Long gone are the days when live chat software was nothing more than a flashy gimmick. Now, it can turn your eCommerce business from just surviving to thriving. Because of its wide range of features and user-friendly interfaces, live chat software has become increasingly popular with companies of all sizes.

When starting an eCommerce business, you’ll often hear that live chat is a must-have. It won’t just improve customer service, but it will also reduce your customer support costs in the long run. However, with so many live chat software to choose from and a limited budget, choosing the right one can be a challenge.

Live chat is booming. According to a recent report from Forrester, 63% of U.S. adults would instead chat with a business than make a phone call.

Offering live chat on your website can help you:

Connect with customers and answer questions in real-time — 67% of customers felt that live chat had the fastest response time.

Increase conversion rates — 38% of people are more likely to buy from an online store if they can engage in live chat.

Provide better customer support — 73% of customers feel satisfied with the service they receive through live chat.

Gather customer feedback — Live chat is great for gathering feedback as it happens and allows you to ask how customers feel about their experience in real-time. You can also use this feedback to improve your business and implement changes quickly.

What are the best live chat apps for BigCommerce?

BigCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms globally, with over 70,000 online stores. It's an excellent platform for both new and experienced store owners who want to start their own store.

The number one thing that customers look for when buying is customer support from their favorite brands. When you have live chat on your website, customers are more likely to buy from you, stay longer on your site, and talk about your brand with others. But finding the right live chat tool can be challenging so here are some of the best according to reviews and clients:

LiveChat + Customer Insight

The way LiveChat works is simple: a typical chat widget sits on the bottom right side of your website, on-site visitors can choose to chat with you, or you can actively engage them with chat invitations. It works for most well-known e-commerce sites out of the box, such as Shopify and BigCommerce.

LiveChat is an advanced chatbot application designed to help your business grow through a wide range of features. The app combines machine learning and live agent support to deliver exceptional customer service.

With LiveChat, the chatbot can communicate on several platforms. It's up to your visitors to decide how they wish to connect with you, whether it’s on Facebook Messenger, Twitter, or by email. Tickets are also created when you are unable to respond to visitors immediately, and LiveChat saves these messages for you.

Notable features:

• Support omnichannel communications: Facebook Messenger, email, Apple Business Chat, SMS, WhatsApp, apps, website, and direct chat
• Stores customer’s messages as tickets you can come back later
• Allows live chat widget customization
• Optimized for mobile
• Allows you to send recommendations via chat

Olark Live Chat

Olark makes it easy to support customers and answer sales questions right from your own website. Chat in real-time with shoppers using Google Talk or Jabber, send automatic email transcripts of your chat conversations, and escalate chats to a colleague if you need help. This is an excellent first-time live chat app. It just does the job plus it's simple to set up and is compatible with several chat platforms.

Notable features:

• Allows you to communicate within your instant messaging system.
• Provides CRM integration as well as transcripts
• Offers templates that are both beautiful and adaptable
• Provides you with reports and statistics

Gorgias Chat

Gorgias is a customer support help desk and live chat app used by 21,000+ professionals every day. It's one of the best-rated apps in the BigCommerce ecosystem. Connecting your store with Gorgias takes under 5 minutes. Once the integration is set up, you can see all orders and customers right on your tickets. You’ll also be able to receive email notifications directly in your helpdesk dashboard, and add live chat to your site effortlessly. With this app, you can turn support into a profit center.

It not only works for BigCommerce but for Shopify and Magento, so if you have multiple platforms at your disposal, you could use its amazing features there. 

Notable features:

• Because of its user-friendly interface, it is effortless to use.
• Provides a variety of customization possibilities to suit your standards.
• Has unique features such as chat campaigns and other things.
• It works in tandem with the Gorgias help desk without any issues.

tawk.to

Staying in touch with your customers just got a whole lot easier — with tawk.to, you can chat with your BigCommerce store visitors directly from your desktop to increase conversions and reduce abandoned carts. It's free, easy to use, and customizable to suit the needs of your store.

If you don't have the budget to spare, you should think about tawk.to because it's free and has most of the live chat features you might need. Simply paste a line of JavaScript into your website's HTML and your tawk.to live chat will be ready to use!

Notable features:

• Lets you interact with customers in real-time Tawk.to chat
• Allows you to analyze your team's performance, evaluate chat history, and review stats.
• Find out which pages your visitors are on, how often they visit, and their whole customer journey.
• You can get your message translated into over 45 languages.
• Has a knowledge base and pre-made messages that are helpful for beginners to use
• Gives you the ability to respond to messages on the go with your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet.

Chatra

Chatra is a live chat solution that offers its service for free to get started. Once you’re comfortable with their features, you can upgrade to their Pro plan for $9.99. It’s great for both small and large businesses and even integrates with Slack and Google Analytics. 

Chatra allows you to chat with your site visitors, mobile app users, and desktop app users from one app. You can manage the number of chats that you can serve at a time, boost sales by answering questions promptly, clarify concerns by chatting with customers, cross-sell and upsell items proactively and collect reviews from customers, among other things.

Notable features:

• You can automatically track events and goals with Google Analytics.
• Your agent can respond quickly and schedule responses based on what guests write.
• Lets you view what your customers are doing on your website using the Median app.
• Group chats allow more than one agent to communicate with one consumer simultaneously on a more complex topic.
• Customers who have added products to their cart but haven't finished the order can receive automatic messages via Shopify's Cart Saver function.
• Guests can resume talks even if they leave the website and return later.

LivePerson

Connect with consumers in a completely new way. LivePerson engages consumers on their terms and reaches the highest conversion rates. LivePerson measures the entire digital path to engagement so you can see where your customers need help, capture more revenue or learn something new. LivePerson turns visitors into happy customers and increases your sales.

Notable features:

• Identifies high-value visitors on product pages and delivers proactive chat invitations.
• With Intent Manager, you can track customer behavior.
• Conversation Builder automates conversation flows.
• Conversation Manager allows you to engage with consumers.
• Use Conversation Analytics to track real-time marketing, sales, and customer service KPIs.
• Customizable to match your branding

What to look for in Live Chat apps

Some chatbots will just take questions and get you answers, while others will help you upsell. Some are pure customer support apps and won't do much more than handle tickets, while others will do that plus track sales, boost your social media, and integrate with all your other apps.

One thing's for sure: a good customer service app doesn't have to cost a lot and should have all the essential features you need to make sure your customers have a great time. Some apps have monthly subscription fees, so make sure you know how much it will cost based on your site's number of visitors per month. You should also choose a live chat widget that is a part of a complete helpdesk platform.

You want to pick an app that helps you sell and makes it easy for your customers to get answers. It should also easily integrate with other apps. If you're using other apps like email marketing or inventory management, make sure your live chat app integrates them too so that all your data is centralized.

A few questions you can ask yourself as you’re deciding are:

• How easy is it to use?
• Does it integrate with BigCommerce?
• Does it have all the features you need?
• What extras does it offer?
• How much does it cost?

The bottom line is you want an app that doesn’t just help your customers but also helps you and your team.

CONCLUSION

When choosing a BigCommerce app, avoid being influenced by the choice of other BigCommerce store owners. Opt for an app that fits your unique business needs, price point, and user expectations. The right BigCommerce chat app will save you money, simplify your business operations and give you more control over your online store.

We hope this article has helped your search for the best BigCommerce live chat app and that you’ll be able to speak with your customers in a more effective and personalized way. Well, there you have it, some ways to use BigCommerce live chat apps right now. Start speaking to your customers today!

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