Live Chat function for websites

[Lexual]

I have two websites and I really like to have a Live Chat function to answer enquiries online, real-time.

I'm currently on my third provider as I've not found one that ticks all the boxes, the current one 'Tidio Chat' does tick all the boxes, simple to set up and operate and looks nice enough on the website, but since day one I've been having nothing but problems nearly every day with many glitches and bugs it seems to have, I'm not going to start listing them all, but even their online support never seems to have a solution that lasts.

They are both WIX website which this software is developed for, but the issues are never ending and I've had enough.

Can anyone recommend a Live Chat software provider, that is reliable, easy to embed to the site with some degree of personalisation and a reasonable price for a single user on each account

Ideally I can manage/monitor both chats for each website from a single desktop app.

Thanks.

[boxst]

I use https://www.livechatinc.com . It takes just a few lines of Javascript on the page and you can answer chats on your computer or mobile. You can add pre and post questions, and it can route to different people based on that.

All in all, quite good. We pay US$354/month for 6 agents.

[tpalmer]

We use ZOP IM on quite a few of the sites we need off the shelf live chat solutions for:
https://www.zopim.com

[morrisk1]

tpalmer said:

We use ZOP IM on quite a few of the sites we need off the shelf live chat solutions for:
https://www.zopim.com

We use Zopim also (just been taken over by Zendesk). We only use the free single operator as that's suitable for our needs. Very happy with it.

[crazy about cars]

ZOPIM is ok but for the free version there's not much you can do on the analytics side.
There are some data capture but I find not in a helpful/meaningful form which we need for our CRM data stream.
I would be interested to find if there are any other live chat solutions out there.

[jammy-git]

crazy about cars said:

ZOPIM is ok but for the free version there's not much you can do on the analytics side.
There are some data capture but I find not in a helpful/meaningful form which we need for our CRM data stream.
I would be interested to find if there are any other live chat solutions out there.

So use the paid version?

[alias2002]

I am confused here. Why would you use another chat room whether you are getting everything on ChatWing chat app? ChatWing has many new updated features now where you can easily found all of the service you need. Even there is an option for iPad and iPhone users. So my first choice is ChatWing as a web based chat app.

Thank you!

[rowley birkin]

Another vote for Zendesk (Zopim).

[Lexual]

rowley birkin said:

Another vote for Zendesk (Zopim).

I contacted Zendesk, explained the situation and that I was looking for a new service, I got the worst customer service I've had anywhere for a while, I was practically telling the guy I was ready to sign up to them and he just seemed to ignore what I was saying and couldnt wait to get rid of me.

Not really what I was looking for and put me right off them.

[anonymous-user]

I would suggest considering buying the software rather than renting it on a monthly basis.

Not only does this approach cost less but, as you have access to the code, it can be customised as much as you want.

You also get the same type of features available on the more "premium" rented solutions.

Running the software yourself does require a bit more setup, and you have to arrange hosting etc for the service. However, this can be easily done with a AWS hosting or similar and an IT freelancer can set this all up for you very easily at minimal cost.

The software I use is called livezilla.

[DSLiverpool]

Zopim was the best of all the ones I used to use, sadly I used to channel it to my mobile out of hours but seeing a query change into an order was brilliant.
Also get the paid version - if your in business the right tool is seldom free.

[MitchT]

Just a word of advice. If you're going to have a live chat function make sure that there's always someone available to answer queries in a timely manner. I used live chat to make an enquiry on an e-learning website selling courses for four figure sums and claiming to work with employers to get students placed in relevant roles after completion. It took them about 48 hours to come back to me and made me think the organization was a whole lot less well equipped than its website purported it to be, so I decided not to bother with them on the basis that once they've got my money and I've started the course I might need support which doesn't arrive quickly enough, and this could jeopardize my study. Unless you're 100% confident in your ability to jump through hoops you're better off with a support email address.

[anonymous-user]

MitchT said:

Just a word of advice. If you're going to have a live chat function make sure that there's always someone available to answer queries in a timely manner. I used live chat to make an enquiry on an e-learning website selling courses for four figure sums and claiming to work with employers to get students placed in relevant roles after completion. It took them about 48 hours to come back to me and made me think the organization was a whole lot less well equipped than its website purported it to be, so I decided not to bother with them on the basis that once they've got my money and I've started the course I might need support which doesn't arrive quickly enough, and this could jeopardize my study. Unless you're 100% confident in your ability to jump through hoops you're better off with a support email address.

+1

[Dejay1788]

tpalmer said:

We use ZOP IM on quite a few of the sites we need off the shelf live chat solutions for:
https://www.zopim.com

I second Zopim. We used them for a while and it's a really decent off the shelf service. We recently changed to using a FB messenger chat widget which people are using a LOT more.

[anonymous-user]

Dejay1788 said:

I second Zopim. We used them for a while and it's a really decent off the shelf service. We recently changed to using a FB messenger chat widget which people are using a LOT more.

Out of interest, what percentage of your visitors approximately now engage with FB messenger as opposed to Zopim?

[Oceanic]

I'd be looking at https://www.intercom.com/

As one other said above, you need to have people available to respond, but yes this should be what a lot more businesses use.

[anonymous-user]

Oceanic said:

I'd be looking at https://www.intercom.com/

As one other said above, you need to have people available to respond, but yes this should be what a lot more businesses use.

Intercom has a very nice visitor interface and has a feature rich design. But there is a fundamental problem - when a chat starts it doesn't "ring" to let the operator know a visitor is waiting.

This is because Intercom believe you don't need to respond to a chat request in a timely manner - this is kind of the opposite of a customer's expectation in my opinion.

Plus they have no desire to change it to 'ring' when someone is waiting - so you have to be attentive as you only get a short ping to know someone is waiting to chat.

Also their pricing is a bit complicated as you don't pay for the number of "operators" but instead pay for the amount of visitor data retained. And you have to clear out old visitor data manually, else you are automatically escalated into the higher tier of charging.

Overall, there are quite a few IT companies using Intercom, mainly because I think the visitor interface is very nice. But after spending some time evaluating their solution it wouldn't work for us.

[alias2002]

Thank you guys for your query here. I also have 2 websites of mine. Where I have added live chat room to satisfy my customers all the time. Both of my sites are product related. So all the time I need to response themselves whatever they are asking or wanted to know. However, for reliable chat function I am using ChatWing for long time. This give me much perfection and reliability. You can also try for it. For more details let's have a look here http://chatwing.com/site/faq

It's really easy to register. Even you can use your media account if you would like to register like- FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, G+ and many more.

Hope that help! Thank you!

[SystemParanoia]

Whats wrong with #IRC or Slack ?

[donaircooleone]

LiveZilla is pretty good.