Providing a live chat feature on your website increases your conversion rate. According to the Customer Service Benchmark study from eDigitalResearch, live online chat has the highest customer satisfaction rating among customer service touch points. It can improve conversion, nurture stronger customer loyalty, and build a solid customer base.If you’re considering a live chat app, you may want to take a look at ClickDesk. It’s an in-browser app that lets businesses reply to questions from web visitors. The software is divided into three main modules: LiveChat, Video Chat, and Helpdesk. With pricing that starts at $16.99, ClickDesk is one of the most cost-effective ways for small businesses to quickly implement a live chat and reap its benefits.
In this review, we’ll show you the ten things that we believe are the ClickDesk’s most likable and useful features. We’ll also show you the quality awards that the app won from FinancesOnline, including our Designed For Small Business Certificate as well as Best Add-ons & Integrations Award. Finally, you can read our interview with Manohar Chapalamadugu, CEO of ClickDesk, to find out more about the app and its future tools.
What are the highlights of ClickDesk?
Smart chat tools like Live Chats Map, Keystroke Preview, and Proactive Chats let you engage web visitors at a personal and conscientious level
Powerful analytics and reporting give you hourly, daily and weekly insights on customer chat engagements and agents’ performance for planning and developing strategies
TranslateText helps you to understand foreign language nuances and build rapport
Integration with a wide range of popular and standard apps greatly enhances your support capabilities
Twitter and Facebook plugins inside the IM window increase the chance of more followers and likes while customers are engaged
Integrated helpdesk and automated ticketing allows you to provide 24/7 support coverage even when you’re offline
Built-in video chat can level up chat engagements to a higher stage
10 Things We Like about ClickDesk
1. Know your customer even before the conversation starts
“How’s the weather in Seattle?” A little small talk like this can build immediate rapport with a prospect. This, we believe, is the real value of Live Chats Map, an intuitive Google Map-based interface showing your active chat users’ name, city and country, browser, and referring URL. Even while you’re engaged, the map and user details are shown on the right pane of the agent dashboard, or you can simply mouse over the location in the map section and you’ll see these user details.
More importantly, you can check a user’s chat history to give your conversation a better context. You can use this smart tool to give a personal touch to your chat engagement and make customers feel important. Nothing annoys customers more than the feeling of being ignored; on the other hand, when they realize you “remember” your last talk with each them, we can imagine the positive imprint it will leave in your customers’ mind.
You can even dig deeper into customers’ profile by integrating ClickDesk with other apps, such as CRM, sales, and shopping cart. Here’s where you can truly leverage this tool: you can embed small survey touchpoints during the chat. For instance, with a pre-chat knowledge of a customer’s previous purchase, your agent can ask how the customer finds the product during the conversation (can you smell an upsell or cross-sell opportunity?).
The map on the right pane shows user details that your agent can use for a more personal engagement.
2. Read customers’ minds
The KeystrokePreview seems trivial–you can read in real time what users are typing before they send the message–but it’s really a killer feature in real life scenarios.
In customer service, you only have a small window to prepare a reply to an angry customer. That’s why, occasionally, agents dilly-dally with standard, if not silly, replies just to buy time to the customer’s annoyance. In fact, a Harris survey reported that “70% of consumers receiving [immediate] replies reversed the negative content either by deleting the bad review or posting a second positive one.”
The KeystrokePreview expands the preparation window, giving your agents more precious seconds or minutes. For example, upon seeing that the customer is going to ask her about a previous ticket, the agent can immediately open that ticket and give a sensible response. Combine this feature with the Live Chats Map’s user details and your agent can level up to pseudo mind readers.
Rahul is still typing but the agent can already read the email in question.
3. Understand foreign language nuances
The Translate Text will not allow you to converse in a foreign language, but we see its value for companies that deal with a multilingual market in North America, mainly Spanish (Hispanics) or French (in Quebec).
When an agent receives a message in a foreign language, she clicks the Translate Text and the message is translated into English. However, she still has to reply in English.
