With so many people using the internet for entertainment, research, and communication it is not a surprise that chat has become a popular method of keeping in touch with current and prospective fans as well as friends, co-workers, employees, and so on. Online chat is a convenient communication tool and there are many companies on the market now offering apps and plugins. Which one is right for you? That depends on your needs. At Behla Design we took the time to research and compare a few different platforms that we believe will satisfy your needs whether you are an individual, a startup company, or a large corporation.
1) Zopim has a lot of options and packages range from free to $99 a month. The free package is for one user and 2 chats at a time. Zopim is ideal for small businesses or for anyone on a budget that has a need for chat. Setup is easy for just about anyone and for WordPress developers Zopin has a WP plugin. The packages come with a chat bar, IM integration, and an intuitive dashboard. Low cost, high quality.
2) Olark offers a 14 day free trial on all packages. Prices start at $15.00 a month. This one is actually used by zippykid, a WordPress hosting site. The premium feature provides the ability to chat via a smartphone. Other features are chat statistics and visitor details.
3) Snapengage lets industrial level companies integrate chat into their CRM and help desk and is used by many support companies. Snapengage also offers ‘proactive invitations’. This is ideal for after business hours or when support staff cannot be available for chat when a visitor arrives. This chat system is automated and will interact with visitors in place of staff. Snapengage is used by wpengine, another popular and reputable Wordpess hosting site.
4) Meebo provides a chat bar to share check-in and other web content on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. There is a bookmarklet that can easily be installed to get started. This is not the same as the others. The Meebo application is super efficient for multi-protocol IM and it is compatible with the iphone, ipad, and ipod touch. Recently, Google acquired Meebo, so we’re not sure what will be the future of this handy solution.
The above are just a few of the many applications Behla Design found available for online chat. When comparing we looked at price, efficiency, and simplicity. We wanted to give you a comparison so that you can see that there are different types of applications and platforms for different needs. We lean towards Zopim because it has an easy-to-install WordPress plugin and the premium packages are affordable. We highly recommend that you visit each of these websites then let us know if you have any questions or if you would like Behla Design to help you choose and install online chat that is suitable for your needs.
The team at Behla Design, Graphic Design & Web Development, is dedicated to creating visual experiences that effectively tell our clients’ stories while engaging, exciting, and enticing their customers. Our firm consists of top web design, web development, WordPress, search engine optimization (SEO), and copywriting professionals and our founder, Andrew Behla, who has worked in the graphic, print and web design industry for over twenty years. Contact us today to find out how we can help your next project.
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