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What Is Live Chat? Benefits and Essential Features for Your Business

Natalia Misiukiewicz

15 min read

Dec 13, 2024

We all know that customers want quick, easy, and personal ways to connect with businesses. That’s where live chat comes in — a powerful tool that lets businesses meet those expectations while building stronger relationships with their audience.

Live chat simplifies providing real-time support on websites, apps, or even social media. In fact, research shows that over 40% of customers prefer companies that offer live chat, and businesses using it often see a 20% boost in conversions.

Even a small business owner offering personalized recommendations through chat can turn a hesitant visitor into a loyal customer. That's the power of live chat: meeting customers where they are and delivering instant, personalized support.

In this article, I’ll break down live chat software, why it's valuable, and the must-have features to look for.Let's take a closer look at how live chat support can help you take your customer service up a notch.

What is live chat?

A live chat platform allows businesses to instantly connect with their customers. Unlike emails or phone calls, it gives quick responses that make the whole experience smoother. You can add live chat to your websites, apps, or even social media, so it’s super easy to help customers no matter where they are.

What is live chat support, then? It’s a way to assist your customers directly through chat on your website, helping them resolve issues and offering guidance on how to use your products or services.

How does live chat work?

Picture this: a customer browsing your online store late at night has a question about a product but doesn't want to wait for an email response. They open a chat window, ask a question, and have their answer within seconds. More than just a self-service option, a live chat app helps you handle customer queries, boost sales, and gather valuable feedback. Real-time communication keeps businesses in tune with their audience's needs.

Live chat support software can pop up proactively, inviting customers to chat when they land on a page. It's like a friendly virtual assistant asking, "Need help with something?" Customers can also start a chat anytime by clicking a button, often found in the bottom corner of the screen. Once they click, they're connected to support agents ready to help.

Setting up live chat is easy, but making it a lasting part of your customer care strategy takes a little planning. You'll need to decide when and where to use proactive chats, train your team to handle inquiries, and ensure the experience feels personal.

Who benefits from a live chat?

Still not sure what is live chat? Keep reading to learn why live chat is a must-have and what it takes to provide top-notch support that keeps customers returning.

Ecommerce businesses

If a customer is browsing an online store and has a question about a product's size or delivery time, they can use a live chat to ask their questions and get immediate clarification. Instead of leaving the site to search for answers, they get the information they need on the spot, often leading to a faster purchase decision.

Travel industry

In the travel industry, live chats are invaluable for addressing urgent needs such as rebooking flights, managing cancellations, or clarifying travel policies. Travelers appreciate the convenience of resolving issues without waiting on hold, which builds long-term loyalty.

Software companies

Software companies rely on live chat to provide technical support. Imagine a user struggling to set up a new application: they can get step-by-step instructions in real time, reducing frustration and improving user satisfaction. Direct communication helps maintain customer loyalty and builds the company's reputation.

Healthcare providers

Healthcare providers also benefit from using live chat support to schedule appointments, answer patient questions, and provide quick service updates. For instance, a patient needing clarification on a prescription can easily connect with a representative without the hassle of a phone call, making the process more convenient.

Small businesses

Even small businesses are seeing great results with live chat customer service. Think of a local coffee shop using chat to take pre-orders or a boutique offering personalized fashion advice to customers. Keeping things personal can form stronger customer relationships based on trust and loyalty.

Benefits of live chat for your business

Why is live chat essential for an ecommerce platform?

Ecommerce thrives on creating smooth customer interactions, and live chat support is at the heart of making that happen.

Live chat isn't just for answering questions — it's a great way to connect with customers at the right time. Think about a tech company helping users troubleshoot. Instead of leaving customers frustrated, they can turn things around with a quick and friendly live chat session. An ecommerce store could jump in to help with sizing advice or recommend add-ons that will make a customer's order even better.

It's not just about fixing problems, either. Live chat support helps businesses build trust, increase sales, and learn more about what their customers want. With real-time chats, you can gather feedback and make quick improvements. Plus, since agents can handle multiple chats at once, it's super efficient for keeping up with lots of inquiries. It's a win-win for you and your customers.

Using a live chat app proactively, like checking in with customers who pause on the checkout page, makes the shopping experience more personal.

