deep links, send dynamic carousel messages, open URLs, start conversations in the messenger and give users the option to chat with support. 
  • Team Messaging: Organize and respond to conversations on web, mobile and email and social channels from a central location. Create separate inboxes for support and sales, set permissions and use notes to collaborate on difficult questions.  
  • Product Tours: Create customizable interactive guides to orient new customers and explain products.  
  • Series Visual Campaign Builder: Use a drag-and-drop visual campaign builder to create behavior-based customer messaging campaigns. Send in-app and in-product messages and make feature announcements. Adjust paths for wait time, message type and unique tags. 
  • Conversational Support: Manage, route and prioritize conversations. Automate answers to common questions with the Resolution Bot. Customize user experience with intelligent chatbots based on customer behavior. 
  • Customer Data: Track unique business and customer data, like business type, location, pricing plan, product type and spend. Integrate data from a tech stack to personalize interactions and keep information up to date.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign
Start Price
$9
Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign provides cloud-based marketing services to businesses of any size. It’s easy to use and offers a wide range of features, along with robust automation and campaigning capabilities. The system integrates with all major platforms. Most users also find the customer support team as well as the training materials to be helpful.
However, it takes time to learn the intricate features thoroughly. Reviews also state the system suffers from glitches and the interface could be more user-friendly. Businesses that need a system that caters to CRM as well as marketing needs, and that have the ability to leverage its complex functionality effectively, should consider this as a solid choice.

Pros & Cons

  • User-Friendly: Everyone referencing this aspect states the software is easy to use.
  • Automation: It helps run customer and lead campaigns, triggered automatically based on set specifications, note 98% of reviewers referring to this feature.
  • Customer Support: The support team is easy to reach and very responsive, according to 93% of reviewers talking about this aspect.
  • Functionalities: Every user mentioning features states the system offers robust capabilities including client onboarding, lead funnels, newsletters, contact tracking and more.
  • Email Campaigns: In the view of 85% of reviews about this feature, it’s easy to send weekly emails, replicate earlier emails and develop templates for other uses.
  • Integration: Connecting with Zapier and other platforms makes it easy to transfer leads, according to 88% of reviewers referencing integration.
  • Help Resource: Everyone mentioning training reports there are helpful tutorials and webinars.
  • Learning Curve: According to 77% of reviewers talking about training, it’s tough and time consuming to learn the platform.
  • Glitches: Every user mentioning this aspect notes it can be glitchy at times and quite slow to load during peak business hours.
  • Interface: The interface is slow and not very intuitive, according to 62% of reviewers referencing this aspect.

