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What Is an Ecommerce Live Chat and Why Do You Need One?

Tomasz Ziętek
15 min read
Apr 3, 2024
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Why do you need a live chat for your ecommerce business? Imagine this: You are in a store and looking for a jacket, but you can’t find it. You wonder if they have it in the back or if it comes in different sizes and colors. You look around to see if someone can help you, but no one is there. There’s only a sign with an email and phone number that you’ll have to call to get the answers you seek. You will probably feel a bit lost.

If this isn’t how you want your website visitors to feel, you can understand why an ecommerce live chat is so important. Your customers are used to having everything they need right away at their fingertips. Waiting for an email response or being kept on hold to have a question answered is guaranteed to lower your sales. With an ecommerce live chat, you can help them as soon as they have a question and even help them before they ask.

Live chat for ecommerce

The best live chat for ecommerce does a lot for your online business. Here are some live chat features that will help you thrive in ecommerce.
● Automatic messages.
● Proactive capabilities.
● Real-time analytics.
● Branding customization.
● Multiple integrations.
● Part of a comprehensive customer service platform.
● File and screenshot sharing.
● Multiple users and groups.
● Audio and/or visual notifications.
● Chatbots and live chat options.

Why is an ecommerce live chat so important?

You want to establish communication channels effectively so that you’re able to connect with potential customers. The best live chat for ecommerce will also come with tools to help you with marketing. You can stay connected even when you’re not online with automated messages and chatbots that can help visitors on your site.

Exceptional communication 

An ecommerce live chat is more than just customer service. When a visitor lands on your site, the live chat will initiate a preset dialogue, or agents can engage directly with customers. This personalization establishes an immediate connection, which converts leads into paying customers effectively.

Omnichannel communication

A live chat for ecommerce gives your customers convenience because they can get in touch with your agents as they want: via WhatsApp Business, Apple Messages for Business, Facebook Messenger, and other ways. Omnichannel customer support gives customers a seamless experience, so they don’t have to ask questions repeatedly.

Integration with your ecommerce site

Integrating a live chat with your ecommerce platform can be a way to increase your sales. This includes features like in-chat product recommendations based on what the customer has been looking at. This interactive environment will allow customers to look at your products or services in real time while getting assistance with their purchase.

Knowing your customers will allow you to recommend the products they want. This customer-centric approach is a good way to improve customer experience, or cross-sell and up-sell your products.

Learn more about chat integrations.

Automation for streamlining your business

Many of the best live chat for ecommerce options use AI so you can improve operational efficiency. These tools include AI assist, chat summary, or a live assistant.

The AI assist will minimize the time a customer waits for automated responses to their inquiries.

The chat summary will allow customer support agents to review and act quickly because they’ll receive a summary of essential information.

A live assistant will suggest instant replies based on knowledge sources to streamline the response process.

Human resources will be freed up with basic communication being automated. This allows them to focus on more complex issues that only humans can solve.

Data-driven decision-making

A live chat offers detailed reports about the customer interactions on your website. The reports provide important metrics to understand customer behavior.

This data will help you connect all the aspects of your customers so you can improve your communication where necessary. The reports will show the length of time a query took to resolve. You can see if the timelines are reasonable; if not, you may give staff additional resources to improve.

As a business, you need to have a data-driven decision-making process to constantly improve your strategy and create the best customer experience.

Connect with customers

LiveChat is a complete customer service platform that delights your customers and fuels your sales.

Trusted by 36,000+ companies

Free 14-day trial

Benefits of an ecommerce live chat

Fast customer support

In any business, you want to offer fast customer support to keep your customers happy. Using a live chat, you can solve issues in real time. Your customer's questions can be answered immediately whether it’s about a transaction, their account, or product information.

Time and cost-effectiveness

AI features in live chats can handle queries instead of your agents, so it’s easier to scale your support. This helps to offer excellent customer service, save money, and improve operational efficiency. You let the automation handle easier tasks, giving your staff more space to focus on more challenging tasks.

Visual assistance

Just like a customer walking into a store, your online customers may need help to navigate and find what they’re looking for. Co-browsing tools let agents guide customers with visual tools, making it easier to figure out what product or service is best for them. Not only does this enhance the customer experience, but it also aids in more sales.

