The best live chat software allows you to proactively engage with customers and prospects in order to grow revenue, generate leads, and offer real-time support across multiple channels.
Studies have shown that live chat software:
- Increases conversions on websites by 45%
- Boosts website engagement rates by 3X
- Consumers are 63% more likely to return to a website that has live chat
Most live chat software is only found on a company’s website. However, with website chat technology by Customers.ai, you can instantly talk to customers across multiple channels, whether that’s your website, SMS text messages, or the messaging apps they already use.
Having the ability to use live chat software tools on different marketing channels, all from one unified inbox, is a game-changer that only the best chatbot technology can deliver.
The best online chat software tools
In this article, we’ll cover the best live chat software tools you and your team can use for sales, marketing, and customer service – which consist of the following:
- Unified multi-channel inbox
- Live chat widget
- Live agent take over
- Mobile app for live chat
- Omnichannel chatbot
- Audience segmentation & targeting
- Lead generation & opt-in tools
- Lead qualification bot
- Notifications & alerts
- Chatbot analytics
- Live chat software integrations and API
Live chat software tool #1: Unified multi-channel inbox
Customers.ai’s omnichannel inbox allows you to respond to conversations across your website, Facebook Messenger, SMS text messaging, and other web chat apps, all from one inbox.
This allows you to manage all customer communications from one place, as opposed to needing to manage different live chat tools across multiple platforms.
The benefits of omnichannel technology are undeniable. In fact, companies with omnichannel customer support strategies retain on average 89% of their customers, compared to just 33% for companies lacking an omnichannel customer engagement strategy.
Other key benefits to being able to manage all prospect and customer interactions from one unified messaging inbox include:
- Stronger customer profiles that are rich with data and behavioral insights
- Better customer support team collaboration and faster response times
- Time and money saved by using one, as opposed to many inboxes
Live chat software tool #2: Live chat widget
You can completely customize the look and feel of the Customers.ai live chat widget to match your brand.
With over a dozen types of messages to choose from, you can build fun and engaging live chat bots with images, GIFs, videos, opt-ins, notifications, and more.
See how to add live chat software to your website in 10 minutes for free.
Smart omnichannel chatbot widget
The web chatbot widget is intelligent and provides website visitors the option to chat in native web chat or Facebook Messenger chat. Each customer has options to chat in their preferred messaging channel on your website.
For example, if a visitor is logged into Facebook Messenger, they’ll see a Facebook Messenger chat widget on your site. Alternately, if a site visitor doesn’t use Facebook Messenger or is logged out, they will see your native web chatbot widget, which is also customizable.
A couple of other ways Customers.ai’s live chat bot is smart:
- Knows whether users are on mobile or desktop, therefore providing an optimal experience for any device.
- Understands how to treat first-time visitors vs. returning visitors, which provides a more personalized user experience.
Live chat software tool #3: Live agent takeover
Even with chatbots on the job, you don’t need to give up the personal touch of a live person. That’s why with Customers.ai’s Live Operator Takeover feature, you can jump into the conversation at any time.
Even better, your live agents do not need to monitor the conversation manually. By setting up lead alerts and push notifications, you and your team(s) can be notified when a human is needed whether your at your desktop or on the go with a mobile device.
With bots and humans working together, you get the best of both worlds.
- With chatbot automation, your customers get answers to frequently asked questions with no wait time and no live agents required.
- When questions do require a human touch, Customers.ai makes it easy to connect with customers from the convenience of a desktop or mobile application.
- The efficiency of automation combined with convenient and cost-efficient customer support makes live chat takeover much cheaper than only having live agents available.
Using chatbot technology, you’ll be able to automate responses to 60% of common customer questions. For example, you can create a multiple-choice menu for sign-ups, scheduling/bookings, and support:
And if your bots don’t get the job done on their own, simply use notifications to your support teams to jump into a conversation at any point from Customers.ai on your desktop or from Customers.ai live chat apps for iOS and Android.
To learn more about how to set up lead notifications and alerts with Customers.ai live chat software, take a look at this article on the Live Operator Chat Takeover feature.
Live chat software tool #4: Live chat mobile app
You can also keep in constant contact with customers through a multi-channel chat inbox conveniently accessed via mobile app.
Customers.ai Chat for iOS and Android unifies live chat, native web chat, Facebook Messenger chat, and SMS text message marketing in one easy-to-use platform that any business can use to drive more sales around the clock.
Use the Customers.ai Chat mobile app to:
- Get alerts when hot leads are active on your website
- Respond to customer inquiries while you’re on the go
- Assign conversations to customer service agents
- Respond to leads chatting across website chat, Facebook Messenger, and SMS
Live chat software tool #5: Omnichannel chatbot
Customers.ai’s chat technology lets marketers build chatbot conversations for multiple messaging apps.
This means you only need to create chat blasts, chat drip campaigns, and website chat dialogues one time. Then, those campaigns can be executed across multiple platforms.
Chat marketing campaigns and automated customer service conversations automatically work across:
- Facebook Messenger
- SMS/MMS (text messaging)
- Native web chat (with no login required)
- More coming
Omnichannel technology translates every chatbot conversation and chatbot marketing funnel you create to each of the supported messaging platforms.
This is the power of multi-channel chat marketing that connects businesses to customers wherever they are.
Time is every marketer and entrepreneur’s most precious resource. So work smarter, not harder when building effective sales funnels and chat automation using omnichannel chat.
Live chat software tool #6: Audience segmentation & targeting
By combining Facebook Messenger captured data, as well as custom variables and attributes, you can run targeted, personalized campaigns.
All of your chat conversations can be found in the one multi-channel inbox, along with information about your contacts including:
- Name
- Geographic data
- Conversation sessions
- Tags
- Custom attributes
Additionally, all profile attributes and tags are searchable, including custom.
