Top 10 Live Chat platforms

Latest news about Live Chat platforms

2022. Take Blip lands $70M to grow its omnichannel messaging service



Take Blip, an online messaging platform designed for businesses, has recently secured $70 million in Series B funding. Take Blip offers its customers, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé, a range of tools to automate conversations through chatbots. These chatbots can seamlessly escalate complex issues to customer service representatives when needed. Similar to other vendors in the messaging industry, Take Blip also provides analytics to monitor the performance of customer service representatives. While some may have concerns about data retention, Take Blip emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a certain level of service. As the omnichannel messaging space continues to grow, Take Blip faces competition from several emerging rivals, such as Glia, MessageBird, and GupShup.


2022. Tidio raises $25M to automate customer service interactions



Tidio, a platform striving to provide comprehensive customer communication solutions across various channels such as email and SMS, has successfully raised $25 million in funding. Tidio offers a combination of live chat apps, AI-powered chatbots, and analytics to enable companies, including smaller ones without dedicated staff, to efficiently scale their customer service operations. While customer service automation platforms like Tidio are not groundbreaking innovations, several similar options exist in the market. For instance, Ultimate.ai is a platform that utilizes data ingestion and bot-building capabilities, while Ushur facilitates the creation of AI-based communication flows for businesses. Ada is another player in this category, offering chatbots powered by a natural language processing engine.

2021. Emotive raises $50M to make text marketing more conversational



Emotive, a startup specializing in conversational text marketing, experienced a remarkable 466% year-over-year revenue growth in 2020. Building on this success, the company has recently raised $50 million in a Series B funding round. Emotive offers a unique approach to text marketing by creating interactions that resemble genuine conversations with human beings, rather than impersonal email blasts. While Emotive caters to larger clients, its primary focus lies in serving mid-sized e-commerce businesses utilizing platforms such as Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. As these businesses often lack dedicated sales personnel, Emotive fills that gap by initiating conversations regarding shopping cart abandonment, promoting sales and new products. The company claims conversion rates of 8% to 10% as a result of these interactions. Initially relying heavily on human responders, the platform has gradually integrated automation into its processes.


2021. Glia raises $78M for its integrated AI-based customer service platform



Glia, a company that has developed a platform capable of integrating and managing various customer support channels, while also providing tools to assist agents in actively accessing a customer's app or web page to aid them in locating information or resolving issues, has announced the successful completion of its Series C funding round, securing $78 million. Glia stands out due to its unique approaches in engaging with users. One notable feature is the ability for agents to join the user's screen, enabling them to guide the user and observe their actions. Additionally, Glia equips agents with tools to provide coaching on appropriate questions, phrasing, and relevant answer links. The company also develops virtual customer service assistants to handle simpler inquiries.


2020. Facebook Messenger's new chat plugin for business websites allows to reach non-Facebook users



Facebook is simplifying the process for businesses to utilize its Messenger service on their respective websites. Previously, the customer chat plugin required visitors to the website to be logged into Facebook in order to engage in direct conversations with businesses. This requirement limited its adoption. However, with the updated plugin, Facebook is removing this limitation by allowing customers to interact with businesses even without being logged in. A new "continue as guest" option will be provided instead. From the business's perspective, they can continue to leverage all their existing tools to effectively manage conversations with these online users, irrespective of whether they are logged in or not.


2019. Salesforce brings AI and Quip to customer service chat



Salesforce Service Cloud has received AI enhancements to its customer service capabilities. One notable improvement is the utilization of machine learning to provide real-time article recommendations, response suggestions, and next best actions to agents during customer interactions. Additionally, similar technology is employed to offer response recommendations that agents can easily copy and paste into chat conversations, accelerating response times. Furthermore, based on the ongoing conversation, Salesforce can suggest the most suitable next action before concluding the interaction. To optimize customer service routing, machine learning is applied to ensure individuals are directed to the most appropriate service representative. Lastly, Salesforce has integrated Quip, a company it acquired in 2016 for $750 million, into the customer service console. This integration enables agents to collaborate with one another, facilitating the resolution of complex issues.


