There are millions of businesses using live chat box tools on their websites, and with good reason. A live chat tool on every page of your website increases sales. Period. But there are a huge number of live chat tools and scripts available, and each of them has a different set of features and pricing options that may or may not be right for you.
Let’s start by listing the key features in the top 3 most popular live chat box providers, and then we can figure out which one is right for you.
Olark: Targeted chat, shortcuts for common messages, operator groups, transcripts, chat reports, CRM and helpdesk integration, shopping cart saver, invisible livechat box, widget unbranding for 8 or more operators
Zopim: concurrent chats, chat ratings, shortcuts, automatic translation, smartphone apps, pre-chat form, transfer chas between agents, chat reports and history, widget customization, conversion tracking, real-time monitoring, agent reports, IP access restriction, 24/7 support, unbranding.
Livechat Inc: canned responses, chat tags, archives, notifications, agent profiles, transfers, transcripts, visitor banning, chat window themes and logo, automatic and personal greetings, chat reports, dashboard.
Pricing Options
Livechat Inc. has pricing plans starting from $16/month billed annually ($19 on monthly payments), all the way up to $50/seat/month for Enterprise users. You can take a free trial for 30 days to see if you want to pay for the tool.
Zopim and Olark both have a free version for single users with minimal features such as 1 concurrent chat. Olark also offers a free trial for 14 days for its paid versions, with pricing starting from $12 per operator per month. Zopim has basic plans starting from $11.20 per agent/month to a $55/agent/month plan for industry leaders.
Live Chat Alternatives to Increase Sales
As stated before, live chat works well and will increase your conversions. It enables you to talk to your customers live, on the website, while they’re still interested in your products. But there are other tools that offer the same functionality, but work a lot better.
For instance, click to call technology allows your website visitors to talk to you on the phone, instantly, while they are still on your site. The key difference is that it’s a voice call between two people – buyer and seller. That increases sales far more than an impersonal chat between a “chat bot” and a visitor typing on a keyboard.
Live chat tool providers such as Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) and Zoho SalesIQ claim that use of a live chat box on your website will increase your conversions by up to 30%. In comparison, use of a click to callback box can increase conversions by up to 72%.
The point is that even if you use live chat, the lead typically converts into a sale only after you pick up the phone and talk to your buyer. Why add an extra stage into your sales process, when you can skip live chat and talk directly to your buyers using a callback solution.
