Why Use a Live Chat Support Service?

Online consumers are some of the most impatient and demanding around, expecting answers from your online support group that are as quick as their computer's Internet connection.

Fortunately, live chat support service makes it possible for your operators to answer questions, interact and solve problems at speeds traditional call centers could only dream of. Live chat support service also gives you vital information about how consumers got to your site, how long they've been there, and where exactly they committed to buy or decided to bail-giving you new insight into what is and isn't working with your website.

Even though live support service is flexible enough to fit any support service, whether technical, sales or information-based, choosing the one that fits your needs can be a time-consuming task.that's where we can help.

Within this site, you'll find articles on live chat topics and comprehensive reviews to help you make an informed decision on which live chat customer support service is right for your business.

At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™

What to Look for in Live Chat Service

We've highlighted attributes that we at Live Chat Support Software Review consider to be most important when purchasing online chat software. 

Easy Setup & Operation
Look for a live chat service that is simple to set up and maintain.

Customer Convenience
Little conveniences make all the difference to a customer, like knowing their question is receiving attention even before the live chat operator sends the response (typing indicator). Or the offer to email a transcript of the live chat session to the customer afterward.

Big conveniences make a difference too, like your customers' ability to receive documents, images, or the right webpage directly from your live chat operator. Look for features like these to delight customers.

Operator/Manager Convenience
Make live chat simple, not a chore for your operators. Features that add to operator convenience include: prewritten chat greetings you can edit, visual and sound alerts, a built-in spell-checker, ability to run several chat sessions simultaneously, and the ability to transfer live chats to other operators.

Built-in, customizable chat buttons and images can reinforce your company's branding efforts, and remote administration means you can make changes on the fly from any computer. And management will be delighted with the automatic online/offline status and messaging system to avoid losing a single customer.

Monitoring and Tracking Abilities
With the right tools, you can collect rich information about online visitors, including the website they came from, what pages they visit on your site, even the browser they use. You can see if the visitor has been on your website before, look up past chats and customer information then launch a live chat. Some chat services even offer a built-in "Who Is" browser lookup if you want to learn more about a specific customer.

Marketing Features
Top features to look for include live keywords to help you understand your customers' goals, and the ability to send your customer a survey after chat is complete. On your website, you can add a floating invitation to chat, or even place advertisements in your live chat window.

All these features give you the opportunity to serve your customer better (and to get your customer's attention).

Safety Features
If you deal with sensitive data online (such as customer financial information) look for a live chat service that offers SSL secure data transfer abilities so customers can chat about sensitive issues with confidence.

The ability to block an IP address comes in handy when a customer becomes belligerent or aggressive. To avoid further confrontation, (and wasted chat operator time) simply block that customer's computer from accessing your live chat server.

Customer Support
Look for live chat services willing to help you in ways you find most convenient: live chat support, email, and/or a toll-free telephone number.With live chat support services, you truly have all the tools and resources you need to turn a first-time customer into a lifetime customer.

To read our review of the top-ranked live chat support service Velaro, click here.

 
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Live Chat - Turn Browsers into Believers

By allowing operators to interact with online customers and respond quickly to their questions, live chat services can help you convert web queries into customers and site traffic into transactions.

Rank #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10
Excellent score   Excellent
Very good score   Very Good
Good score   Good
Fair score   Fair
Poor score   Poor
Velaro Livehelper WebsiteAlive Live Site Manager LivePerson Pro Boldchat Live Chat Now! PHPLive 123 Live Help Live 2 Support
Velaro Livehelper WebsiteAlive Live Site Manager LivePerson Pro Boldchat Live Chat Now! PHPLive 123 Live Help Live 2 Support
Reviewer Comments Read Review
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Monthly Price Buy Velaro Small Business
$52.95
Buy Livehelper Pro
$39.95
Buy WebsiteAlive AliveChat Pro
$69.95
Buy Live Site Manager 1.45
$39.99
Buy LivePerson Pro 7
$99.99
Buy Boldchat 4.7
$99.00
Buy Live Chat Now! Enterprise Edition
$19.50
Buy PHPLive 3.2.2
$89.95
Buy 123 Live Help 4
$50.00
Buy Live 2 Support Gold 2.25
$39.95
 
Overall Rating Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good
Ratings
Ease of Use Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good Very Good
Setup Ease Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good
Multi-Tasking Ease Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent
Monitoring Capabilities Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good
Feature Set Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Excellent Very Good Very Good Very Good
Help/Support Excellent Excellent Excellent Good Excellent Excellent Good Excellent Excellent Very Good
Scalability Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Good Excellent Excellent Excellent Very Good Good
View Specifications Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!
View Screenshots View Velaro screenshots View Livehelper screenshots View WebsiteAlive screenshots     View Live Chat Now! screenshots   View 123 Live Help screenshots  
Additional Pricing Info.
1 operator per month $49.95 $39.99 $69.95 $39.99 $99.99 $79.00 $19.95 N/A $50.00 $8.99
5 operator per month $249.75 $199.95 $129.80 $84.00 $499.95 $355.00 $97.50 N/A $250.00 39.95
20 operator per month $999.00 $799.80 $429.05 $309.00 N/A $1343.00 $99.50 N/A $1000.00 N/A
Setup Fees    $99.95 $99.99       
Max Number of Operators Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 5 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited 5
Cost per month for additional Operator $49.95 $39.99 $19.95 $15.00 $50.00 $79.00 $19.50 N/A $50.00 N/A
Features
Online/Offline Status Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
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Remote Administration Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark     Check Mark Check Mark  
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Chat Operator Convenience
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Visual Alerts Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Canned Greetings Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Modify Canned Greetings Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
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Chat Transfer to Other Operators Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Chat Customer Convenience
Typing Indicator Check Mark   Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
eMail Chat Transcripts Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark  
Force Images Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    
Force Webpages Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Document Sharing Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark       
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Marketing Features
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Live Keywords Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark   Check Mark    
Advertising Features Check Mark   Check Mark    Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark
Customer Survey Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark     Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark  
Safety Features
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Block IP Addresses Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark  
Tracking Abilities
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Visitor History/Transcripts Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Track Visitor Refer Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Track Visitor Footprints Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Traffic Monitoring Abilities
Real-Time Visitor Monitoring Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Real-Time Visitor Alert Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Proactive Invitation Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
"Who Is" Browser Lookup Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    
Website Statistics Summary Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark Check Mark   
Capture of Visitor Data Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark
Customer Support
24/7 Support Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark   Check Mark     Check Mark  
Live Chat Support Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
eMail Support Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
Toll-Free Telephone Support Check Mark   Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark    Check Mark   
Supported Configurations
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Windows XP Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark Check Mark
 
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Monthly Price Buy Velaro Small Business
$52.95
Buy Livehelper Pro
$39.95
Buy WebsiteAlive AliveChat Pro
$69.95
Buy Live Site Manager 1.45
$39.99
Buy LivePerson Pro 7
$99.99
Buy Boldchat 4.7
$99.00
Buy Live Chat Now! Enterprise Edition
$19.50
Buy PHPLive 3.2.2
$89.95
Buy 123 Live Help 4
$50.00
Buy Live 2 Support Gold 2.25
$39.95
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