Ranking the best WordPress instant messaging plugins in 2021

So, you've made the winning choice to install an instant messaging plugin on your site? Congratulations! You can now offer customers and prospects the ability to interact with you in real-time while cutting down on the costs of your customer relations. You’ll no doubt notice a before and after for instant messaging on your site! But for now, let's take a look at the three golden rules for choosing the best WordPress instant messaging plugin to boost your sales.

How to reinvent customer relationship management with a WordPress instant messaging plugin?

What's a WordPress instant messaging plugin?

It's simply an extension that adds extra features to your WordPress site. In this case, it's the instant messaging feature, allowing your customers and prospects to communicate directly with you through their favorite channel. No more time-consuming contact forms, spam emails, or frustrating phone calls!

ChayAll's instant messaging plugin will display instant messaging buttons on every page of your site. Visitors will just have to click on the button of their choice. They’ll then be able to start a conversation with you in a smooth, fast and secure way. It's smart, it's safe and it's surprisingly simple!

Why install an instant messaging plugin on your site?

The instant messaging plugin changes your whole site, and for good reason! More than a simple communication tool, it adds spontaneity and user-friendliness to your site while humanizing the customer relationship. These days we know that nine out of ten consumers prefer to communicate with brands (source) via instant messaging rather than the phone. So you can see just how much an instant messaging plugin can boost your sales!

In a nutshell, the major benefits of a WordPress instant messaging plugin are:

• Customers can interact with you in real time.
• 24/7 customer service.
• Automate the instant messaging plugin to automatically answer FAQs.
• Manage multiple customer requests at once.
• Optimize customer relationship management costs: no network infrastructure, no training required, the ability to manage multiple requests at the same time, no phone call charges, etc.
• Ability to send PDFs, images, links, personalized notifications, etc.
• By installing the ChayAll designed, WordPress instant messaging plugin, you increase your chances of conversion: it's five instant messengers on a single interface!

1. ChayAll

ChayAll is a French startup that came up with the great idea of centralizing several instant messengers in a WordPress plugin: WhatsApp Business API, Facebook Messenger, Live Chat, Apple Business Chat, and Google's Business Messages. The ChayAll developed WordPress plugin is designed to provide a smooth and easy experience for both users and businesses.

What we like about the ChayAll plugin

• Free version for basic needs;
• Centralized access to the most widely used instant messengers;
• Easy installation of the plugin in no time at all;
• Ability to retrieve the history of each discussion;
• RGPD compliant;
• Automatic message settings;
• Ability to create a chatbot;
• Branded profile with profile picture, logo and chat color;
• Notifications received by customers even after they leave your site;
• Highly responsive customer support.

What we like less about the ChayAll plugin

• Lack of a search bar to retrieve conversations;
• Specific settings of each messenger.

2. Tidio Live Chat

Heading to Szczecin, Poland, where the startup Tidio has its HQ. Specializing in customer service automation solutions, the company is best known for its chatbots. As the name suggests, the Tidio Live Chat plugin integrates a live chat onto your WordPress site, but also a chatbot, an emailing tool, and Facebook Messenger. Like ChayAll, the Tidio plugin is customizable to fit your company's graphic design. It also allows you to send an email to visitors who leave your website, as long as they have filled in their email address beforehand (beware of RGPD compliance).

What we like about the Tidio Live Chat plugin

• The scope of the chatbot's abilities (technical know-how required);
• The email marketing tool;
• Integration with several CRMs, such as SalesForce and Zendesk;
• Widget customization;
• Centralization of Live Chat, Facebook Messenger and the email marketing tool in the same solution.

What we like less about the Tidio Live Chat plugin

• Doesn't include WhatsApp, the leading instant messenger with more than two billion users;
• No free version (7-day trial version);
• Site and resources are exclusively in English;
• Doesn't notify users when they receive a message if they've left your website.

3. Zendesk Chat

Founded in 2007, Zendesk Inc. is an American company specializing in customer service solutions. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the company is active in 150 countries. What sets the Zendesk WordPress plugin apart is its ability to set triggers to automate certain Live Chat actions. Users who linger on a page can receive automatic messages from the Zendesk plugin. You can also feed your customer database to have the right information at the right time.

What we like about the Zendesk Chat plugin

• Live Chat trigger settings;
• Ability to keep an eye on the flow of visitors;
• Organization of customer records to have the right information during the conversation;
• Customizable widget.

What we like less about the Zendesk Chat plugin

• Automation is confusing, especially for novices;
• This Live Chat plugin tends to slow down the loading speed of your website, which hurts the user experience but also your SEO;
• Customer service is often unreachable.

