Providing excellent customer service is key to growing your e-commerce business or online store. Live chat lets you connect with customers in real-time, answer their questions quickly, and ultimately boost sales and conversions. There are many live chat tools to help you achieve this including LiveChat & Shopify Inbox.

LiveChat is a business live chat software that offers a variety of features to help businesses connect with their customers. Shopify Inbox, on the other hand, is a built-in chat tool that lets you chat with customers directly on your Shopify store.

Both LiveChat and Shopify Inbox help you streamline communication with your customers. They allow you to have real-time conversations, answer questions quickly, and create a smoother shopping experience that can lead to happier customers and increased sales. They are great for being able to talk to customers right away which can really help a business grow sales and improve conversions. 

As Live chat tools, they let customers get their questions answered without waiting, making shopping easier and more satisfying.

While both live chat tools offer ways to chat with customers on a website, each platform has different features that can fit different e-commerce needs. The ultimate goal is to find the one that fits you best.

Let’s look at how these tools compare and which might be best for you when it comes down to e-commerce support. 

Feature Comparison

When choosing the right live chat tool for your e-commerce business, it’s important to look at what each option offers.

Here, we’ll compare LiveChat and Shopify Inbox across several key areas: how they work day-to-day, what they tell you about your customers, how they can run on their own, and how well they play with other tools you use.

Core Functionality

In the core functionality of these tools, we consider the live chat window, chat history, canned messages, and file-sharing capabilities.

LiveChat shines with a customizable live chat window that fits any site design. It keeps chat history indefinitely, making it easy to look back at past conversations.

Moreover, its canned messages save time by letting you send quick, pre-written responses to common questions. Another good thing is that you can share files directly in the chat, making it easy to solve more complex issues or share products.

Shopify Inbox offers a simple chat window that integrates seamlessly with Shopify stores. It focuses on simplicity and keeps chat history for easy reference.

While it might not offer as extensive canned message options as LiveChat, it still allows for quick replies to frequently asked questions. File sharing is more basic but covers the needs of most shop owners.

Customer Insights

Understanding your customers is crucial for any e-commerce business. Visitor tracking, order history access, and product recommendations are key features that can help you understand your customers better.

LiveChat provides detailed visitor tracking, showing you where your customers come from and what they do on your site. It integrates with your sales data, giving you access to order histories during chats. With this feature, it is easy to recommend products based on past purchases or browsing habits.

Shopify Inbox excels in integrating directly with your Shopify store, offering unparalleled access to order history. This tool can suggest products directly in chat based on what the customer looks at or their past purchases.

However, its visitor tracking is more limited compared to LiveChat, focusing on interactions within the Shopify environment.

Automation

Automation can save you time by handling routine tasks, such as answering common questions with chatbots, sending automated greetings or away messages, and creating tickets for more complex issues.

LiveChat boasts powerful automation tools. Its chatbots can guide customers through your site, provide answers, or collect contact details when no one is available to chat. Automated greetings welcome visitors, and the system can generate support tickets from chats that need follow-up. It also offers an AI assistant that provides suggestions to agents during chat. This makes it easier to onboard new agents based on existing documentation.

On the other hand, Shopify Inbox offers automation that’s deeply integrated with Shopify’s ecosystem. While it might not have as robust chatbots as LiveChat, it automates responses to common sales-related questions and can send personalized automated messages based on shopping behavior.

Ticket creation is more manual but still streamlined within the Shopify admin.

Integrations

The best live chat tool should work well with the other tools you use, such as your e-commerce platform and CRM systems.

LiveChat is a champion of integrations because it works with Shopify and other e-commerce platforms, such as WooCommerce and Magento. Its CRM integrations are extensive, and you can even connect it with Salesforce and HubSpot to ensure that customer information is always at your fingertips.

Naturally, Shopify Inbox integrates flawlessly with Shopify, offering a level of integration other tools can’t match for users of this platform.

However, its ability to integrate with other e-commerce platforms is not applicable. For CRM, it focuses on leveraging Shopify’s built-in customer management features, which might be enough for many stores but lacks the broader compatibility of LiveChat.

Choosing between LiveChat and Shopify Inbox depends on your specific needs. LiveChat offers a more feature-rich environment with extensive integrations, which is ideal for businesses looking for deep customization and analytics.

Shopify Inbox provides a streamlined, easy-to-use solution perfect for Shopify store owners who value simplicity and direct integration with their store’s ecosystem.

Pricing

When it comes to choosing live chat software for your e-commerce platform, pricing is a big factor. Both LiveChat and Shopify Inbox offer various plans to fit different business needs, ranging from basic functionalities suitable for small businesses to advanced features for larger operations.

LiveChat Pricing

LiveChat presents a tiered pricing model, starting with the Starter plan priced at $20 per month per person when billed annually or $24 on a monthly basis. This plan is ideal for small teams or solo entrepreneurs, offering basic features such as tracking up to 100 visitors, a 60-day chat history, and 24/7 customer support.

For businesses looking for more robust options, the Team plan at $41 per month (annually) introduces unlimited chat history, full widget customization, and AI features.