Key Features

  • Dynamic Content: Keep content fresh and personalized by automatically changing email content depending on where a lead is in the buyer’s journey. 
  • Email Marketing: A robust and fully-featured suite offers broadcasting, triggered and targeted emails, funnels, and robust integrations with popular social media and e-commerce platforms. Also offers: 
    • Drag-and-Drop Builder: Create and automate campaigns with ease. 
    • Scheduled Emails: Enables scheduling emails for specific dates and times. 
    • Email Autoresponders: Enables sending welcome emails, starting a welcome series or delivering lead magnets automatically. 
  • Segmentation: Target specific groups within the contacts list to be more personal in emails and engage people with the right information. 
  • CRM: Notify the sales team, update deals, create tasks and nurture leads automatically. Scores leads, passes off highly-qualified targets to sales and integrates with popular email providers. 
  • Advanced Reporting: Offers custom reporting features, including custom KPIs, sales reporting, tag counting and robust segmentation. Gives insights into email performance. Split testing can also be used to get email opens, clicks and buys. 
  • Fast Training: Schedule one-on-one appointments with the company’s customer service team to help teams get up to speed with training. A series of robust webinars and user docs are available. 
  • Migration Services: Receive assistance migrating from another marketing automation product. Services include contact list and tag import, form recreation, workflow recreation, and email template recreation. 
  • Powerful Integrations: Integrates with PayPal, Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Facebook, Google Analytics and more than 250 other apps including payment processors, membership websites and e-commerce stores. 
  • Audience Segmentation: Allows personalized messages by adding tags to segments. Tags can be based on purchase history, geographic location, time since last purchased, personal interests and more. 
  • Geo-Tracking: Automatically capture a contact’s location for geo-targeted email marketing campaigns. 
  • Site Tracking: Pulls data in from other websites to assist in tracking the customer’s activity. 
  • Social Sharing: Gives insights into performance on social platforms and enables greater audience engagement. 
  • Split Testing: Try different email subject lines, body copy and more to increase and optimize campaign conversion rates. Add up to five variations for a single campaign. 
  • SMS Marketing: Automate SMS marketing to send notifications and campaigns such as appointment reminders, flash sale notifications and more. 
  • Conversation Features: Provides: 
    •  Live chat to facilitate capturing leads and creating contacts from the website. Includes customizable auto reply, custom branding, contact creation and triggered automations. 
    •  A unified inbox to connect conversations with customers. 
  • Predictive Sending: Automate emails using machine learning algorithms. It ranks the hours in a day based on a contact’s open time and uses these recommendations to schedule an optimal send time. 
  • Contact and Lead Scoring: Sends notifications when leads are getting hot, with automatically triggered email notifications and task assignments based on lead score changes. Helps follow up with deals that are most likely to close. 
  • Win Probabilities: Calculates the conversion chance for a specific lead, giving foresight into lead behavior. 
Bitrix24
Bitrix24
Start Price
$39
Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a collaboration platform that handles various tasks such as communications, notifications, subscriptions, reporting, workflow management and more. Automation, customization and integrations are a few noteworthy features. However, reviews noted that there are too many features and that the platform isn’t user-friendly. In addition, users found customer support unhelpful. Overall, it has all the basic CRM features along with extras like project management not always found in CRMs. That, along with a free subscription, makes it a good choice for companies on a tight budget.

Pros & Cons

  • Budget-Friendly: 87% of users mentioning this aspect suggested that the software is inexpensive and fits well for any size organizations, providing good value for the price.
  • Workflows: It automates many tasks to make work easier, according to 88% of reviews about workflows.
  • Report Generation: 64% of user reviews referencing this feature indicated the reporting tool is useful.
  • Integration: The platform integrates all the necessary applications that users need, as observed by 67% of reviewers mentioning integration.
  • Customization: Users can customize Bitrix24 based on their needs, according to 66% of reviews mentioning customization.
  • Device Compatibility: It works well on all kinds of devices and various digital networks, according to 75% of users who reference compatibility.
  • User Interface: 57% of users mentioning the UI said it was difficult to understand and use for daily operational tasks.
  • Customer Support: 100% of users who talked about support remarked that it wasn’t prompt and supportive in solving product-related queries.
  • Unnecessary Features: 50% of the users referring to capabilities noted the platform has many unnecessary features that never come to use.

Key Features

  • Pipeline Management: A kanban layout provides a visual view of your pipeline. The software supports custom deal stages and multiple pipelines. 
  • Campaign Management: This feature lets you build dynamic or static audience segments, run advertising campaigns on social networks, and set up campaigns across channels such as bulk mail and instant messaging. It includes campaign templates and metrics. 
  • Call Center Capabilities: Features include: 
    • PBX (private branch exchange) functionality for routing, queueing, voicemail, call transfers and forwarding, employee extensions, and recording.
    • Telemarketing features such as voice or SMS broadcasting, automatic call transcribing and callback requests.
    • Local numbers across more than 50 countries.
    • Integration with RingCentral and other VoIP tools.
  • Customer Support Tools: Post business hours, send canned replies, route and transfer conversations, and view client and supervisor ratings with a live support widget. A helpdesk feature provides tickets, SLAs, statuses and case priority. A multichannel contact center lets service teams provide email and telephone support, live chat, social media support and more. 
  • Document Management: Manage quotes and invoices, create custom documents, set up recurring invoices and build a product catalog. Documents support e-signature, and the kanban layout shows what stage invoices are at. Includes multi-currency support and tax capabilities, with accounting achieved via integrations with Xero and QuickBooks. 
  • Mobile Apps: Free iOS and Android apps are available. 
  • Self-Hosted Solution: The on-premise solution is a scalable platform offering: 
    • LDAP and Active Directory support.
    • Web clustering.
    • Multiple single sign-on (SSO) options and robust security features such as two-factor authentication and RSA encryption.
    • Modules for eLearning, a helpdesk and idea management, which aren’t available in the cloud version.
    • Access to the source code for full customization.
    • Deployment on any major server, including readiness for AWS deployment
    • 30-day trial.
LiveChat
LiveChat
Start Price
$20
Per User, Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked LiveChat

