There\u2019s a lot to cover here, so let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t
What is live chat support?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Live chat customer support is exactly what it sounds like: a messenger tool that allows your company to communicate with website visitors in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All you need to do is set up an account, add a chatbox to your site, and you can start answering user questions right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your website’s visitors will typically be able to chat from a widget on your website that looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/live-chat-support-example.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThen, you and\/or your support agents can respond to visitors from your web browser, desktop software, and\/or mobile apps (depending on which live chat support tool you use<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n You can use live chat in several ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most importantly, you can use live chat to connect with customers in the way they<\/em> want to connect: 41% of users prefer live chat over receiving support by phone or email [1]<\/sup><\/small>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, if you want your customers to look forward to communicating with your business, you need to provide a live chat option for customer support.<\/p>\n\n\n Providing customer service through live chat can seem out of reach to small business owners. After all, in order to have a live chat, you need to have an employee ready to hop into the chat at any time, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, it depends on the software you choose. Many live chat services offer tools that can make things easier for small teams. Some examples are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n These tools can make it possible for a small team to deal with a variety of conversations efficiently throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some live chat tools also come bundled with chatbots, allowing you to automate conversations while you\u2019re offline. This makes it possible to answer common questions in a timely fashion at any time of day or night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Budget doesn\u2019t need to be a concern either. As you\u2019ll see in the next section, many live chat tools are quite affordable. Some even offer free plans suitable for brand-new businesses that don\u2019t have a lot of website traffic yet.<\/p>\n\n\n If you want to get started with live chat support for your own business, here’s a quick guide to setting things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every live chat tool has its own unique interface and features, making it essential to choose the right one for your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a look at three of our favorite live chat support tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udc49 LiveChat offers a variety of excellent features, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n LiveChat also offers 200+ integrations with popular business tools like WooCommerce, Salesforce, and Slack. You can also use LiveChat with a variety of website builders and content management systems (CMSs), including Squarespace and WordPress. This makes it easy to incorporate LiveChat into your existing business systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The one drawback of LiveChat is that it doesn\u2019t offer much in the way of automation options. If you want access to advanced automation, you\u2019ll have to combine LiveChat with ChatBot<\/a> (a separate service from the same developer<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udcb3 Pricing<\/strong>: LiveChat plans start at $19.00 per month per user, billed annually. You can test it out with a free trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udfaf Who this tool is best for<\/strong>: Users who want to integrate a live chat tool with their existing business systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udc49 Olark offers everything you need to provide excellent live chat support, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Olark is quite easy to use and can be integrated with a variety of popular business tools, including WooCommerce, Zendesk, and Salesforce. There are also easy-install tools for setting up the live chat box on a variety of website builders and CMSs, including Squarespace, BigCommerce, and WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Olark also offers more advanced automation than LiveChat. You can set up automation rules to make sure customer inquiries go to the right team members, create automated responses for certain situations, and more. If you want to add a chatbot to your site, however, you\u2019ll need to pay separately for CoPilot<\/a> (or invest in Olark Pro).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udcb3 Pricing<\/strong>: Olark offers one plan at $29 per month per seat, with the ability to save 35% if you buy a two-year plan. If you want to create even more robust live chat customer support, you can reach out for a custom quote for Olark Pro<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udfaf Who this tool is best for<\/strong>: Users who want to partially automate simple live chat conversations with users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udc49 Tidio offers numerous features for running live chat support:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tidio is an interesting option because the features of automation tools for live conversations are limited on most plans, but you\u2019ll get access to a built-in chatbot builder on any plan. The chatbot builder is quite easy to use and there\u2019s no limit to the number of chatbot \u201cstories\u201d (their word for conversations) you can build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tidio is compatible with a variety of website builders and CMSs, including Squarespace and WordPress. There\u2019s also advanced Shopify<\/a> integration, complete with order management tools, on all paid plans. However, Tidio\u2019s number of integrations with popular business tools is pretty limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udcb3 Pricing<\/strong>: Tidio offers a free plan allowing you to run up to 100 live chat conversations and 50 chatbot conversations per month. Premium plans start at $15.83 per user per month. Note that some of the features listed here are only available on a premium plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udfaf Who this tool is best for<\/strong>: Tidio is ideal for people who want a live chat tool with built-in chatbot functionality. Tidio is also a great choice for businesses on a tight budget.<\/p>\n\n\n Not quite happy with any of these tools<\/strong>? Check out our list of the 10 best WordPress live chat plugins<\/a> to discover even more amazing options.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n Next, you\u2019ll want to set up your live chat tool on your website. There are a few steps to making this happen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And voila, you\u2019re ready for step three:<\/p>\n\n\n With the tech set up, it\u2019s time to start having conversations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can do a few things to make sure this step goes smoothly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should also check if the tool you\u2019re using has pre-written scripts for some of these conversations. If it does, you can save some time by editing these conversations to suit your needs instead of starting from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n If you want to enjoy long-term success with your live chat support, your setup shouldn\u2019t end when the first chat begins. You should, in fact, be reevaluating and possibly adjusting your live chat setup every few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best live chat tools offer conversation analytics that can help you identify patterns in what makes a conversation successful – and what doesn\u2019t. You can also learn about this by asking your team to pay attention to common questions and other conversation patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use this information to refine your live chat systems in a few ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can help you improve your conversions and customer satisfaction rates over time.<\/p>\n\n\n Live chat is one of the best ways to connect with potential customers and<\/em> provide support to your existing customers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t have to be a big business to take advantage of this amazing tool either; there are lots of tools to make live chat manageable for small teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83e\uddf0 Some of our favorite live chat tools are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve chosen a live chat tool, you can set it up on your website, create scripts to facilitate faster conversations, and train your team to use it to connect with both potential and existing customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re using WordPress, we have a step-by-step guide on how to set up WordPress live chat<\/a> using the LiveChat service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, remember to pay attention to your analytics so that you can improve your conversations over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf93 Want to learn about more ways to connect with your customers<\/strong>? Check out our guides on \ud83d\udc49 How to Use the Online Customer Journey<\/a> and WordPress Help Desk Plugins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you still have any questions about offering live chat support for your business, let us know in the comments section below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\nHow can live chat customer service help your business?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How can a small business provide live chat support?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How to set up live chat support?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1. Choose a live chat tool \ud83d\udcac<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
LiveChat<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n
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Olark<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n
![\"Live](\"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/cb:c5QE.37290\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/themeisle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Olark-Homepage.png\")
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Tidio<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n
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2. Set up your live chat tool \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udcbb<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Start chatting with your visitors \ud83c\udfac<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. Refine your processes \u2699\ufe0f<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Get started with live chat support \ud83d\ude80<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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