What this tool does is help you understand foreign language nuances within an English conversation that are common when talking to first-generation immigrants or foreigners with limited English proficiency.
Here’s an example: “About your, er, app… pouvez-vous m’aider s’il vous plait?” It’s difficult for the agent to grasp the message as is, but by clicking the Translate Text, she now reads “about your app… can you help me, please?” A caveat: AI translation, as with Google Translate, is not perfect. But it gives keywords (like “help” and “please”) that clue you in.
4. Get business insights from advanced reporting tools
ClickDesk has real-time reports that let you see trends in your live chat and helpdesk activities, which can give you business insights for strategic decisions. You can see if your average chat duration is too long and work out ways to make your agents more efficient.
You can also sort hourly, daily, or weekly chat engagements into four categories: Initiated, Proactive, Missed, and Offline. To maintain a high level customer support, you can keep a close tab on Missed and Offline metrics; is the rate increasing? It’s easy to spot improvement (or lack of) on week-by-week basis and institute reforms right away.
Meantime, the Hourly Chats feature shows you the peak and down time of customer engagement. This tool is handy to joggle your customer reps’ schedules based on daily demand.
ClickDesk also allows you to monitor your agent’s performance including her active, missed, and answered chats. You get a real-time data feed, which we think is handy during the coaching stage when the agent is learning the ropes of your customer service program. It’s like you’re standing invisible behind the agent, while she’s chatting with a customer. The agent cannot see you so she’s not under duress during the chat, but you can easily rectify any shortcomings on the spot.
The app also features Chat History & Transcripts, Graphs & Filters, SLA analytics, and Weekly Ticket Status reporting, which can be sent directly to your email. You can use ClickDesk’s powerful analytics to take your customer support to a higher level.
With advanced reporting it’s easy to monitor and keep that critical red and grey bars (missed and offline chats) at the minimal level.
How are your agents performing? ClickDesk delivers the insights.
5. Flexibility to use ClickDesk IM
If you’re already happy using the ubiquitous GTalk or you want to stay in touch with friends in your Google network while using ClickDesk, you can take chats on GTalk or your preferred IM. Your ClickDesk dashboard can process data from other IMs if you prefer to stick to your favorite IM.
You can keep using GTalk while leveraging ClickDesk’s powerful analytics and smart tools at the backend.
6. Get likes and followers inside the IM window
This tool is one of our favorites. You can embed Twitter Follow and Facebook Like buttons right inside the Live Chat window. It may look trivial, but when your visitors are engaged with you in a chat, especially if they’re happy with your conversation, a small nudge to like or follow you isn’t that difficult.
We thought the social media integration in the chat window is brilliant. Social media is all about engagement and what can be more engaging than your agent and customer locked in a chat. In fact, we won’t be surprised if this little social media plugin in the chat window outperforms the same plugins prominently displayed on your homepage.
The social media plugins are neatly located right inside the chat window.
7. Video chat is built-in
Yes, it’s free in all subscription plans. Video chat lets you personalize the chat with a face-to-face conversation. The in-browser video tool doesn’t need setup and is easily accessible within the chat window.
The agent can request a video or audio call to explain complex details or connect with the customer on a more personal level to reduce communication gaps. On the other hand, customers can call you as an option to IM.
We don’t really expect customers will readily jump to a video call, but for those whom you already have a rapport with (old and loyal customers), a video call takes the relationship to a higher level (more upsell!). Incidentally, you can quickly prove your business legitimacy to an anxious customer with a video call invite.
8. Use Proactive rules to initiate chat
Proactive Triggers are automatic popup messages, which you can set to greet web visitors. You can adjust the proactive message by visitor type, location, or page of relevance. You can also set the frequency of popup messages or limit response to specific countries or URLs.
We can see various uses for this tool. A returning customer can be greeted with a “nice to see you back,” while you can welcome a new customer with a different message. Likewise, you can greet visitors from Spain with an !hola! for added engagement, or you can send a request for assistance to a visitor who seems to be spending too long on one of your product pages.