LiveChat is often praised for its user-friendly interface and ease of setup. It seamlessly integrates with various platforms and offers a wide range of customization options. One of its strengths is the ability to create automated chatbots, which can handle simple inquiries and free up agents for more complex tasks. LiveChat's analytics and reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into customer interactions, allowing businesses to optimize their support strategies. It compares favorably to similar products due to its comprehensive feature set, intuitive design, and robust reporting functionality. These factors are crucial for businesses seeking a reliable and efficient live chat solution.

However, some users have expressed concerns about occasional technical glitches and limited customization options for chatbots. Additionally, LiveChat's pricing can be a consideration for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets. Despite these minor drawbacks, LiveChat remains a top choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly live chat solution. Its strengths in ease of use, automation capabilities, and reporting functionality make it particularly suitable for businesses looking to improve customer support efficiency and gain valuable insights into customer interactions.

Pros & Cons

  • Seamless Customer Support: LiveChat enables real-time communication, allowing businesses to resolve customer queries promptly and efficiently, enhancing customer satisfaction.
  • Personalized Interactions: Agents can access customer history and context, facilitating personalized interactions that build stronger relationships and drive loyalty.
  • Increased Conversion Rates: LiveChat provides an opportunity to engage with website visitors proactively, addressing objections and guiding them through the conversion funnel.
  • Improved Team Collaboration: LiveChat fosters collaboration between agents, allowing them to transfer chats seamlessly and share customer information for effective problem-solving.
  • Comprehensive Analytics: LiveChat offers robust analytics that provide valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling businesses to optimize their live chat strategy and measure its impact.
  • Inconsistent Agent Availability: Users experience frustration when they are unable to connect with a live agent during critical moments, leading to unresolved queries and dissatisfaction.
  • Limited Customization Options: Predefined chat templates and inflexible chat window designs restrict businesses from tailoring the live chat experience to match their brand identity and specific needs.
  • Data Security Concerns: Users are hesitant to provide sensitive information through live chat platforms due to concerns about data privacy and the potential for security breaches.
  • Delayed Response Times: Slow response times can lead to frustration and abandonment, especially during peak hours when users expect immediate assistance.
  • Lack of Proactive Engagement: Live chat software that lacks proactive engagement features limits the ability of businesses to initiate conversations and proactively address customer needs.

