10 Live Chat Benefits and How To Add Live Chat to Website

Can you predict every question every website visitor could have? That’s probably impossible. Which is why no matter how detailed your landing copy is or how many extensive blog posts you publish, you could still face customers with unanswered queries. Depending on the traffic to your website and the number of potential clients, it is important to ensure that communication is as easy and smooth as possible. Luckily, there are many communication channels to choose from. For example, you can add live chat to website.

What is live chat? What function does live chat serve? These are the most important questions you will find answers to in this blog post. Besides discovering the benefits of adding live chat to your website, you will also learn about different live chat options and tips on integrating this tool on your own business website. Without further ado, let’s crack open the mystery of live chat. 

Key highlights

• With 38% of visitors claiming they trust websites with live chat more, small business owners can use live chat to build trust and retain paying customers.
• Live support, customer retention, higher conversion rates, trust in the brand and loyalty are among the top benefits that push SMEs to integrate live chat. 
• Depending on the available resources, business owners can integrate live chat themselves, trust employees or hire professionals to handle the task.

What is live chat support, and how does it work?

Live chat is a communication system that enables website visitors and customers to seek assistance in a quick and straightforward manner. Directly via the web page they are viewing. 

When live chat was first introduced in the early 2000s, it was a feature that site visitors did not fully comprehend and website administrators were not quick to adapt. Today, something that was only recently considered a nice-to-have feature is a must. In fact, the feature can go as far as influencing customers to trust a website and its services.

According to Kayako, a globally renowned customer service software developer, 38% of customers are more likely to buy from websites that offer live chat. Moreover, 51% of customers claim they would buy from a website again if it offered live chat. Unsurprisingly, businesses that use live chat see positive outcomes too. In fact, 79% of businesses agree that the integration of live chat has positively impacted sales, revenue and customer loyalty.

In short, customers love live chat, and businesses find it beneficial. But where does the secret lie? It’s all pretty simple – people love convenience. No one wants to dig through a website to find contact information, write emails and wait for responses. Live chat, in theory, offers an opportunity to establish communication between the website and its potential customer in real-time.

This enables a website owner to offer live chat support, retain customers, ensure high customer satisfaction, finalize sales, develop trust and nurture loyalty. For small businesses, live chat integration could also help stand out among competitors who do not use this function. 

How does live chat benefit website visitors and customers?

Here are the main benefits of integrating a chat widget on your business website or online store and enabling communication via a chat box.

1. Higher conversion rates: Website visitors usually use the live chat widget to either get more information about services/products or try to solve problems with the services/products they have already obtained. In the first scenario, live chat can help convert someone who is only interested in services into a paying customer.
2. Better onboarding opportunities: If your website convinces someone to use your services, live chat can help with onboarding. Depending on what you offer, your client might not become a paying customer even if they register an account. Live chat can help provide these clients with the information they need to step closer to becoming a full customer.
3. Customer trust: As revealed by Kayako, potential customers automatically trust websites more if they integrate chat. So, if you can ensure effective and transparent communication via live chat, you can further build trust in your brand. Perhaps even turn your customers into brand ambassadors who spread the message about your services to others.
4. Customer retention: What happens if a customer contacts you and does not receive quick and effective support? They are more likely to abandon your brand and find alternative service providers. However, if you take full advantage of live chat, you can reassure your clients that they will always be able to get help. In turn, your clients are more likely to return to you.
5. Real-time support: If a potential client has a question that stands between a purchase or a registration, you want to answer customer questions ASAP. Or they will find another service provider. Thankfully, with live chat, you can offer near real-time support. Of course, that is if you have a support team whose operating hours can handle live chat 24/7.
6. Higher efficiency: Do you communicate with clients via email, social media chats (e.g., Facebook Messenger) and other channels? If you do, you might not be able to support all of your customer interactions adequately. However, if you consistently direct clients to live chat, you can significantly optimize efficiency. As long as live chat agents can see all chat history, they can communicate efficiently. 
7. Inclusivity & accessibility: Live chat bridges the gap between people of all kinds of personalities. Whether your potential client is an extrovert ready to bombard you with questions or an introvert who does not prefer direct communication, you can support all of them. Also, if you integrate live chat on the mobile website’s version, it can become accessible to those on the go.
8. Instant services: If you can respond to your clients immediately, you can provide near-instant support and services. In today’s world, people appreciate fast and efficient communication, which live chat can certainly offer. Moreover, with the power of proactive chat invitations, you can encourage visitors to seek answers and lead them to instant services. 
9. Competitive edge: If your direct competitors do not have live chat integrations, you already have a better chance of ensuring customer satisfaction and convincing them to come back. If your competitors use live chat, you might have to find ways to make your service more attractive and efficient. 
10. Cost reduction: If you do not have a dedicated live chat support team, you might have to cover communication via email, Facebook Messenger and other social media channels. When you spread yourself thin, the quality of support you provide might decrease. And the costs required to cover all channels and people working on them could increase. 

Which live chat widget is the best?

Whether you take search engine optimization, email marketing or CRM (customer relationship management) tools, it is nearly impossible to say which ones are the best. That is because it all comes down to the needs and preferences of someone using them.