The Business plan, at $59 monthly per person (annual billing), caters to larger teams with even more advanced capabilities, such as staffing prediction and Apple Messages for Business integration.

Moreover, LiveChat offers custom pricing and features for enterprises with specific needs, including a white-label chat widget and HIPAA compliance.

Shopify Inbox Pricing

Shopify Inbox, on the other hand, integrates its pricing into Shopify’s overall pricing plans – it’s free if you already have a store on this platform.

For solo entrepreneurs, the Basic plan starts at $32 USD per month, offering up to 10 inventory locations, localized global selling in three markets, and 24/7 chat support.

Small teams might opt for the Shopify plan at $92 USD per month, which includes additional staff accounts and enhanced market localization features.

The Advanced plan, priced at $399 per month, is tailored for scaling businesses, offering custom reports and analytics, increased checkout capacity, and additional staff accounts.

Lastly, for more complex businesses, Shopify offers the Plus plan starting at $2,300 USD per month on a 3-year term, boasting unlimited staff accounts, priority support, and the ability to sell wholesale/B2B.

If you pay yearly, you’ll get a 25% discount on the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, but not for the Plus program.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Deciding on the right live chat solution for your e-commerce business involves weighing the strengths and weaknesses of each option. LiveChat and Shopify Inbox offer unique benefits and face certain limitations, making it crucial to consider what aligns best with your business needs.

LiveChat

Here are the benefits of using LiveChat:

• Wide range of features: LiveChat is packed with functionalities such as chat history, file sharing, and extensive widget customization that enhance customer interactions.
• Scalability: It suits businesses of all sizes, with pricing and features that grow with your company.
• Integration capabilities: Easily connects with various CRM systems and e-commerce platforms beyond Shopify, making it versatile.

Here are the drawbacks of using LiveChat:

• Cost: It can be pricey, especially for businesses requiring multiple agent accounts.
• Complexity: The wealth of features might overwhelm small teams or solo entrepreneurs who need simpler solutions.

Shopify Inbox

Businesses can use Shopify Inbox for various reasons, including:

• Seamless Shopify integration: Being a native tool, it offers unmatched integration with Shopify, making setup and use straightforward for Shopify users.
• Simplicity and ease of use: Its user-friendly interface allows quick adoption and a minimal learning curve.
• Cost-Effective: For Shopify store owners, it presents a cost-effective live chat solution, especially for those just starting.

While it has its perks, Shopify Inbox also has some drawbacks, such as:

• Limited features: Compared to dedicated live chat platforms such as LiveChat, Shopify Inbox offers fewer advanced features, which might not meet the needs of larger or more complex e-commerce operations.
• E-commerce platform dependency: Primarily designed for Shopify users, limiting its applicability to businesses using other e-commerce platforms.

Need More Cost-Effective Options? Try Chatway

Live chat can be a fantastic way to boost customer satisfaction and sales, but some solutions can be expensive. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option with great features, then Chatway might be a perfect fit for you.  They offer a generous free plan that includes many features you’d normally have to pay for with other services.

Why Choose Chatway?

• Free Plan with No Limits: Unlike some live chat services, Chatway’s free plan lets you have unlimited chats and add as many agents to your team as you need – all at no cost. This makes it a great option for businesses starting out with live chat or with a limited budget. See how it compares to plans from other providers.
• All the Features You Need: Get started quickly with features like live chat functionality, customization options to match your brand, and even multilingual support to connect with a wider audience. You’ll also get analytics to track your conversations and improve your customer service over time.
• Multi-Platform Integration: Unlike Shopify Inbox that is limited to the Shopify ecosystem, Chatway grants customers full access to multiple platforms such as Duda, WordPress, Square etc. This is possible because Chatway is a standalone app that can be integrated easily with any website. 
• Unlimited Agent Seats: Unlike LiveChat which doesn’t offer a free plan and limits its agent seat to one on its Starter plan, Chatway gives you complete access to add as many agents as you like – all for free.

Chatway’s Capabilities:

Chatway offers a variety of features to enhance your live chat experience, including:

• Unlimited conversations and agent seats (all for free!)
• Private notes for internal team communication
• Chat supervision for managing your team’s performance
• File sharing to easily send documents or images to your customers
• Reach a wider audience with multilingual support
• Stay connected on the go with mobile apps for agents and visitors
• Receive notifications to ensure you never miss a message
• Integrate Chatway with your existing tools like Email & Facebook Messenger
• Works seamlessly with multiple platforms like Square, Shopify, Wix, Duda, and more!

Ready to Try Chatway?

With its generous free plan and feature-rich platform, Chatway is a great option for businesses on a budget that still want the benefits of live chat support. 

Explore Chatway to see if it’s the right fit for you.

Final Thoughts

Shopify Inbox and LiveChat both bring valuable live chat options to the table, yet they serve different business needs. With its wide range of features and flexibility, LiveChat is well-suited for businesses of various sizes looking for a comprehensive solution that integrates with multiple platforms.

On the other hand, Shopify Inbox, with its seamless Shopify integration and ease of use, is perfect for store owners on this platform who want a simple, effective way to connect with customers.

Your choice between the two should align with your business structure, budget, and the specific live chat needs of your online store.