Imagine a situation. You find a new website visitor browsing your product page. They cart your product but stop short of proceeding to the checkout page to make a purchase.
Don’t worry! It happens with most businesses. Sometimes customers find your website confusing. Neither do they get the desired information nor do they know whom to approach for help.
That’s when a live chat on your website can help your customers. Live chat software helps you to engage with your customer in real-time to solve their pain points. Usually, many businesses use WordPress chat plugins to integrate live chat into their website.
With a WordPress live chat plugin, you are able to:
- Better connect with your customers with contextual questions.
- Enhance customer query resolution.
- Make new product announcements
- Collect customer feedback about your service offerings
This blog gives you a roundup of the 8 best WordPress Chat Plugins and the criteria for choosing the plugin tools that suit your business.
Read also: 5+ Best Shopify Live Chat App 2023
Best WordPress Live Chat Plugins Compared
Here is an overview of the top WordPress live chat plugins that you can integrate into your blog or website.
| Tool | Best Features | Free Version | Pricing |
| ThriveDesk Live Chat | Canned (predetermined) responses for speedy customer query resolution. | No | 14-day free trial Starter plan – $20/month (annual plan) Pro plan – $79/month (annual plan) |
| LiveChat | Track your visitor details with in-depth visitor tracking and analytics. | No | 14-day free trial Starter plan – $16/month (annual plan) Team plan – $33/month (annual plan) Business plan – $50/month (annual plan) Enterprise plan – Custom pricing |
| Olark | Live chat transcripts to collect actionable feedback from customer interaction | No | Two weeks free trialFlat price $29/month |
| Zendesk Chat | Omnichannel chat support via social media, email, SMS | No | 14-day free trial Plans for sales teams Sell Team: $19/month (annual plan) Sell Professional: $49/month (annual plan) Sell Enterprise: $99/month (annual plan) Complete service plans Suite Team: $49/month (annual plan) Suite Growth: $79/month (annual plan) Suite Professional: $99/month (annual plan) Suite Enterprise: $150/month (annual plan) |
| Tidio | Customization of live chat and advanced visitor analytics | Yes | 7-day free trial Free plan Communicator plan – $15/month Chatbots plan – $39/month |
| Tawk.to | Free tool with advanced live-chat functions | Yes | Free tool |
| JivoChat | Chat ratings to understand customer satisfaction with live chat | Yes | 14 day free trial of JivoChat professional plan free basic version up to 5 agents professional version – $19/month (billed annually) |
| Crisp | Integrate knowledge base articles in the live chat | Yes | 14-day free trial Basic free planPro plan – $25/month/website Unlimited plan – $95/month/website |
How to Choose the Best WordPress Chat Plugin for Your Website
Before selecting a suitable WordPress chat plugin for your website, keep certain criteria in mind like web analytics, WordPress compatibility, customization, plan affordability, etc.
- Chat Support Type
What type of support are you trying to provide through live chat plugins? Is it for customer support or to answer product-related queries? Based on your requirement, you need to select chat plugins with these versatile functionalities.
- WordPress Compatibility
Most live chat plugins can be easily integrated into your website even without a code. Some might need a line of code to be inserted on the website. Choose the best WordPress chat plugin that you can set up in minutes.
- Analytics and Reporting
Chat analytics help you understand the efficiency of chat support. You need to keep track of the analytics metrics: the chat volume, agent response time, no: of queries answered/hour, etc.
- Customization Features
Advanced customization features like adding brand colors and logos help you personalize your chats. Also, many WordPress chat plugins allow you to set welcome messages to greet your customers. Selecting a chat plugin that supports multiple languages can be helpful, especially if you have a large client base spread across the world.
- Integration Capability
Integration with platforms like Facebook Messenger, WooCommerce, Shopify, etc., helps you provide multi-channel support to your customers. Also, it allows you to tap more website visitors and ensure better lead conversion.
- Pricing Plan
Make sure that your business budget aligns with the cost of WordPress chat plugins. Subscribing to annual team plans will be cost-effective if you have large business teams in your organization.
Read also: 5 Best WordPress Support Ticket plugin (Free+Paid)
Top 8 WordPress Chat Plugins for Your Business
There are numerous WordPress chat plugins available in the market. However, selecting the best plugin for your website can be confusing. That’s why we have made the decision-making easy for you with a well-researched list of top 10 WordPress chat plugins.
ThriveDesk Live Chat
ThriveDesk is the best WordPress chat plugin along with the best helpdesk solution that can be easily integrated into your ecommerce website. Its major features include flexible customization, canned responses, in-depth reporting, etc.
Features:
- Customize the chats based on your brand colors and fonts.
- Continue the conversation with customers even if they drop out of live chat by shifting to the email platform.
- Integrate in real-time with customers using the WooCommerce platform.
- Use chat widgets to share files with your customer directly.
Best feature: Canned (predetermined) responses for speedy customer query resolution.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial
- Starter plan – $20/month (annual plan)
- Pro plan – $79/month (annual plan)
LiveChat
LiveChat is a popular WordPress live chat plugin for lead generation, customer support, and sales purposes. With a customizable live chat interface, your customers can connect with you via multiple devices like mobile, tablets, desktops, and more.