Unsurprisingly, if you are interested in upgrading your online presence with a website chat widget, you need to research which of the many existing tools is the one for you.

The scale of your project and the sheer pricing of the live chat software can influence which tool is the one that is best suited for you. That said, there are some popular tools that website owners tend to pick more often than others:

• Freshchat ($0-$69/agent/month)
• HelpCrunch ($12/agent/month-$495/month)
• HubSpot ($20-$59/month)
• Intercom (from $74/month for small businesses)
• LiveAgent ($9-$69/agent/month)
• LiveChat ($20-$69/agent/month)
• Olark (from $29/agent/month)
• Smartsupp ($0-$48/3 agents/month)
• Tidio (from $19/agent/month)
• Zendesk ($49-$99/agent/month)

Different tools come with very different price tags. And while you can find free live chat software with a free forever plan attached, keep in mind that free live chat tools usually provide very limited services.

The more expensive plans of the live chat software, on the other hand, usually offer all the features you might need. They include unlimited chats, support tickets, multilingual support, community forums, self-service portals, advanced reporting, account managers, operating hours, support teams, etc.

Needless to say, it is crucial to review each chat widget carefully and figure out exactly what you want. For example, if you want premium features, the free version of your chosen tool might not do. If you want basic services, the features of a free plan might suffice.

How to add live chat to website

The process of adding live chat software to a website demands care and attention. It is not something that can be done in just a few clicks. And if you have never done this yourself before, there are a few things to work out.

While different live chat tools might require different integrations, in general, the process can be divided into the same few stages.

1. Choose the live chat tool: As you already know, there are many different tools at different price points. It is crucial that you do your research before you choose the one that fits your requirements. 
2. Decide live chat placement: Before you add your chat widget to your website, you need to figure out where exactly you want the chat to appear. Do you want it on select landing pages, like the homepage, or do you want it on every single page?
3. Install live chat: Depending on the tool you choose, you are most likely to be provided with what is known as live chat code to embed live chat on your website’s web pages. Most tools come with comprehensive instructions and a detailed explanation of how to use them. 
4. Adjust the live chat widget appearance: You should have the option to customize the widget and the chat box. So that it matches your website and represents your brand appropriately. For example, you might want to add a name of an agent controlling the incoming chats.
5. Create the live chat window message: If you have used live chat before, you know that upon clicking the chat button and opening the chat window, you are instantly greeted with a message and, perhaps, a few useful links that answer FAQs. Make sure your first message in the live chat box is friendly, inviting and informative.
6. Sync live chat with business tools: Do you have a CRM system? Do you use sales software to support your sales team? If you have any tools that help you manage your clients, there is a good chance you can significantly benefit from integrating them with your live chat widget.

While how you integrate a live chat widget may depend on the tool you select, keep in mind that, first and foremost, live chat services represent your brand. Everything from where the chat button shows up to how the chat box greets your customers should be intentional.

Integrate live chat yourself vs. trust a service provider – which works better?

Do you have experience integrating live chat software? More importantly, do you have the time to figure it all out and learn about the best practices when it comes to using a live chat widget? As a business owner, you probably have enough responsibilities as it is. So, it only makes sense to delegate some of the work to others.

Do you have a team member who could do a good job of integrating live chat software in the most optimal way that assists customers instead of repelling them? If you do not, that does not mean you need to hire someone to your team just to handle the responsibility of installing a live chat plugin. 

Should you hire a freelancer to help you install a live chat plugin? That is an option, but what will you do if the plugin crashes or an error appears? Will you be able to hire the same person again, or will you need to find someone new? Working with freelancers is great until something starts cracking, and you have to onboard another person to patch things up.

In the best-case scenario, your website developer will be able to help you out. 

WAcademy Web Services: Live Chat integration

Did WAcademy interns build your WordPress website? Perhaps you are currently researching this option and our free web design services. In either case, once you are a WAcademy client, we can help you integrate an array of additional web services. They include Website Administration, Automated Invoicing, Social Media Feed, Online Booking Systems, Meta Pixel, Promotional Pop-Ups, Under Construction Page, Google Analytics and, of course, Live Chat.

Take advantage of Live Chat benefits:

• Provide customers with a convenient and quick communication channel to generate successful sales.
• Improve the quality of your services by providing customers with direct access to professional customer support.
• Enable customers to request information they require and gather interaction data to further expand your services.

There are many different tools we can offer for each service. And we carefully select them according to every client’s needs to ensure optimal efficiency. We also keep pricing in mind to help our small and medium enterprise (SME) clients get the best deal.

It is important to note that although we offer paid services, WAcademy is primarily focused on providing free web design services. They remain free regardless of whether or not any additional services are ordered.

Our web design interns are trained to provide our SME partners with the business websites they are proud of. We do not use templates, and all websites are custom-made. One of our primary goals is to ensure that our interns are ready to start their careers. Therefore, we focus on quality rather than quantity. This is what makes WAcademy websites unique. That said, over the years, we have helped launch over 30,000 websites!

If you are currently looking into building a website for your small business, why not join WAcademy and help the web designers of tomorrow gain practice while working on your project? Register today, and we will contact you with more details about our free web design services.