While helpdesk plugins are one of the most indispensable plugins for a WordPress store. A ticket-based support plugin gives both the customer and the support agents a hassle-free experience.
Some years back live chats weren’t that popular and used to be received with some apprehension because of the impromptu responses it expected from customers. The fear that less throughout responses can cause more damage than any good prevented companies from accepting live chats wholeheartedly. That’s when the ticketing system gained popularity.
But, with evolving technology, has live chat already proved its worth?
According to this report –
Wells Fargo was a pioneer in the use of online chat in 2002. While that initial move into live help met with mixed results, the desire on the team’s part to inject human assistance into the process of shopping online for lending products never faded. In 2008, Wells Fargo made a second attempt to leverage online chat to drive sales, and happily, this time the results have been crystal clear. High customer satisfaction scores and a double-digit increase in converted shoppers have shown the value once and for all of this technology.
In this fast-paced world where there’s very little room for patience, customers are betting on quick responses to their queries and expecting quick resolutions to their issues. For instance, a pre-sale query left unanswered for more than a few hours has the potential to drive the customer away.
Stats says that
67% users on ecommerce store abandon their shopping carts without checking out.
Live chats are not always beneficial for providing a long-term effective resolution, but data shows that
51% consumers says that a business needs to be available 24×7.
The popping up of the chat window can have an effect on both retaining old customers and attracting new ones.
The stats have it that
42% of customers do not want to wait and desires a live chat. And 92% of the customers using the live chat are known to be satisfied.
As you can clearly see, numbers are in favor of live chats!
While certain customer issues require a patient, well thought out replies, pre-sales queries would best be dealt with live chats. Because once you encounter the opportunity to acquire a potential customer, you should immediately show your eagerness to delight him rather than keeping him waiting.
Thus, we would highly recommend the use of a live chat plugin alongside a robust ticketing system like WSDesk.
Now, if you are already convinced to use a live chat plugin, go ahead to select the right one.
WSChat
WSChat is an affordable live chat plugin, which is lightweight and intuitive. It is tailormade to support businesses to interact with customers swiftly. WSChat also enables live tracking of visitors and you can initiate a conversation with the users visiting your website. Yet another feature is the WSDesk integration, which allows agents to convert conversations into trackable tickets. WSChat is a completely independent live chat plugin that can be managed on your server without much difficulty.
Tawk
Being a user, I can confidently say that Tawk.io is undoubtedly one of the most popular live chat solutions available. In spite of being free of costs, its list of features is impressive. The plugin will help you monitor site visitors too, thus aiding the process of generating new leads. What’s best is that, with a few extra bucks, Tawk will take care of your live chat 24×7 without any human intervention.
Zendesk Chat
Zendesk’s ticketing system is certainly one of the most robust helpdesk solutions ever created. Zendesk Chat is not behind. The free version allows one support agent to handle unlimited tickets which might sever well if you have just started out. Upon upgrading, the number of agents can be increased along with a set of cool features like triggers which can auto-launch the chat when a certain condition is met.
Live Chat Complete
With a one-time license of $25, this plugin has captured a large customer base. It has an easy to use interface with SSL support. It supports 100 users at a time, including both support agents and customers. It enables chatting when a support agent is online and lets the customer fill out an email if there’s no support agent online.
WP Live Chat Support
This is a free plugin with a premium addon. The free version itself is equipped with a number of useful features. This plugin works great with a number of plugins, including the cache plugins. This plugin has the option to enable desktop notification when a new chat window has been opened. A database keeps a record of all the missed chats.
A prominent feature of this plugin is that you can choose to hide the live chat box from all the visitors and display it to only members, thus making it an ideal choice for websites that have membership content.
Tidio Live Chat
This plugin effortlessly integrates with your WordPress store and allows you to contact and chat with every visitor of your store. The best part about this plugin is its support for 140 different languages, thus, extending your reach. The plugin has a sleek and elegant design which would suit well with any theme. Tidio offers offline messaging option and Analytics too.
LiveChat
A unique feature of this widely popular plugin is the survey form that can be added after the completion of every live chat session. This is one of the convenient way to evaluate the support team. Moreover, when none of the support agents is online, the customers can submit a support ticket directly through the chat interface.
The popularity of LiveChat is also attributed to the fact that it seamlessly integrates with a number of CRM software, email marketing services, Google Analytics and a lot more. This can prove out to be a great time saver.
YITH Livechat
YITH is always known to produce quality plugins. This one is not an exception. The free version is a limited one with the possibility of no more than two live conversations at a time. On the other hand, the premium version is highly feature rich with customizable auto replies, editable time for chat pop up, Chat duration timer, satisfaction rating and lot more.
That was the list of my favorite chat plugins. Do you have one? Feel free to let me know in the comment section.
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