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Even if you are a small operation it can be really difficult to manage all of the customer interactions you have on any given day! Email, phone calls, and social media are all channels where your customers can get ahold of you—but online chat software is also becoming a really popular way for site visitors to get in touch with someone immediately, especially if you have an eCommerce store. Further, chat software has been shown to increase conversion rates because they tend to be the most responsive
The important thing is that you don’t need to be paying an exorbitant amount of money to have good chat software. This article explores the top 10 best free chat software options out there that are very likely to be great for your small business/ecommerce site:
Zopim is one of the best apps for small businesses that have one person primarily managing their customer service. If you upgrade to one of the paid versions you can have more than one person managing chat—but if you are a small company, looking for for free software this is a really good place to start. It also has the ability to track visitors and is compatible for common ecommerce platforms.
Whether you just want to test out a are platform before upgrading to a platform with more features, or you are looking to find something to stick with long-term, My Live Chat is one of the best free platforms out there. There are a ton of different chat styles to choose from, so you have multiple options depending on your website design and customer interactions. Key features include real time visitor monitoring, the ability to hold multiple sessions at a time, and be able to send pre-crafted responses to questions you get often.
Zaza chat’s most popular option costs $24.99/month, as it has a lot more features than the free version—but even the free version has a whole suite of features to offer. This is definitely a good “free” version to start with if you think you will likely upgrade to a paid version in the first couple of months, as it will allow you to familiarize yourself with the platform and make the transition to upgrading smooth. The feature people seem to love with Zaza is the reports you can generate.
Some consider Chaport to be one of the easiest live chat solutions thanks to its user-friendly and intuitive interface. Just after the installation, the widget will be immediately visible on your website. You can customize the widget appearance to match your website design and start chatting with your visitors. The free version includes 1 operator, unlimited concurrent chats, an email address request form, a multilingual chat widget, and basic reports. Chaport also offers web-, desktop, and mobile apps so that you can chat with your customers from any device and location. If you require more advanced features, you can always upgrade to a paid version which includes auto-invitations, integrations with third-party services, pre-chat-form, and more.
Mibew Messenger, also known as “Open Web Messenger,” is a very simple (and FREE) open-source live support application written in PHP and MySQL. It is a no-frills website, and really a no-frills chat box, but users seem to absolutely love its simplicity. Milbew enables one-on-one chat assistance in real-time directly from your website—and what more do you really need for a free platform?
Zoho chat is interesting because it uses shout box as apart of the platform, so that customers can interact with other customers that are also live on your website. This is a really great feature if your eCommerce site gets a lot of traffic, because returning customers can tell new customers all about the products they love and offer real time advice and discussion. It is honestly an awesome tool for engagement when it works well. It also works really well for integrating with other Zoho products. Like most of the other chat software it starts as a free platform and you can upgrade depending on your needs and overall volume of chat traffic.
Using the WhatsApp application to help you communicate with customers, Casengo, has a unique edge and platform to help you communicate with visitors on your website. The platform is free to add to your website, but the lowest level of “paid” with additional features is only $9/month, so you really can’t beat that either. Compared to a lot of the costly chat software available today, this is one of the top free or low-cost software options.
This platform has a lot of potential for modification, since you can customize your integrations or add ons to make the chat look visually however you want it to. If you are one of the people who think both aesthetics and function are key to chat, Olark is probably for you. The entry version is free, and then paid versions start as low as $15/month. This is one of the chat software platforms that is also super easy to upgrade down the line if you decide you need more features.
Tawk.to is a nice platform, not only because it is free, but also because it is extremely easy to add to your website and manage via an application. This really helps you monitor chat on the go—when you are away from your desk or out of the office! All of the application features are also in real time, so as visitors open the chat on your site (from either desktop or mobile) you will be alerted immediately. There are also a few customizable features depending on the kind of information you want to gather initially, or how you want to have the chat set up on your website.
Fresh Desk has a lot of great chat features, including different methods of generating reports and different ways to customize your chat interface to make the processes even more streamline for your employees and for visitors on your page. Some of the biggest brands like Sony and Honda use Fresh Desk on their websites, and you can get started with a free version.
The Takeaway
There are many different chat options available to you, and as you can tell from this post, a lot of them are free—or at the very least, provide you an opportunity to start for free before you transition to a paid version. The platform you choose will largely depend on how many individuals you have working in customer service and the kind of traffic you experience on your website.