Key Features

  • Ticketing System: This module streamlines and simplifies the process of managing tickets. Users can create tickets from email or chat, group related cases with tags, assign tickets, schedule automated follow-ups and track open cases via a dashboard. Any messages sent after hours are saved as a ticket so no conversations are left untouched. 
  • Chat Routing: This feature ensures that customers speak to the most suitable agent based on department (sales or service, for example). Incoming chats can be routed automatically based on criteria like URL, or they can enter a queue for agents to manually select from. 
  • Reporting: A range of reports and analysis tools grant visibility into support efforts for a better understanding of performance. Managers can project staffing needs, monitor agent activity, track effectiveness via ticket statistics, drill down based on tags or groups and view high-level metrics like number of chats. Reports can be scheduled and delivered in multiple formats including CSV and XLS. 
  • Marketplace: LiveChat offers integration with more than 170 third-party tools for CMS, CRM, help desk, analytics, email marketing and e-commerce. Integrations include Slack, Calendly, Dropbox, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Facebook Messenger, ChatBot and MailChimp. 
  • Eye-Catcher: This tool increases engagement with chat widgets by letting users add visuals like images and GIFs that help draw attention to the chat. 
  • Notifications: This feature prevents messages from going unanswered via visual and audio alerts. Users can select the type of notifications to receive — new messages, new chats, etc. 
  • File Sharing: Reps can provide information when needed through this feature, such as sharing tutorials or marketing collateral. Visitors can also share files. 
  • Chat Archives: Users don’t have to worry about losing historical information with the ability to refer to chat histories. This feature is included in all plans, but the Starter package has a limit of 60 days. 
  • E-Commerce: Managers are able to estimate and measure the effectiveness of LiveChat with tools for goal setting and sales tracking. 
  • Security: LiveChat provides robust security via SSL encryption, single sign-on (SSO), two-step authentication, credit card masking, access restriction and audit logs. It’s hosted on U.S. or E.U. data centers and supports IP blocking. 
Birdeye
Birdeye
Start Price
$300
Monthly
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
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Why We Picked Birdeye

Birdeye is a business reputation management software that enables users to collect reviews, run surveys, convert leads, get referrals and more to drive customer engagement and grow their businesses. Positive user reviews mentioned it offers an intuitive platform with top-notch customer service and a variety of features to meet industry-specific requirements.
According to negative reviews, new features cost extra and are not bundled in with existing plans, listings are difficult to set up and maintain, email notifications are not detailed and the solution, as a whole, is expensive.

Pros & Cons

  • Usability: The software is visually appealing and easy to understand, according to 96% of users who mentioned this.
  • Customer Service: 100% of users who reviewed this aspect said the support is top-notch and service reps are informative.
  • Reporting: About 74% of users who mentioned this said the reports are easy to understand and generate.
  • Features: Regarding this aspect, approximately 70% of users said that the solution offers a range of dynamic features suited to various needs.
  • Pricing: About 60% of users said the software is not cost-effective.
  • Customer Support Issues: Difficulty reaching support representatives in a timely manner and a lack of responsiveness to customer inquiries have been reported.
  • Technical Issues: Users have experienced challenges with software functionality, including problems with review generation and data syncing.
  • Pricing Concerns: The cost of Birdeye's services has been cited as a drawback, particularly for small businesses with limited budgets.

Key Features

  • Online Reviews: Generate and manage online reviews to improve SEO performance and attract new customers. Set up customizable widgets for reviews, get instant notifications and share them on company websites and social media. Send review invitations and publish them on Amazon, Facebook, Healthgrades, Zillow and other platforms through a centralized dashboard. 
  • Unified Inbox: Manage conversations in a single inbox with advanced features. Send attachments and images, get automated review responses and assign individual chats to specific teammates. View customers' Experience Scores and interaction history to generate specific responses and access reviews, referrals, surveys, texts, emails, voicemails and more in one place. 
  • Surveys: Create surveys with a range of question types, advanced display logic and an intuitive UI. Send feedback surveys, internal employee surveys, two-way interactive Pulse Surveys and more. Turn surveys into text conversations with Robin Automation. Follow up with respondents using email, video or chat conversations, alert the team on survey responses and turn survey feedback into actionable insights. 
  • Reports: Access various reports built using data from a business profile and customer reviews in chart and table formats. Monitor review and rating performance over time. View and track platform usage, visitors, average response time and campaign performance, among other metrics. Download reports in PDF and Excel formats. 
  • Webchat: Add a customizable chat widget to the website and program it with a manual response system. Provide automated messages to accept appointments, share hours of operation and respond to emergencies. Engage visitors with real-time conversations, generate leads using business texting and understand how visitors use webchat with the help of Google Analytics. 
  • Pages: Optimize SEO by creating mobile-friendly custom pages for every location. Customize pages to include brand-specific content, business hours and online reviews. Add advanced search options and let customers search by city, zip code and interactive maps. Manage data in a centralized repository. 
  • Integrations: Connect with CRMs, accounting systems, business management tools, eCommerce solutions and more. 
  • Ticket Management: Resolve issues quickly by converting responses, texts, WebChat messages, social comments and reviews into support tickets. Automatically generate workflows based on certain triggers like ratings, reviews and keywords. Assign tickets to team members and filter them based on priority. Track status, response rate and resolution time. 

