How to add a live chat to WordPress - Web Digital Media Group

How to add a live chat to WordPress:

If you are an administrator of a website or an online store, you will have to manage many requests for customer support, it is part of the game and if you do not have a system to efficiently coordinate questions and doubts of users and / or customers, you will soon find in difficulty. Fortunately, there are several options to easily add a Live Chat to a WordPress site . In this article we will talk about:

  • Positive aspects of adding a live chat to your WordPress site.
  • Three of the best WordPress live chat plugins
  • .How to set up and configure a live chat plugin on WordPress.
  • Some tips to test the chat system.

Why you should add a Live Chat to your WordPress site:

If you run a website that sells products or services, you will need to take care of customer support. There are many ways to communicate with customers about any problems they might have. You can manage requests via e-mail, use a ticket system and via a WordPress live chat.

All these approaches are valid but a live chat offers a number of advantages that other methods do not offer, such as:

Quicker response times.

With the livechat, you can manage support requests almost instantly, as long as you are available.
A more professional website.

If your site includes live chat, let visitors know that you have people who are ready and waiting to help them. This is of course a service that customers love.

Improved accessibility.

In some cases, people will not send support tickets or emails because they may not have time. With a live chat, it takes just a few clicks to start talking to someone who can help us.

Increased conversions:

In some cases, potential customers will go to live chat to ask questions about the purchases they are considering. Once you’re chatting with them, concluding a sale can be a lot easier if you know how to handle the conversation.
WordPress live chat can be a perfect addition to many websites. However, it makes little sense to integrate one if you manage something small, like a blog or a personal portfolio. In most cases, e-commerce websites and services will benefit the most from a live chat. After all, these are sites that need to take care of customer support and questions almost all day.

If you want to add the live chat to another type of site, there’s really nothing to stop you. With WordPress, you have several options on how to implement this feature, some of which are also free.

We recommend that you consider adding a live chat to your site even if you already offer another support channel, such as regular emails. The more options you provide, the more likely it is that users will feel comfortable contacting you with any problems and will therefore feel more satisfied.

3 best WordPress live chat plugins:

As you can imagine, the easiest way to add a live chat to WordPress is to use a plugin. In this section, we will present three of the best livechat choices for WordPress and explain how to use one of the three.

1. WP Live Chat Support:

If you are looking for an incredibly simple to use live chat plugin for WordPress, WP Live Chat support is a great place to start. This plugin enables live chat on your website as soon as you activate it, although it also provides many customization options.

You can change the style and colors of the livechat window as well as the automatic messages users see when they open a new chat. WP Live Chat allows you to chat with multiple users simultaneously and check the transcripts of previous conversations.

Overall, WP Live Chat Support is a fantastic option for small and medium-sized operations even if the free version only supports a single “support agent”, which means that only a WordPress account can chat with users.

If you need to handle many support requests every day, it’s worth considering another option or, alternatively, upgrade to the premium version of this plugin.

Main features:

  • Activate the live chat for WordPress in a few minutes.
  • Chat with multiple users simultaneously.
  • Customize the look and behavior of your chat system
  • It is possible to save chat transcripts and send them to users if necessary.
  • Prices: the basic plugin is free, but there is also a Pro version.

2. WordPress Live Chat by Formilla:

The WordPress plugin Live Chat by Formilla.

WordPress Live Chat by Formilla is another high level option. It allows you to automatically add the live chat to your pages or use the widgets for more control. You can also monitor user activity through the plugin control panel and start chats with any user.
Of course, to use this plugin you will need to register a Formilla account. Registration is easy and you can choose a free plan. If you do not wish to use a third-party service for your live chat, this may not be the best option for you.

Main features:

Set up customizable live chat windows.

  • Provide visitors with estimates of waiting times.
  • Use the widgets to configure the placement of the live chat.
  • Configure chat windows to start automatically after a specific period of time.
  • Prices: the plugin is free, as is the basic plan. But if you need more features, premium plans start at $ 11.99 a month.

3. Click to Chat for WhatsApp Chat

The Click to Chat plugin for WhatssApp

As the name suggests, Click to Chat for WhatsApp is a bit different from the options already seen. This plugin adds a chat button to your website, which automatically opens a WhatsApp conversation screen so you can immediately talk to your visitors. For desktop users, the plugin will start WhatsApp web, which works in much the same way.

The positive aspect of this approach is that WhatsApp is incredibly popular and many of your users will already know it. Furthermore, since most people always carry their smartphone with them, using this plugin can help them assist customers faster.