2017. LogMeIn launches livechat software Bold360



LogMeIn, renowned for its collaboration and meeting tools, has set its sights on the untapped potential in the customer service and engagement market. To address this opportunity, they have introduced a comprehensive suite called Bold360, which empowers businesses to manage multiple communication channels, including chat and video. Bold360 aims to provide a unified interface that consolidates all customer touchpoints, enabling seamless interaction through chat, text, and video. Leveraging automation technology, Bold360 facilitates customer self-service support and streamlines agent workflows. The key challenge lies in whether LogMeIn can successfully navigate a competitive market and establish a unique customer engagement niche that complements existing systems in the field. Notably, Bold360 offers seamless integrations with Salesforce and Zendesk, allowing agents to consolidate customer data within a single interface, eliminating the need for manual data retrieval across multiple platforms.


2015. Live support chat Zopim goes Premium



Customer service software provider Zendesk has introduced the Premium version of its live support chat tool, Zopim, specifically designed to assist growing businesses in scaling their live chat operations. Zopim Premium aims to enable businesses to deliver exceptional customer support as they expand. The new plan encompasses workforce management tools, operational scalability, and enhanced customizability. These features empower support team managers with the necessary resources to effectively manage customer expectations and agent productivity. Zopim Premium is tailored to provide managers with deeper insights into their operations, facilitating efficient management of customer expectations and agent productivity at scale. The Real-Time Monitoring feature offers metrics on customer satisfaction, chat queue activity, and agent workload, ensuring compliance with service level agreements (SLAs) and enabling early detection of potential issues before they become major concerns.


2014. LivePerson buys co-browsing tool Synchronite



Customer service chat provider LivePerson has acquired German startup Synchronite in order to obtain its co-browsing and video-chat technology. This acquisition is expected to enhance LivePerson's real-time customer service offering by enabling agents to view the customer's screen, enabling them to provide guidance in tasks such as form filling, completing purchases, and other functionalities on the client's website. Other companies operating in a similar space include Unblu, LiveLook, and Firefly. The specific purchase price for Synchronite, based in Mannheim, has not been disclosed.


2014. Zendesk buys Live Chat provider Zopim



Zendesk, the provider of cloud-based helpdesk software, has completed its first acquisition by acquiring Zopim, a startup based in Singapore. Zopim is renowned for its live chat software, which is utilized by approximately 120,000 websites across 140 countries. The acquisition agreement amounts to a value of up to $29.8 million. As a result of this acquisition, Zendesk will gradually phase out its own chat software and seamlessly integrate Zopim's "superior" solution into its platform. This strategic move grants Zendesk immediate access to a widely adopted product that serves countless websites, opening avenues to offer additional Zendesk services to these websites that may not be utilizing them yet. Moreover, it presents an opportunity for Zendesk to upsell existing customers with yet another valuable product in its portfolio.


2012. LogMeIn acquires popular web chat BoldChat for $16.5 M



LogMeIn, a long-standing provider of remote access tools, has recently acquired Bold Software, a prominent provider of web chat and customer communication software. The integration of Bold Software's technology will enable LogMeIn to enhance its offerings and provide additional features to its customers through LogMeIn Rescue, the company's support product. Bold Software's flagship product, "BoldChat," is a widely utilized solution for live chat and click-to-call customer service in various industries, including retail, financial services, manufacturing, software, and telecommunications. On the other hand, LogMeIn's customer care services cater to tens of thousands of helpdesks and call centers, with notable clients such as 50 of the world's leading mobile operators, support organizations like Best Buy's Geek Squad, and OEMs like Sling Media. This acquisition signifies LogMeIn's commitment to expanding its capabilities and strengthening its position in the customer support market.