4. PureChat

PureChat was founded in 2012. This Arizona-based American company offers entrepreneurs and VSEs a chat plugin to communicate with their customers. Pure Chat was acquired in October 2020 by Ruby and now plays a role in the entire purchasing process. Its main advantage lies in its ability to define the action that triggers the live chat to appear (scroll, click on a link, etc.)

What we like abooui ut the PureChat plugin

• Free solution;
• Settings for the action that triggers the Live Chat;
• Quality of the reporting tools provided;
• Ability to indicate to the user that no advisor is online;
• User-friendly and sleek interface;
• RGPD compliant.

What we like less about the PureChat plugin

• Notification display issue on Android smartphones;
• The tool tends to disconnect for no reason. You have to regularly check that it's activated;
• Lack of instant messaging applications;
• Poorly responsive customer service.

5. Drift

Drift was launched in 2015 by a venture capital fund led by the founders of Latinx. The WordPress instant messaging plugin offered by Drift provides a live chat solution, with the ability to set up notifications via Slack. The widget allows you to add an "offline" or "away" status. The tool also notifies you when a visitor opens a page multiple times so you can offer personalized customer service.

What we like about the Drift plugin

• Data on user behavior for personalized customer service (page they’re on, number of connections to your site, channel used to access your site, etc.);
• Ability to integrate this Live Chat with Slack for real-time alerts;
• Interesting features for B2B;
• Easy setup of a basic chatbot.

What we like less about the Drift plugin

• The tool tends to bring up old threads for no reason, which can flood the most recent threads or the latest messages received;
• Price is higher than the market average;
• Lack of integration with the most widely used instant messengers;
• Inability to customize widgets to your corporate colors.

6. JivoChat

JivoChat was born in January 2012 and offers conversational solutions in 20 languages. The JivoChat WordPress instant messenger plugin offers live chat but also a button to call and send an email. The plugin aims to be omnichannel, supporting some instant messengers like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram. It's one of the only plugins that offer (in its paid version) customization of the widget display by geolocation.

What we like about the JivoChat plugin

• The omnichannel aspect, with the integration of several instant messengers;
• The ability to customize the widget display according to the user's city or country;
• Support for 20 different languages (no Chinese, however);
• RGPD compliant.

What we like less about the JivoChat plugin

• Doesn't include Google's Business Messages, a highly-coveted feature since its integration with Google My Business and Google Maps;
• The widget tends to be displayed in an untimely manner, causing an increase in the bounce rate;
• Doesn't work with a medium or low speed connection;
• Interface is cluttered and unintuitive.

3 golden rules for choosing your WordPress instant messaging plugin

Choose an all-in-one instant messaging plugin

Avoid WordPress plugins that only support one instant messenger. Here's why: 

• If you only have one instant messenger on your site, you'll lose users who don't use it;
• By multiplying plugins to reach a wider audience, you weigh your website down visually;
• Multiplying instant messaging plugins will reduce the loading speed of your site. According to this Google study, 53% of visitors immediately leave websites that take more than three seconds to load. You can't afford this risk;
• A website that takes a long time to load will probably not do well in SEO. Less visibility also means less sales.

The instant messaging plugin developed by ChayAll supports the five major instant messengers: WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger, Live Chat, Apple Business Chat, and Google's Business Messages. Convenient, intuitive and fast!

Prefer easy-to-use instant messaging plugins

We're striving to be intuitive for your prospects, customers, etc. but also for you! The whole point of a WordPress instant messaging plugin is to improve customer relations. So how can you offer your prospects and customers a quick response if you find your instant messaging plugin hard to use? 

You should then choose a WordPress plugin that centralizes all messages, regardless of their source, on a single administrative interface. ChayAll's instant messaging plugin allows you to view all the messages that come to you on a single, uncluttered interface. So there’s no risk of missing a request and you won't lose any business opportunities!

Choose an instant messaging plugin that's easy to install

As you can imagine, the whole point of instant messaging lies in its ease of use, speed and flow of communication. Don't venture into installing an "exotic" instant messaging plugin that involves risky maneuvers like :

• Sharing your WordPress site credentials with third parties;
• Modifying the source code of your WordPress site, without any other installation options.

The best instant messaging plugins are those you can install directly from WordPress' "Plugins" page. That's the case with the ChayAll instant messaging plugin, which clearly ticks all the right boxes. Here's a short video to guide you in the installation process: 

You should know that there's another way to integrate the WordPress instant messaging plugin! Try it out! 

Ready to reinvent your customer service related to boost sales? Let's get started!