Features:
- Automatic greeting of customers with customized messages.
- Include a feedback survey after a chat session to understand customer satisfaction.
- Integrates with popular third-party tools like Hubspot, ZenDesk, MailChimp, and Google Analytics.
Best feature: Track your visitor details with in-depth visitor tracking and analytics.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial
- Starter plan – $16/month (annual plan)
- Team plan – $33/month (annual plan)
- Business plan – $50/month (annual plan)
- Enterprise plan – Custom pricing
Olark
If you are an eCommerce business, you will love the feature-rich live chat platform of Olark. From understanding the shopping cart behavior of your online users to automating custom messages, Olark has attractive features to offer.
Features:
- Customize your chat using your brand colors and logo.
- Based on the type of queries, route chats to the right departments.
- Real-time live chart reports with metrics like chat volume, agent activity, and customer satisfaction.
Best feature: Live chat transcripts to collect actionable feedback from customer interaction
Pricing:
- Two weeks free trial
- Flat price $29/month
Zendesk Chat
Zendesk chat plugin has advanced features like omnichannel support, wait time, automatic chat translation, chat routing, and more. You can either use native mobile apps or a web dashboard for communication.
Features:
- AI-powered chatbots help you the exact context of the customers’ queries.
- Automatic triggers help you increase the engagement level of your customers.
- Route the chat to different departments based on the customer issues.
Best feature: Omnichannel chat support via social media, email, SMS
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial
Plans for sales teams
- Sell Team: $19/month (annual plan)
- Sell Professional: $49/month (annual plan)
- Sell Enterprise: $99/month (annual plan)
Complete service plans
- Suite Team: $49/month (annual plan)
- Suite Growth: $79/month (annual plan)
- Suite Professional: $99/month (annual plan)
- Suite Enterprise: $150/month (annual plan)
Tidio
Tidio is an advanced WordPress live chat plugin with multiple integrations for customer communication (chatbots, email marketing, live chat, and messenger). At present, Tidio supports communication in 183 languages.
Features:
- Customize your chatbot based on the different functions like welcoming visitors, lead generation, greeting new visitors, etc.
- Monitor your website visitors via geographic location and URLs
- Integrate with third-party apps like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Zapier
Best feature: Customization of live chat and advanced visitor analytics.
Pricing:
- 7-day free trial
- Free plan
- Communicator plan – $15/month
- Chatbots plan – $39/month
Tawk.to
Tawk.to is a free WordPress live chat plugin with advanced features like canned responses, automatic triggers, and in-chat payments. So far, Tawk.to is available in 27 languages.
Features:
- Option to hire virtual assistants or chatbots from the Tawk.to platform
- Use customizable landing built solely for chats
- Integrate with 100+ third-party tools and the option to use 1880+ emojis
Best feature: Free tool with advanced live-chat functions
Pricing: Free tool
JivoChat
JivoChat provides you with both a live chat and help-desk solution. You can have unlimited conversations on multiple websites, even with a free plan.
Features:
- Customize your chat widget in 20 languages
- Setup multi-agent chats to speed up customer query resolution
- Offline live-chat contact form to collect details of website visitors
Best feature: Chat ratings to understand customer satisfaction with live chat
Pricing:
- 14 day free trial of JivoChat professional plan
- Free basic version up to 5 agents
- Professional version – $19/month (billed annually)
Crisp
Crisp is a feature-rich WordPress chat plugin with video chat, automatic replies, and chat reminder functionalities. You can translate the chat in real-time to over 100 languages.
Features:
- Use targeted messages, triggers, and proactive invitations to reach out to your target customers.
- Share your files over live-chat in 30+ supported formats
- Integrate live chat with popular Slack app
Best feature: Integrate knowledge base articles in the live chat
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial
- Basic free plan
- Pro plan – $25/month/website
- Unlimited plan – $95/month/website
Conclusion
The right WordPress live chat plugin helps you track your website visitors in real-time and speedily handle their queries. Ensure that you try out the free version of the tools mentioned above before purchasing the right chat plugin for your business. Keep track of major criteria like chat customization, multilingual support, analytics, integration capabilities, and cost-effectiveness before you make a choice.
FAQs
- What is a WordPress chat plugin?
WordPress chat plugins are software code that can be integrated with your website or blog. With this integration, you can experience the live-chat functionality from your website and collect more leads for your business.
- What are the criteria to select the best WordPress live chat plugin?
While selecting the right WordPress live chat plugin for your business, ensure that it has an easily customizable interface along with advanced analytics. Integration with third-party tools like Shopify, Slack, Facebook Messenger, etc., is handy. Most importantly, you need to decide the support you wish to provide using live chat. Lastly, ensure that you choose a cost-effective plan with advanced functionality.
- Which are the best WordPress chat plugins?
Some of the best WordPress chat plugins include:
- ThriveDesk Live Chat
- LiveChat
- Olark
- Zendesk Chat
- LiveAgent
- Sendinblue
- Tidio
- Tawk.to
- JivoChat
- Crisp
