Why WordPress Chat Plugins Are the Most Invaluable Tool You’re Not Using

For years, WordPress has remained one of the most popular ways to build a website today—it brings with it a host of unique benefits that you simply won't be able to find anywhere else.

Not only is it incredibly easy to use by design, but it also requires absolutely no HTML editing or FTP software. With a bit of time and dedication, literally, anybody could build a website for their business, and they can then manage that website from any computer or device with an active Internet connection.

But the real benefit of WordPress is that you have total control over what you build - the possibilities are truly limitless. The design of your website is 100% customizable so you finally have access to something that can allow you to properly represent your brand online in exactly the way you always intended.

At the same time, you also need to realize how important it is to use WordPress as a starting point, not as a destination. Yes, it's a powerful platform in and of itself - but there are certain things it cannot do. That's why WordPress plugins - meaning small "applications" that add functionality to your site - are all the rage.

WordPress chat plugins, in particular, are very helpful for audience engagement, and they're certainly worth exploring for several key reasons.

1. The Power of Chat Plugins: Breaking Things Down

One of the major benefits of WordPress Live Chat Plugins is also among the most immediate for many businesses: it's an easy, seamless way to add an extra layer of communication to your existing site.

By now, you probably already have a site that you're happy with and that works for you. It would be a shame to tear it all down and start over again just because you want to add live chat functionality.

But thanks to these plugins, where you can effortlessly add live chat to your existing site, all via an interface that looks like it was there from the very start.

Along the same lines, live chat plugins are popular because they're every bit as versatile as you need them to be. Most of the WordPress plugins available allow you to target specific pages to display the chat feature, for example. You can also choose exactly what you want to have happen after the chat session has ended. By design, a lot of these chat plugins are also inherently secure.

This is especially important as people become increasingly concerned with their privacy. By employing end-to-end encryption, as many of these WordPress chat plugins do, people don't have to worry about their account information or other sensitive data falling into the wrong hands. That's the good news—the better news is that you don't have to worry about it, either.

The benefit with the biggest implications, however, is that these WordPress chat plugins are also highly measurable. It's not just a way to let people communicate with your customer service team. These plugins also have tools that allow you to track chat data and reporting over the long-term, too.

So you can get a bird's eye view of what a lot of your common issues are and what people keep asking about over and over.

Not only is this a perfect way to measure how you're handling support, but it's also a perfect opportunity to meaningfully improve customer engagement over time.

Note that at this point, it's also important to touch on what live chat plugins are NOT - chatbots. A chatbot is an artificial intelligence-powered solution that allows your website visitors to chat with a robot, essentially. It's a computer program that uses natural language processing to answer basic questions, look up account information and more.

Yes, it's true that these customer service chatbots have become so powerful over the last few years that many people don't even realize they're not talking to a human at all. 

You can absolutely explore that —particularly if you want to ensure that someone (or something) is available to help your users 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Humans obviously need a day off every now and again, while chatbots don't.

But still, nothing beats the value of a live interaction between two humans, which is why, at a bare minimum, live chat plugins for your WordPress website are absolutely something you'll want to consider.

2. Additional Considerations About Building a Better Website

But of course, you still need to ensure that other areas of your site are accounted for, too. Nobody will come to your site to chat about products or services they've already invested in. Sometimes, people will experience your brand for the first time through your website - which means you need to ensure the content is there to back that up.

As often as possible, you should visit a site like Respona and research the topics that people in your target audience actually care about. Figure out what is on their minds and see if you can add your own unique take. This is a great way to find inspiration for blog posts, videos and other types of rich content.

Likewise, always use an Infographic maker like Visme to create compelling visual collateral that shows, not tells, people more about essential topics. As a rule of thumb, remember that anything you can express visually should be expressed visually. Why devote a day to writing a 1000-word blog post when you can tell the same "story" in an Infographic?

Ultimately, remember that creating a great digital presence for your target audience is all about creating the type of experience they can't find anywhere else. It shouldn't be one thing - it should be many things. Your website can't just be a place to buy products. 

It also has to be a source of information that people can use to learn. It needs to be an opportunity for people to interact with you, thus deepening your relationship with them and turning them into a loyal army of followers.

This is not only how you differentiate yourself from your competitors—it's how you create a genuine advantage over them that will serve both you and your target audience well for years to come.

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