Common live chat use cases in ecommerce

Direct customer support

The primary use of live chat is customer support. It’s a powerful communication tool that lets customers immediately get the help they need. An ecommerce live chat resolves issues, answers general inquiries, and increases the customer experience.

Onboarding

A live chat can be integrated into the onboarding process, which helps clients to set up and get the help they need. A real-time account set-up, along with assistance in finding products or services, reduces any complications for the customer and makes purchasing what they want simple.

Stellar customer service experience

Customer service is not only going to bring in sales, but it can also create loyal customers. An ecommerce live chat service offers personalized help so clients feel valued and connected. When their experience is positive, they are satisfied and may recommend your business to others.

Strategic sales tool

A live chat helps customers determine what products or services they need. They can get suggestions based on their behavior on the site and the questions they ask. If you know what your customers want, you can guide them to make the best buying decisions.

Best live chat tools for ecommerce

LiveChat

LiveChat is one of the best live chat for ecommerce. You can integrate it with the leading ecommerce platforms for, for example, in-chat product recommendations. This powerful tool offers a full spectrum of tools so your business can offer high-quality support. Chats for selected visitors will start as soon as they land on the page.

Tedious tasks are reduced with AI automation, and you can connect with customers across the most popular communication channels. Sign up for a free 14-day trial. Afterwards, plans range from $20 - $59 monthly or call an account manager to talk about the Enterprise package.

Features:

Help Scout

Help Scout is a multi-channel support tool that quickly gives customers the answers they need. Customers can speak with live chat agents or look through help center articles in the chat window. The tools give you instant messaging and self-service FAQ on your ecommerce site. A free plan is available, but for more options, the plans start at $20 per user per month.

Features:

HelpCrunch

Engage with clients via various communication channels and tools that help you generate more leads and increase sales. You can migrate data from your previous live chat solution for free. Easy integration with other apps you might be using makes for a smooth transition. There are AP-powered tools that help with customer support and marketing. Monthly prices range from $15 - $29.

Features:

Tidio

This is probably one of the best live chat options for ecommerces if you have a smaller budget. It’s a live chat and chatbox plugin with easy installation that works well for small businesses. Lyro is their conversational AI tool that chats to your visitors and can solve most problems. This costs $.05 per conversation. There is a 100% forever free plan for businesses starting out that want live chat on their site. The free version has limitations, so for $24.17 per month, you can get unlimited seats and 100 conversations.

Features: 

Olark

If you’re just looking for a standalone live chat, Olark is a good ecommerce live chat tool, especially for small businesses. It’s a simple tool that offers pre-chat forms to gather information before the chat starts. There are no CRM or knowledge base management tools, but the tool has a few helpful features. It triggers messages automatically, offering suggestions and special offers you authorize to customers. When you're not available, there's still offline messaging so that they can leave a message and you can follow up later. There is a completely free trial available with a monthly plan of $29 per seat.

Features:

Intercom

Intercom is one of the best live chat for ecommerce options if you want a live chat tool that offers self-serve support. The Business Messenger function allows you to reach more customers personally, no matter how large the conversation volume is. The automatic live chat addresses common questions and frees up your agents. The saved responses allow you to analyze behavior and adjust for increased conversion rates.

There are proactive chat buttons that help visitors find answers. Intercom has over 300 integrations, making it a powerful tool to enhance the customer experience on your website. A free trial is available, and after that, it’s $39 per month per seat.

Features:

ProProfs

If you’re looking for an ecommerce live chat tool that focuses on lead generation, ProProfs is an excellent option. You can capture qualified leads through a live chat agent whether you're online or not. This allows you to market to the new leads for a greater possibility of them coming back and purchasing something.

Advanced features allow you to send announcements when you’re launching a new product or if you want to promote an upcoming sale. You can offer discount codes as well. There’s a post-chat survey, which helps you get relevant feedback to improve your business processes. There’s a free plan and a free trial available. If you want full functionality, paid plans start at $19.00 per operator per month.

Features:

Freshchat and Customer Service Suite

Freshchat is a live chat widget and part of a larger company, Freshworks. Freshworks has a large suite of enterprise tools. The ecommerce live chat tool has an impressive number of features as well, so you can have optimal customer relationships while you provide chat support.