Essential features of live chat software

Here are some of the core features that make live chat support an essential tool for businesses:

Core features

• Real-time chat interface means instant communication between businesses and customers, ensuring quick answers to queries.
• Customizable chat widgets allow you to match the appearance of the chat widget with their branding, creating a cohesive experience.
• Mobile responsiveness ensures smooth functionality across all devices so that customers can access support anywhere.
• Canned responses save time by letting the support team use pre-written answers for common questions.
• Proactive chat invitations engage visitors automatically based on their behavior, like time spent on a page or exit intent.
• File sharing allows customers and agents to exchange documents, images, or screenshots for more efficient problem-solving.
• Typing preview lets agents see what customers are typing in real time, enabling faster and more precise responses.
• Queue management ensures efficient handling of multiple inquiries, prioritizing urgent queries.
• Support team grouping organizes agents by expertise or department, guaranteeing that inquiries are routed to the most qualified person.

LiveChat combines all these core features with additional advanced capabilities, making it a standout choice for businesses looking to provide top-notch customer service.

Customizable chat widgets let you align the chat’s appearance with their branding, creating a cohesive look and feel for their customers. For example, LiveChat’s widget tools make it easy to adjust colors, styles, and logos. 

Advanced live chat features

Advanced capabilities elevate live chat software beyond basic support:

• AI-powered chatbots handle repetitive tasks and provide instant responses to frequently asked questions, freeing up agents for more complex issues.
• Multilingual support provides assistance in multiple languages, which means global accessibility for businesses with diverse target audiences.
• CRM integrations connect with customer relationship management tools to provide agents with detailed customer histories and personalized context during interactions.
• Customizable workflows adapt chat processes based on business needs, such as automated routing for specific query types.
• Rich messaging capabilities support sending videos, GIFs, and interactive elements to enhance communication.
• Omnichannel support integrates chats across platforms like websites, social media, and mobile apps, centralizing all customer interactions.
• Team collaboration tools enable agents to collaborate within the chat interface through internal notes or chat transfers.

LiveChat’s AI bot integration is particularly useful for streamlining initial interactions, such as collecting customer details or routing inquiries to the right department. Canned responses and templates save time and ensure consistent communication, a feature that LiveChat optimizes with its quick reply library.

File-sharing capabilities make it easy for customers and agents to exchange documents, images, or other media directly through the chat window.  

Analytics and reporting

Analytics and reporting tools are crucial for evaluating performance and improving customer interactions. Customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores provide insights into how well the support team meets customer needs, while response time metrics track efficiency.

LiveChat's reporting dashboard goes a step further by providing detailed, real-time data on chat volume, missed chats, and agent activity.

For instance, you can monitor peak times to ensure proper staffing or track average resolution times. The platform also gives you trend analysis, custom reporting, and tools to identify recurring issues.

Integration capabilities

Integration with other tools and platforms further enhances the functionality of live chat support. Easy connections with CRM systems, ticketing platforms, and ecommerce tools streamline workflows and means smooth customer journeys.

LiveChat easily integrates with industry-leading platforms such as Salesforce, Zendesk, and Shopify. These integrations allow you to synchronize customer data across systems. You can access a customer's order history, preferences, or past inquiries instantly.

For ecommerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, agents can assist customers in real time while accessing inventory or order details directly within the chat interface.

How does LiveChat stand out?

LiveChat distinguishes itself through a combination of user-friendly design, advanced capabilities, and extensive integrations, setting it apart in the competitive market of live chat software.

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Intuitive user interface

LiveChat’s interface is designed with simplicity and efficiency in mind, making it easy for the customer support team to manage multiple conversations simultaneously. The clean dashboard presents information clearly and organized, reducing the learning curve for new team members.

Features like drag-and-drop file sharing and canned responses are easily accessible, enabling agents to deliver fast and effective support without unnecessary distractions. The intuitive design ensures that even businesses with minimal technical expertise can deploy LiveChat successfully.

Proactive chat capabilities

A defining feature of LiveChat is its ability to initiate conversations proactively. This means businesses can reach out to customers before they even ask for help. For instance, a pop-up chat might appear if a visitor lingers on a product page or exits the checkout process, offering assistance that could prevent abandonment. A proactive engagement strategy improves customer experience and drives higher conversion rates by addressing concerns in real time.

Agent grouping for efficient query resolution

LiveChat introduces specialized features such as agent grouping, which allows you to categorize agents by specialty, department, or skill set. Thanks to this, customer queries are routed to the most qualified team member, which reduces resolution times. For instance, you can assign technical issues directly to IT specialists while sales representatives handle product-specific inquiries.

Integration excellence

One of LiveChat's best features is its integrations, which connect to over 200 tools, such as WhatsApp, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Shopify, and Google Analytics. These integrations make it easy to sync customer data, simplify workflows, and bring everything together into a single, efficient system.