Our advice is not to overuse popup messages because they can annoy web visitors, and the alert sound is distracting.
The Proactive Triggers is found in the Admin Panel in the Live Chat module.
9. Reinforce your live chat support with smart helpdesk ticketing
The ticket is automatically forwarded to the right agent.
Unless you have a full customer support department or dedicated external contact center, maintaining a 24/7 live chat is difficult. What happens when you’re offline and customers are asking lead-potential questions?
ClickDesk allows web visitors to send a chat message even when your agents are offline (visitors see that you’re offline) or submit a support ticket straight from the IM window. The next time one of the agents logs in, she’ll see the ticket in her dashboard. This means small businesses can reply within the allowable 24-hour margin that most customers expect from support even without a 24/7 coverage.
The Helpdesk dashboard is streamlined and features smart tools. Your agents can reply from the dashboard, while web visitors receive a personalized response to their email. You can also forward your other helpdesk email address to ClickDesk to organize all tickets in one location.
Furthermore, we like how ClickDesk automates ticket assignments with a range of actions, such as: new email, new note, and delayed response. To further enhance automation, you can create macros to run customized actions. We’re sure you’ll like this feature, too, when you’re hit with a big volume of incoming tickets.
Likewise, you can create a ticket with multiple users (for different departments like sales, technical, support, etc.). This is practical when resolving issues that require inputs from other departments.
You can also create a drop-down menu of multiple departments in the IM window of the web visitor. The visitor can easily choose which department she needs to contact regarding her issue (billing, IT, support, etc.). This handy menu also lets you skip sorting tickets for the right agent.
As expected with a robust helpdesk, ClickDesk also features: canned responses, IM alerts, powerful search, favorite tickets, import tickets, notes, archives, and tags.
10. Enhance ClickDesk with great integration
Live chat is just one part of your relationship marketing strategy. We like it that ClickDesk can integrate with many of our favorite business apps for different uses: website builders, landing page creators, CMS, sales and CRM, shopping carts, and productivity tools.
You can connect ClickDesk via plugin or integration with top software brands like Zendesk, Sugar, Zoho, Salesforce, Agile, Infusionsoft, Wix, Shopify, Magento, Google Apps, Tumblr, Weebly, WordPress, Joomla!, CS Cart, and Unbounce.
We also experienced that much of this integration involves a straightforward copy-paste process and requires only basic familiarity with target apps’ user interface and settings. Even without coding or technical skills, a small business owner can easily integrate ClickDesk with these apps. Besides, he can always initiate a chat with a ClickDesk agent in case he stumbles upon a glitch.
ClickDesk also features these standard features:
Send files within the IM window
Answer chats from any device: laptop/desktop, tablet or mobile
Chat in 60+ languages
Customize themes
Create shortcuts
What customers say about ClickDesk
We analyzed user comments on different websites and platforms and found that most ClickDesk users find the app unique for its three outstanding traits: pricing, ease of use, and upgrade features.
“It’s cheaper than LiveChat,” Derrick from San Antonio, CA said, echoing the competitive pricing of this app. “I only need a light support app for my single-site webstore. ClickDesk has the online/offline dynamics that I require, plus a dependable ticketing system.” Some users believe that LiveChat offers more robust features, but ClickDesk offers the “right solutions for the right price,” another user commented.
Likewise, ease of use is a recurring comment among users. “It’s easy to set up. I tested it on one of my websites and it works!” Nancy from Houston, TX said. She said that she was able to put up the live chat in minutes and got the first batch of inquiries via chat on the same day.
For other users, they believe the current features are numerous for a light and affordable app. Nick, who runs a home-based fashion accessory online store, said he likes the app because “it constantly comes up with new features.” The helpdesk, in fact, is an upgrade feature introduced by the app. ClickDesk is reported to launch more features in the future, such as, virtual agents, more customizable interface, and co-browsing screen sharing.