The products included with Freshworks can support over 1000 integrations, making it great for ecommerce businesses. You can connect with any tool you’re already using with Freshchat live chat. There is a free plan and trial, but getting the full package is a monthly fee of $19 per agent. The Customer Service Suite starts at $29 per month per agent.

Features:

LiveAgent

LiveAgent is one of the best ecommerce live chat solutions for those who want omnichannel communication. If you have customers who want to communicate through different platforms, an omnichannel option will work best for you. You can receive messages through a variety of channels, including social media, community forum sites, support channels, and more. They all come to a shared inbox for your team, so organizing and managing them is easy. A free trial is available, and plans start at as little as $9 per month. There are more than 130 ticketing features and over 200 integrations.

Features:

Chaport

If you have an ecommerce business where your team needs to collaborate, Chaport is a great live chat provider. Your team can work together easily on any support issues and conversations can be transferred. Chat agents can see what customers are typing in real time, so they’re ready to offer fast response times. There’s a free plan and trial available, with paid plans starting at $29 per month, which includes four operators.

The chatbot is programmable to answer questions that relate to your business, improving customer satisfaction. This makes it easier for your team to manage other things. In total, you can integrate more than 2000 apps.

Features:

Zendesk

Zendesk is one of the best live chat app options for enterprise companies. It comes with a huge bundle of tools to help your customer service and sales efforts with valuable customer insights. Zendesk helps your agents to easily upsell to customers through brand promotion. Users will have automation tools and proactive chat based on triggers and canned responses. There’s a free trial available with plans starting at $19 per agent per month.

Features:

Connect with customers

LiveChat is a complete customer service platform that delights your customers and fuels your sales.

Trusted by 36,000+ companies

Free 14-day trial

Crisp

In terms of automation, Crisp is a great options for an ecommerce website. You can grow your email list and generate leads. The tools allow you to give customers a five-star experience because you get real-time notifications. Integrating into a WordPress site is easy, and you can incorporate Crisp with the most popular communication channels.

Features:

Gorgias

Gorgias live chat software has ecommerce platform sites in mind with their live chat development. It offers support with AI customer service specifically for Shopify store. You can put AI to work on ticket management as it prioritizes, assigns, and tags tickets in your inbox. This helps your customer service representatives stay organized.

You can automatically process a variety of things to help you run your online store, such as returns, tracking info, generating discount codes, and updating subscriptions. This chat interface offers support with customer service fuelled by AI. It costs $50 - $750 monthly, depending on the tickets your business requires.

Features:

Drift

This live chat app has some great features for B2B and SaaS businesses, with data-driven capabilities that support customer service and your sales team. Drift’s Visitor Intelligence software combines data from your current software and databases like Crunchbase to identify traffic to your site for more personalized interaction.

AI powers chatbots and machine learning that will mimic the behaviors and performance of your top customer support team reps. This technology comes at a high cost, so it’s for larger businesses focused on making big sales.

Features:

Tawk.to

This is one of the best live chat apps for free. Tawk.to offers live chat support with AI chatbots. It’s a straightforward solution that lets customers connect with a chat agent, plain and simple. It’s not comprehensive, but it’s easy and free to download and use. It’s a good option for an ecommerce business that wants to try out live chat for customer support. While it’s forever free, you can pay for add-ons, including paying for agents for $1 an hour.

Features:

Freshdesk

This WordPress live chat plugin for ecommerce owners offers chatbots to alleviate the pressure from your busy team. The bots are multilingual and all messages land in one inbox. It’s easy to use and simple, but there are a lot of integrations you can connect it to if you choose. It’s a no to low-cost solution with a lot of potential.

Features:

Conclusion

An ecommerce site is almost always going to have competition. Once you have visitors landing on your page, you want to ensure there are no missed opportunities for sales. With the best live chat for ecommerce, you can maximize your potential to make sales and reduce abandoned carts. 

It's also important to have tools that help you streamline your operations so you can stay efficient. You can take advantage of the best ecommerce live chat tools to create an efficient, customer-centric experience for your customers.

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