Live chat software tool #7: Lead generation & opt-ins
Using live chat for lead generation, in addition to customer support, is one of the best multi-purpose tools your business can currently take advantage of.
Surprisingly, only about 37% of businesses use live chat for marketing purposes. So, there’s an opportunity to use live chat software in order to increase sales revenue and to get out ahead of your competitors.
Website visitors engaging in live chat are good prospects.
So it makes sense to invite them to sign up for marketing updates during a chat conversation via SMS, Facebook Messenger, email, and more.
There are a ton of awesome opt-in strategies to consider for your live chat lead generation campaigns, such as exclusive offers, and running a contest or giveaway.
And if you’re looking to take on a channel that your competitors are likely not engaged in, using SMS keywords for opt-ins are a great way to go.
Other ways to use live chat for lead generation include:
- Using clever chatbot welcome messages
- Building Q&A chatbots
- Capturing contact information with chat forms
- Making a pre-chat survey
- Offering coupons, discounts, and free items as incentives
For details and more ways to use live chat software for lead generation, take a look at these 10 features to turn your website into a lead-gen machine.
Live chat software tool #8: Lead qualification bot
Sure, you can use chat boxes to capture leads when offline, but the point of live chat software is real-time engagement with your website visitors.
Using a pre-chat form as a way to qualify leads for your live agents is a great way to proactively engage with your website visitors and generate leads. Customers.ai live chat surveys:
- Are quick and easy for users to complete with clicks of the mouse
- Save the survey information they collect in your customer profiles
- Allow for you to send follow-up content
There’s a lot of marketing value in pre-chat surveys. And maybe the most valuable is the data you can capture quickly and then use to create targeted audiences for future engagement with customers and prospects alike.
Here’s an example of how a marketing agency uses chatbots and Customers.ai for lead qualification.
Live chat software tool #9: Notifications & alerts
You’ll never miss a hot lead again with Customers.ai lead notifications and alerts.
Customers.ai smart lead alerts come with many options:
- Email notifications and mobile app push notifications
- Trigger notifications based on any criteria you want
- Lead capture forms and opt-ins for when agents aren’t available
- Unique notifications that can be sent individually or to teams
So send an alert in an email and/or notification to desktop or mobile app. It’s up to you.
Because options on how to set up your lead notifications are flexible, you can send the alert in the way that works best for you and your business. This means you can trigger lead notifications based on key criteria.
For example, you could use a chatbot form or multiple choice options to ask the prospect about their timeline to start a project, and then trigger a hot lead notification if they indicate they’re looking to get started immediately.
Additionally, you can create different automation flows and notifications based on key metrics such as:
- Budget
- Urgency
- Location
- Interests
Lastly, you can customize the metrics however you wish. All you have to do is drop a notification widget into the chatbot editor or the advanced chatbot builder when someone qualifies themselves as a hot lead:
Live chat software tool #10: Chatbot analytics
In order to drive the most leads possible from live chat, your live agents (and even your bots) should know who they’re talking to.
Combining auto-captured Messenger data, tags, notes, chat histories, custom variables, and attributes, you can create rich customer profiles and audience segments that are guaranteed to boost lead conversions.
Some key areas to focus on are:
Traffic insights – Are you getting qualified visitors and leads? In your live chat dashboard, consider looking at the referring link, number of visits, location, operating system/device, time on site, number of chats.
Product opportunities – Are people asking for things you don’t do? Use tags and add commonly asked for items to your product team lists.
Missed opportunities – Are people asking about things you clearly offer? It’s possible your website is not communicating this well enough.
Top 10 FAQs – What are visitors’ most common questions? Think about how you can use your chatbot and/or website to address these questions better.
Customer support data – How well are your live agents performing? Evaluate sessions or conversations taking place as a result of your chatbot marketing campaigns.
With Customers.ai chatbot analytics, you can accomplish all of the above, view visual reports of new leads captured from live chat, monitor chatbot conversion form completions, and much more.
Live chat software tool #11: Live chat integrations & API
Customers.ai is an advanced live chat software that lets you connect conversations and contact data from website chat to any other business application via integrations and APIs.
Customers.ai Integrations
Customers.ai’s native Zapier integrations to chatbots include CRMs like Salesforce and Infusionsoft, marketing software like MailChimp, Zoom and ActiveCampaign, and business productive apps from Gmail to Slack to Sheets.
You can automatically send web chat captured customer data between Customers.ai and infinite business systems with Zapier two-way integrations for ultimate efficiency and accurate data management.
Customers.ai API
Any application can leverage all Customers.ai live chat features directly by connecting with the Customers.ai chatbot API.
The Customers.ai API can be used to send messages to contacts as well as update contacts in the Customers.ai database.
Where to learn more
Now that you understand all of the major live chat software tools available to you in Customers.ai, you may be interested in taking a deeper look.
Here are a few articles that Customers.ai live chat experts have found useful:
- How To Add Live Chat to Your Website in Just 10 Minutes
- 8 Interactive Websites with Chatbots: Web Chat Examples for Marketing, Sales & Customer Support
- Step-by-Step, Full-Funnel Guide to 5X Sales Using Live Chat
Important next steps
- Get started with SMS marketing campaigns by building a free Customers.ai website chatbot. Get Customers.ai for free today.
- Talk and learn about chatbots with other enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, a Facebook group of over 35k marketers and entrepreneurs that are ready to support you.
- Advance your marketing performance with Chatbot University, a free chatbot tutorial and training area for chat marketers.
See all the tools in Customers.ai’s multi-channel chatbot platform by getting started with Customers.ai for free.