COMPARE THE BEST Live Chat For Customer Service & Support

Select up to 2 Products from the list below to compare

 
Product
Score
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SelectHub’s Analyst Rating is based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Live Chat For Customer Service & Support, user reviews, and our own crowd-sourced data from our free software selection platform. Scores are periodically updated via ongoing selection projects and user activity within our platform.
Start Price
Free Trial
Company Size
Deployment
Platform
Logo
Podium
$0
Quote-based
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Podium
Pipedrive
$14.90
Annual, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Pipedrive
Nextiva
$20
Per User, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Nextiva
ChatBot
$0
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
ChatBot
Drift
$2,500
Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Drift
Intercom
$39
Per Seat, Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Intercom
ActiveCampaign
$9
Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
ActiveCampaign
Bitrix24
$39
Monthly
Yes
Small Medium Large
Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Bitrix24
LiveChat
$20
Per User, Monthly
Yes
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Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
LiveChat
Birdeye
$300
Monthly
Yes
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Cloud On-Premise
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Birdeye

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EngageBay

by EngageBay
EngageBay
EngageBay is a comprehensive software designed to streamline customer relationship management (CRM) alongside marketing, sales, and service automation. It is particularly well-suited for small to medium-sized businesses seeking an affordable, all-in-one solution to manage and nurture customer relationships, automate marketing processes, and boost sales. One of the key benefits of EngageBay is its ability to offer a wide range of functionalities at a competitive price point, making it an attractive option for businesses looking to maximize their budget. Popular features include email marketing, lead generation tools, and a centralized CRM system that helps businesses keep track of customer interactions and manage tasks efficiently. When compared to similar products, users often highlight EngageBay's user-friendly interface and the exceptional value it provides, given its lower price range. Pricing models are flexible, with options ranging from monthly to annual payments, allowing businesses to choose a plan that best fits their financial and operational needs.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$10 - $100
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request with no obligation:
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Brazen

by Brazen
Brazen
Brazen is a software platform designed to streamline the recruitment process for companies of all sizes. It offers features like candidate management, applicant tracking, and a recruiting marketing platform, making it easier to attract, screen, and hire top talent. Companies using Brazen benefit from improved efficiency, cost savings, and the ability to track recruitment progress and measure results. Popular features include tools for attracting top talent, effective candidate screening, and ensuring the right hires. While similar products exist in the market, user experiences highlight Brazen's ease of use and comprehensive features as key advantages.
User Sentiment User satisfaction level icon: excellent
Cost Breakdown
$100 - $500
Company Size
Small Medium Large
Deployment
Cloud On-Premise
Platform
Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android
Request with no obligation:
Demo Pricing

Buyer's Guide

Live Chat Support Software Is All About Enhancing Customer Interaction

By Sylvia Marak, Technical Writer at SelectHub

Live Chat For Customer Service BG Intro

Live chat support software facilitates seamless online customer communication using instant messaging platforms. It allows customers to reach out to agents or chatbots to solve queries in real time. This live chat solution assists customers by providing immediate support and resolving complex issues via personalized responses.

It provides relevant responses to common questions by extracting information from chat histories. The chatbot can also reroute conversations to a human agent for complex queries via real-time chatbox. As a result, most companies find it ideal to employ chatbots and live chat support to enhance their business. 

Chatbots revolutionize the way customers interact with businesses, and the way to survive this competitive marketplace is by selecting an ideal live chat tool. This guide will take you through what you need to know before striking a deal with a vendor.

Executive Summary

  • Live chat support software provides instant reactive and proactive customer interaction.
  • It can expedite multiple tasks, including customer service, rerouting conversations to live agents, guiding users to purchase products, automating manual processes and more.
  • It increases customer engagement and improves lead generation by delivering consistent responses.
  • Prepare a list of potential questions to ask yourself and vendors before making your software purchase.
What This Guide Covers:

What Is Live Chat Support Software?