Take WhatsApp, for example. By integrating with LiveChat, businesses can handle chats from both platforms in one place. This means agents can respond to WhatsApp messages directly from LiveChat, making communication faster and smoother.

With Mailchimp, it's all about upping your email marketing game. You can use LiveChat to add customers to your mailing lists, send follow-up emails, and even track campaign results while chatting with customers.

Analytics for continuous improvement

LiveChat makes it easy to monitor your performance with real-time analytics. You can track average response times, chat duration, and customer satisfaction scores to see how your support team is doing and make sure customers are happy.

The platform also gives you detailed reports on chat volume, missed chats, and greeting conversions. For example, the missed chats report shows when customers didn't get a response, so you can find out where the gaps are and fix them to improve the overall experience.

Connecting LiveChat with tools like Google Analytics gives you even more insight. You'll be able to see how live chat fits into the bigger picture, such as how it affects website traffic and conversions. It's a great way to understand your customers' journeys and behavior.

Competitor analysis

Choosing the best live chat software can be challenging.

Here's how LiveChat compares to some of the top competitors in the industry, highlighting what makes it stand out.

Live chat best practices and customer service

Effective use of live chat support requires adherence to best practices that ensure customers have a positive experience. These practices are crucial because they help build trust and loyalty by showing customers that their needs are a priority.

When businesses respond promptly, personalize interactions, and follow up effectively, they create a seamless and supportive experience that keeps customers coming back.

Here are some key guidelines:

Respond quickly

One of the biggest advantages of live chat support is the ability to provide instant responses. To meet customer expectations, you should aim to reply within seconds. Setting realistic responsiveness benchmarks for your team is essential to consistently meeting this standard.

Tools like LiveChat's automated notifications and real-time monitoring enable you to manage inquiries effectively, even during peak times. Tools like LiveChat enable notifications and automated responses to handle inquiries during busy times, ensuring no query goes unanswered.

Personalize interactions

Avoid sounding robotic. Use the customer's name and refer to their previous interactions when possible. For instance, if a customer has previously asked about a product's compatibility, acknowledging this in the chat makes them feel valued and shows that your team pays attention.

Personalized interactions like these increase the likelihood of repeat business. LiveChat's integration with CRM allows agents to access customer history, making personalization seamless.

Be proactive

Don't wait for customers to reach out. Proactively engage visitors with chat invitations, especially when they linger on certain pages. If a customer hesitates on the checkout page, a live chat message offering assistance with shipping options or promo codes can pop up.

This small proactive step can reduce cart abandonment and build customer trust. For instance, LiveChat's proactive chat feature can trigger a helpful message when a customer is on the checkout page, reducing cart abandonment rates.

Provide clear and concise answers

Clarity is key in live chat, ensuring customers quickly understand the solutions provided. Avoid jargon or overly technical language, and focus on delivering simple, straightforward responses. When a customer asks about troubleshooting a product issue, provide a step-by-step solution rather than overwhelming them with unnecessary details.

When more context is required, LiveChat's file-sharing feature allows agents to send documents, guides, or screenshots, making explaining complex concepts or processes visually easy.

Train your team

Live chat agents are the face of your business during customer interactions, so it’s critical they are well-trained in both product knowledge and communication skills. Comprehensive training should include real-world scenarios and mock conversations to prepare agents for various customer queries.

Role-playing sessions are particularly effective for improving empathy and problem-solving abilities. Regular feedback, based on LiveChat's detailed agent performance tracking, can help identify strengths and further plans.

Follow up

After a chat ends, follow up to make sure that the customer's issue is fully resolved. LiveChat integrates with email platforms to simplify follow-ups and helps you maintain strong relationships with your clients.

It's an opportunity to ensure their issue is fully resolved and address any additional concerns. For example, you can send a quick email summarizing the resolution or providing additional resources, such as links to FAQs or product guides.

LiveChat's built-in integration with email platforms simplifies this process, allowing agents to automate follow-up while maintaining a personal tone.

Live Chat support for your team

Customer expectations are always changing, and keeping up with them can be challenging. That’s where live chat support comes in. It lets you stay ahead by addressing customer needs in real time. With quick, personalized responses, your customers feel heard, valued, and taken care of.

But live chat isn't just about handling one conversation at a time. From a business perspective, it's a goldmine of insights. Every interaction gives you access to data and conversation history, which can help you understand your customers better and fine-tune their overall experience.

LiveChat, in particular, combines ease of use, advanced features, and powerful integrations, making it an excellent choice for businesses of all sizes. Why not give it a try?

Don't wait to transform your customer support!