The downside is that users will be able to see your number when they open a conversation with you which, if you wanted to keep your number private, is not the best.

Main features:

  • Allows users to open a WhatsApp chat with you from your website.
  • It works for both mobile and desktop.
  • Prices: the plugin is free, as is WhatsApp. But there is also a premium version with additional features.

How to add live chat to WordPress (in 2 steps)

Now that we’ve introduced you to some of the WordPress live chat plugins, we’ll show you how they work. For this tutorial, we will use the WP Live Chat support plugin, as it is easy to configure even if you are a beginner.

This does not mean that the other plugins we have mentioned are not excellent options, so we encourage you to use the one that best suits your needs.

Step 1: set up and configure the WordPress chat plugin:

As mentioned, the setup of this plugin is simple. Go to the WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins ›Add new . Then, use the search bar to search for WP Live Chat support, which should appear as the first result:

Installing the WordPress Live Chat Support plugin

Go ahead and click on the Install Now button and wait for WordPress to complete the installation process. Click Activate and you can start working on configuring WordPress chat.

As soon as you activate the plugin, you will notice a new addition to your website:

Enable WordPress live chat

Visitors will be able to click on the livechat button immediately, so you may want to disable it until you have finished configuring the plugin. To do this, go to the Live Chat tab ›General Settings , search for the Chat option enabled , then deactivate it:

Configuration of the required WordPress chat fields

Remember to save this change, so you can start working on configuring the WordPress live chat without anyone seeing it again.

Go back to the General Settings tab of the plugin and take a look at the mandatory chat box fields and the default visitor name options . Here you can configure the information that the plugin will ask visitors when starting a chat:

wordpress live chat plugin configuration

It is usually a good idea to ask for a visitor’s name and email address before chatting. In this way, you will know the data and you will receive their e-mail in case you should contact them later.

Continuing, you can change the text that the WordPress live chat will show before users start a conversation, even if the default message is already perfect:

The welcome text of the WordPress live chat

If you move lower, you’ll notice a setting to enable WordPress live chat on mobile devices. We recommend doing this.

Finally, scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the Chat Transcript Settings section . Here you can configure the plugin to send a transcript of the conversation to the user you just witnessed:

Enable WordPress live chat transcripts

This in some cases can be a useful setting even if not many websites use chat transcripts, so the activation or not of this function will depend on your preferences. Keep in mind that if you plan to process confidential information via live chat, posting transcripts could be risky, so you probably shouldn’t use this feature.

Switch to the Style tab on the plugin settings page. Here you can choose between two basic themes for your live chat and select the basic colors to use:

Change the theme style of the WordPress live chat

Obviously we recommend using a color palette similar to the rest of your site, to help you fully integrate the live chat.

After choosing a theme and colors for your live chat, scroll down until you reach the Text setting . Here you can customize all the automatic messages your visitors will see before and during the chat. The default settings work pretty well for most websites but you can customize your WordPress chat messages if you wish.

When you have finished changing these settings, remember to save your changes and re-enable live chat. Now it’s time to see it in action!

Step 2: Test your site’s live chat

At this point, your WordPress chat system is up and running. When someone visits your website and clicks on the chat icon, here’s what they will see:

Starting a new live WordPress chat

Once the data has been entered, the plugin will ask you to wait for someone (in this case you) to start the conversation.

As long as the dashboard is open, you will be notified that someone is waiting in your live chat. If you click on the live chat tab , you’ll see a list of active conversations:

A list of active chats

Click the Accept chat button and you are ready. In most cases, visitors will immediately tell you what they need. However, don’t be afraid to start a conversation by yourself and say hello:

You can end a conversation at any time, as well as the user on the other side. When this happens, the chat disappears from the Active Visitors tab . However, you will still be able to view it if you go to the Live Chat ›History tab which can be useful if you need to evaluate the other agents.

Now you are ready to use WordPress live chat on your site! Just remember that if you use the WP Live Chat Support plugin, you will need to keep the dashboard open on one of the browser tabs if you want to be sure of receiving new chat requests quickly. Otherwise, users may get tired of waiting and closing the chat, which probably won’t put them in a good mood.

Conclusion:

Adding a live chat to WordPress is one of the most effective ways to improve the quality of customer support. You can always use it together with other channels, such as e-mail and telephone support. If you are using WordPress, you can take a look at the WP Live Chat Support plugin to add this feature to your website in a few simple steps.