Live chat support software is a customer service channel that instantly responds to queries and resolves complex concerns. It provides a platform for users to interact with customer care representatives regarding issues or support questions.

It allows seamless integration into your existing system and favorite messaging tools, like CRM, Slack, Skype, Messenger, Telegram and more, allowing customers to stay connected from anywhere.

It eliminates customer wait times by providing immediate responses using real-time data or past chat history. It can manage multiple conversations through a single platform to reduce customer effort.

Implementing live chat customer service solutions helps scale support operations and boost overall customer experience. Integrating AI-powered chatbots strengthens your chat experience without needing to route conversations to a live agent. It keeps customers engaged by proactively responding with personalized messages.

Primary Benefits

Live chat support software offers various advantages to improve customer experiences, deliver relevant solutions, boost sales, generate leads and detect sales opportunities.

Live Chat For Customer Service Benefits

Improve Efficiency

With AI-powered chatbots, businesses can enhance the support process, gather relevant customer information and reduce ticket volumes. It provides self-service options such as FAQs, user manuals, chat widgets and messaging across multiple channels.

It resolves customer queries even when the agent is away, on a break or out of the office by automating workflows.

Strengthen Collaboration

Share tickets with the internal team via collaboration tools like Slack. Agents can work on multiple issues simultaneously while resolving a ticket. If there are multiple tickets, you can divide them into smaller tasks and assign them to different agents.

Analyze and track ticket resolution status using data-based insights to identify pain points.

Boost Scalability

Live Chat For Customer Service & Support Categories

Provide omnichannel routing to distribute workloads among agents based on availability. Ensure agents can instantly switch from phone to chat support if working remotely. The solution must offer a no-code platform for agents to modify processes within hours without needing IT support.

Enhance Personalized Support

Hosting your software on an open platform enables seamless integration and API access to create and retrieve customer information from existing systems like BI tools and CRMs.

Your agents must have access to customer information that includes current orders, past purchases, chat history and more.

Key Features & Functionality

Faster response time and instant customer support are two crucial factors a user expects from live chat support. Here’s a list of the top features to watch out for when selecting live chat customer service software.

Trend Forecasting

Implement accurate forecasting models to keep track of market trends. It considers multiple factors, including trend analysis, historical data and seasonality, to make future predictions.

You can check forecasting highlights daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by selecting a preferred time range.
Omnichannel Routing

Set up omnichannel routing on your favorite apps and engage instantly. The customer timeline showcases your past interaction via chat or email for agents to connect without wasting time.

It also converts conversations into tickets when agents cannot resolve customer queries due to high volumes.
Multiple Integrations

Offer multiple customer support by allowing seamless integrations with various communication channels and third-party apps like help desk software and CRM.
AI-powered Chatbots

Nurture more leads and sales by integrating with CRM tools. Gather customer information and chat transcripts to send personalized messages via email. Deliver more sales by tracking relevant and accurate customer information.

Build strong relationships and close better leads by understanding customer behavior and preferences.
Self-service Accessibility

Provide self-help resources like FAQs, a knowledge base and help center communities where users can raise queries to enhance customer support.

Solve common customer queries by rerouting them to the right resource.
Linked Tickets

Provide quick resolution by linking similar tickets under tracker tickets while sending status updates to agents immediately. Agents can track customers with similar queries and resolve them together.

This feature ensures none of those similar tickets are lost.
Serverless Applications

Let users build and run real-time chat apps and services via serverless architecture. It reduces cost by eliminating the need for OS maintenance, patching, capacity and cluster provisioning.
Custom Analytics

Monitor agent performance and gain customer insights like greeting conversations, missed and total chats, engagement percentage and more.

Create custom reports and send them to your email daily, weekly and monthly.

Software Comparison Strategy

Although basic features are similar, not all live chat support software performs the same functions. Therefore, it is essential to analyze your requirements and ensure the new software you select complements your existing operations.