Awards and Quality Certificates won by CDMessenger
Verified Quality Seal
ClickDesk was awarded the Verified Quality Seal by a panel of B2B software experts for the strictest quality standards. The seal is a unique trust seal awarded exclusively by FinancesOnline, which highlights the quality of the software’s features and tools, as well as the reliability of the vendor to provide excellent customer support. The seal indicates that after closely testing the functionalities of ClickDesk versus its promises, the app passed our quality tests and is guaranteed to meet customer expectations and satisfaction.
Designed for Small Business
After taking a closer scrutiny of ClickDesk’s features, we believe small businesses will benefit most from its light usability and competitive pricing. We discovered that most ClickDesk users cite its pricing and ease-of-use as main positive factors, including setting it up on a website or integrating the live chat with another app. Much of the setup involves a simple copy-paste process, where coding or technical skills aren’t needed. Our Designed For Small Business Certificate is a solid sign that choosing ClickDesk as your live chat and helpdesk software will surely allow you to use the app and enjoy its benefits right away.
Best Add-ons & Integration
ClickDesk users can enjoy a wide range of add-ons and integrations with popular business apps, greatly enhancing their live chat and helpdesk ability. The software works seamlessly with various apps for different processes, including: CRM and sales, CMS, shopping cart, invoicing, social media, IM, website builders, and productivity tools. Likewise, the built-in video chat and integrated helpdesk merited our attention. This award signals to future ClickDesk users that using the app gives them great flexibility in expanding the capabilities of their tools.
An Interview with ClickDesk CEO
Manohar Chapalamadugu
ClickDesk CEO
FinancesOnline talked with Manohar Chapalamadugu, CEO of ClickDesk, to find out more about the app and its future features.
Why is ClickDesk unique?
Chapalamadugu said that ClickDesk combines live chat, voice/video chat, and helpdesk modules that are traditionally sold separately. “We provide multi-channel customer engagement software to online businesses,” he said.
Furthermore, the app is streamlined and easy to use without the need to install additional hardware and software. “Web visitors and agents can use ClickDesk straight from the browser.”
Chapalamadugu also believes ClickDesk’s seamless integration with major business and productivity apps makes the live chat software stand out from its competitors. He said that ClickDesk integrates numerous complementary software in the B2B ecosystem “from CRM to invoicing to our popular one-click installations with leading CMS platforms.”
Specific problem scenarios solved by ClickDesk
One of the most useful tools of ClickDesk, according to Chapalamadugu, is the Proactive Chats feature. Where many businesses face the challenge of how to actively reach out to web visitors, the tool can immediately connect agents with prospects.
Likewise, with pre-knowledge of the customer’s profile, agents can initiate small talk to open the communication channel. “Multiple proactive chats can be setup to take the country, IP, browsing history, referrals into consideration.”
Chapalamadugu also said that users will like ClickDesk for its integrated helpdesk and built-in voice/video call. “We provide a seamless integration between live chat and helpdesk to provide a rich engagement experience for the web visitors.”
Exciting new feature to come
Chapalamadugu mentioned an AI-level feature that we can expect from ClickDesk soon. A Virtual Agent is in the pipeline, where it can answer chats with preset replies. “It is self-learning and gets smarter as more chats are handled,” the CEO added.
Moreover, he said that developers are working to enhance and provide more user interface options, such as, various styles, animations, and more. Co-browsing with a customer via screen sharing, is also being planned for future ClickDesk versions.
ClickDesk SmartScore and Customer Satisfaction
Our experts have conducted a full review of ClickDesk detailing its features, user feedback, customer service, and other key aspects. Using our SmartScore system we gave ClickDesk a very satisfying score of 8.6, while our Customer Satisfaction Algorithm estimates the overall user satisfaction rating for the software at 100%.
If you’d like to have your product considered for any of FinancesOnline awards or quality certificates please contact us.
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