How to add live chat to your WordPress site
August 27. 2019
A lot of websites today are looking for ways to create a responsive and user-friendly WordPress site. This goal is especially important in cases of customer-oriented businesses. And one of the finer solutions for this is to add live chat to your WordPress site. By going through some simple guidelines we offer here, you will be able to add live chat functionality to your WP site. As a result, you will be able to boost interaction with customers, as well as provide quick solutions for their issues in no time. So, let’s get down to the tutorial.
How does adding live chat benefit your site?
Customer satisfaction plays a vital role in developing your company brand. With the online access and advanced tech people own today, it’s only natural for them to expect instant solutions to their problems. Live chat can answer any questions they might have, as well as ensure that the transaction goes smoothly.
The decision to add live chat to your WordPress site is logical, given the facts behind it. Popular studies show that this is how people today rank satisfaction among customer service on different channels:
- Live chat – 75%
- Emails – 61%
- Phone – 44%
- SMS – 41%
So, if you are focused on improving conversions and boosting the user experience of site visitors, live chat is definitely the way to go. For e-commerce sites, it proves practical for recovering abandoned carts or upselling products. Additionally, you are able to offer current customers a better way to receive the satisfaction they expect as paying customers.
Free plugin or monthly subscription to software?
Although there are plenty of live chat installations that you can opt for, the installation process is similar for most. Today, we use LiveChat Inc. as an example because it is regarded as the best live chat software available at this time.
Despite the fact that live chat as a plugin is free of cost, you still have a subscription to pay for Live Chat service. However, this is one of the most cost-effective solutions available. After all – there is a way to add live chat to your WordPress website for free and ensure quality.
How much does Live Chat Inc. cost?
The expense of adding Live Chat Inc’s solution comes to a monthly fee of $16.99. And it has proven to be a great investment for small business that is just starting out. And the best part is that you can take advantage of the 30-day free trial run, ideal for testing.
How does it all work?
To take the first step and add live chat to your WordPress website, you first need to go to the source. Visit the LiveChat Inc. website and create an account there. Once there, follow the Sign Up Free button. This button leads to a separate page that will ask for your basic information such as full name, email address, and password. Once filled out, click on the Continue button.
The next step of the registration will require the URL of your website and the reason to add live chat to your WordPress site. Support or sales, or both – it doesn’t matter. Simply select the option that suits your particular needs and click on Continue.
Now comes the step where you provide some primary information about your company. The name of your business, size, the industry it falls under, and your target audience. Finally, once you fill everything out, click on the Create Account button. That will complete the registration process.
How to customize your live chat window?
Take into consideration that there are countless businesses today that have and use the live chat option on their sites. Therefore, you need to consider how best to present your chat to site visitors. The design of it needs to blend in with the rest of the website and be appealing to users.
Click on the Settings link on the left sidebar of the chat account area. There, you will be able to enter the Customization page and style the live chat window to your preferences. You will be able to see each modification in real-time.
On the right side of the screen, you will have an array of themes to choose from. These themes will change the overall appearance of both the maximized and minimized version of the chat. You will also be able to select a color for the chat window, to match it with the rest of the website.
What else can you customize before you add live chat to your WordPress site?
- You will want to replace the LiveChat Inc. logo with that of your website and company. To do this, you need to follow the Advanced Window Tweaks This option will take you to a new page, where you will see an “Upload Your Logo” button.
- If you wish to include social media links to your accounts, you can do that as well.
- There is also the “Customize Using Own CSS Link” for all those that want to add a custom CSS.
Once you’re done with all the modifications and tweaks, you simply click on the “I’m done editing” button and then click on the “Save Changes” option. After that, you’ll be ready to start adding the live chat to your WP site.
A short guide to add live chat to your WordPress site
Another bonus of LiveChat is that it comes with a free WP plugin that you can simply install. That plugin allows you to add LiveChat to your site within minutes. So, here’s what you need to do:
- Find and install the LiveChat WP plugin.
- Once you install and activate the plugin, select the “Connect with LiveChat” button on the Settings page.
- You will be present with a Sign In link and asked to log into your LiveChat account.
- WordPress will then ask you to allow access to your LiveChat account from the admin area. Do it.
- Once you give access and finish with the linking, head over to LiveChat» Settings in your admin panel.
- You should see some new options on the Settings page now.
Here, you will be able to modify whether the chat will appear on both desktop and mobile versions of your site or just the desktop. You will be able to hire the chat feature for guest visitors and use plenty of other options.
Finally, you will be ready to chat
Once you’ve gone through all the steps explained above, you will have successfully added live chat to your WordPress site. Each time someone attempts to contact you via chat, you will receive a notification. You can then interact with them from your account area, and answer any questions or address any issues they might have.
For any additional information or advice, feel free to contact us or check out some of our other blogs.