Here are a few key factors to consider when choosing live chat support software:

  • Standard response
  • Chat department routing
  • Support automation
  • Low code
  • Cloud-based
  • Reports and analytics
  • Mobile compatibility
  • Pricing considerations
  • Multiple integrations

You can get in-depth details by checking online reviews and industry guides. Some vendors may even offer a free trial so you can see how your employees do with the program before committing.

Cost & Pricing Considerations

Pricing considerations may vary depending on software functionality. Although many types of software in the same category share similar factors in terms of cost, you need to consider certain factors like the number of users, initial and upfront costs, and maintenance and deployment models.

But with many software solutions available in the market, it can take time to get a headstart. Here’s a list of expenses you might need to evaluate before you finalize your budget.

  • Customization fees
  • Product training fees
  • Annual software upgrades
  • Data security
  • Perpetual license
  • Add-on features

The Most Popular Live Chat Support Software

Our analysts revealed some of the most popular live chat support software available on the market. Let’s take a look at the best examples listed below.

Olark

Olark is a cloud-based platform that lets businesses provide real-time customer support. It offers instant engagement via chat, email and phone, eliminating wait times. It also offers core features like automation, reporting, analytics, and customization to improve efficiency and boost overall workflow.

Olark

Customize chat box as per brand guidelines. Source

LiveChat

LiveChat is a customer service web app that offers instant support without needing installation or coding. You can easily set up the widget using the app’s WordPress plugin and add multiple features by clicking on the settings icon. Dashboard overview offers real-time metrics like logged-in agents, unassigned tickets and ongoing chats.

LiveChat

Route chats to available agents. Source

LiveAgent

LiveAgent is an all-in-one communication platform with over 200 integrations and 130 ticketing features. It offers personalized real-time support and interacts with customers by studying their browsing history. It increases sales and customer satisfaction by providing unlimited support and decreasing hold times.

LiveAgent

Automatically assign tickets to support agents available. Source

 

 

Questions To Ask

Ask yourself these internal questions to narrow down your software selection.

  • What’re my organizational requirements?
  • Am I currently using live chat software? If so, what additional features are missing?
  • What problems can this software help me solve?
  • Will my employees need training to use the software?
  • What are the key pain points I’m facing?

Live Chat For Customer Service Key Questions

Here are a few questions to ask potential vendors before finalizing your purchase:

  • What kind of support and self-service options do you provide?
  • How many years of expertise do you have in the industry?
  • What integrations does the software offer?
  • Is the live chat interface customizable?
  • What’s the pricing structure?

Next Steps

Interacting with customers in real time and providing round-the-clock assistance gives businesses an edge over their competitors. Live chat support software is excellent for modern businesses looking to revolutionize the customer experience.

Still feeling overwhelmed by all the options? Grab a free copy of our comparison report to easily compare top solutions.

Product Comparisons

Additional Resources

About The Contributors

The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

Ishani
By Ishani Vats
Technical Content Writer
Ishani is a Technical Content Writer at SelectHub who covers LMS, workforce management, telemedicine and POS. She holds a master’s degree in Journalism and is passionate about translating complex technical concepts into engaging and accessible content for readers. Along with keeping the professional spirit hydrated, she likes petting dogs, looking up random facts and listening to any Lumineers song on repeat.
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Joan
Technical Research By Joan Akash
Senior Analyst
Joan Akash, a Senior Research Analyst at SelectHub, holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management with a specialization in Marketing. Her expertise as a researcher and reviewer spans diverse software categories, including Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, Live Chat, and Help Desk. Beyond her professional pursuits, Joan is spiritually driven, with a passion for teaching children and a penchant for reading biblical blogs and crafting poetry.
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Manan
Technical Review By Manan Roy
Principal Analyst
Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.
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Dianna
Edited By Dianna Dragonetti
Content Editor
As an editor, Dianna Dragonetti leads a team of five writers in writing about a variety of software, with an emphasis on how these tools empower businesses. Categories include accounting, learning management systems, content management systems, supply chain management, and electronic data interchange.
See Full Bio