LiveChat updates

LiveChat’s Chat Widget performance is now better than ever

Over the last few months we’ve been working hard to improve the performance of LiveChat’s Chat Widget. We optimized the size of the Chat Widget code and its loading speed. In general, any additional code added to your website will make it heavier and slow down its loading time. This in turn may affect your SEO ranking or impact interactivity from the user’s perspective. LiveChat is a responsible third-party provider, and as such we strive to deliver the lightest code and shortest loading time possible without compromising the end-user’s experience.

We achieved this by decreasing the size of the Chat Widget and adjusting the way it’s loaded on your website without changing how the application behaves on your website.

For more details on how it works and why this is important, check out the article over at Success by LiveChat.
For a technical deep dive on this, check out our Developers blog.

LiveChat mobile app now works on tablets

Install the LiveChat mobile app on your iPad or Android tablet and enjoy mobility without compromising on features.

The LiveChat Agent app is now available on all devices, desktop or laptop, phone or tablet — you need it, we’ve got it.

With the LiveChat mobile app on your tablet or iPad, you’ll not only be able to chat with your customers wherever you are, you’ll also be able to

• monitor the traffic on your website,
• handle chats from multiple channels,
• personalize notifications,
• manage your team,
• and much, much more.

Check out the full list of features.
Download the LiveChat mobile app for iOS and Android.

LiveChat’s Chat Widget is accessible

As a responsible third-party provider, here at LiveChat we are committed to breaking down barriers in communication. This is why we are proud to announce that, after much work and testing, our Chat Widget is compliant with WCAG 2.1 level AA.

This means that the Chat Widget and targeted messages are now

• fully keyboard-accessible, which means that customers can access all navigable elements via a keyboard.
• accessible to text-to-speech readers, which makes the Chat Widget accessible to visually impaired customers.
• all customizable default colors have a contrast score of 4.5:1 or higher.

Check out our VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) from Deque.
Read our LiveChat guide to accessibility in our Help Center.
Follow our Developers blog over the next few days for a deep dive into the process of making the Chat Widget WCAG compliant.

Choose the right workflow for each team

Now you can set Automatic assignment or Manual selection per group and match chat assignment to the workflow of each team.
At LiveChat we know that the optimal workflow differs from team to team. Some agents handle chats from customers all day, every day. Other agents have fewer customers on chat, so they take care of tickets or answer phone calls or look into technical matters for customers.

Now you can have your Sales team on Automatic assignment so that they’ll receive a chat as soon as they have an open slot. Your Tech Support can be on Manual selection, which allows them to finish their ongoing task while the customer is waiting in the queue.

We have also changed the name of this feature from Chat routing to Chat assignment, in preparation for more exciting improvements coming soon.

Read more about chat assignment in our Help Center.
Try it out in the LiveChat Agent app.

Let your customers go beyond words with emojis

A while back, we added the option for agents to send emojis to customers from the LiveChat Agent app. Now, your customers can also send emojis from the LiveChat Chat Widget on their desktop.

Your customers can use emojis in the Chat Widget regardless of the device they start the chat on. This saves your agent from wondering if it’s appropriate to send emojis in chat. As we always say, mirror your customers’ language. If they send emojis, you can send them, too.

We’ve also added fallback emojis, so even if your customer’s device, operating system, or browser does not support emojis, the Chat Widget will display them anyway.

Stay tuned for more announcements about Chat Widget upgrades coming soon!

New improvements in LiveChat Lite

We keep working on making our mobile app, LiveChat Lite, the best there is. Recently, we’ve introduced changes we’re very excited about. Whether you use LiveChat Lite as your primary tool or only when you leave your computer, you’ll be happy to know that you can now customize notification sounds and switch between tabs in the Chats view.

Go to Notifications and Sounds in your Agent profile and set up notification sounds that will boost your workflow. Our famous “Incoming chat” sound is now available in the well-loved classic version as well as two new versions. Be sure to check them out! There are other sounds to choose from as well.

In the Chats view, you’ll see the tabs for My chats, Queued, Unassigned, and Supervised. So, all the chats you may be interested in are right at your fingertips without switching to other views of the app.

Naturally, this update comes with additional security, performance, and stability improvements.

Download LiveChat Lite for iOS and Android.
Learn more about the LiveChat Agent app for mobile here.

Edit surveys with rich text formatting

We’ve added a simple text editor to our surveys and forms so that you can make your forms more intuitive for your customers. For example, you can now easily link to your full Privacy Policy in the GDPR consent in the pre-chat survey.

From now on, when you go to edit your pre-chat survey, post-chat survey, queue or offline form, as soon as you start typing the message the editor appears, showing the available options. Depending on the type of field, you’ll be able to use:

• Bold font
• Italics
• Numbered lists
• Bullet points
• Hyperlinks

Try it out in Settings>Chat surveys and forms in your LiveChat agent app.
Learn more about the new editor here.

Chat section upgrades

We’re always working to make your work easier and your customers’ experience even better. The newest upgrades to the Chat section of the LiveChat Agent App are here to do just that.

You can now pick from over 1000 emojis in 8 categories straight from the text area in the Chat section, and make your customer communication go beyond words.

We also upgraded the canned response picker. Now you can add a new canned response straight from the picker, and divide the list of responses into groups. Find the response appropriate to the task at hand quicker, without having to remember multiple shortcuts, and use the time saved to pick the emoji to customize your canned response 😉

Try it out in the LiveChat Agent App.
Learn more about canned responses here.

Sign up and sign in with Apple, Google or Microsoft

A while back we introduced LiveChat Accounts and revealed our new login page. To increase convenience without compromising security, we are adding Apple and Microsoft to the list of identity providers you can use with LiveChat.

You can now create a new LiveChat account and sign in to LiveChat with your Apple ID, Google email, or Microsoft account.

Learn more:
Sign in with Apple
Sign in with Google
Sign in with Microsoft

Announcements are here!

We are happy to announce that we have introduced a new customer engagement feature in LiveChat. You may be familiar with greetings, we now give you Announcements.
Think of announcements as greetings with an expiration date – you can set up the time frame in which they will be displayed to customers, and they help you create haste by being displayed only once per customer in a lifetime.

With announcements, you can promote a flash sale, inform about a new feature, advertise a job opening, without spamming your customers with multiple displays of the same message. If they feel like they need more information – they can always start a chat, right?

From now on, you will find both announcements and greetings under Settings>Engagement>Targeted messages in the LiveChat agent app.