How to Set Up and Operate Live Talk With WordPress

If you’re running a customer-facing business, making sure you have a glad relationship with your clients is vital for a sleek operation. Regardless of how good your product or service is, some will inevitably need an extra bit of help from time to time, and using live talk can help you deal with them effectively.

In a nutshell, live talk enables you to provide a better level of customer support. What’s more, it can also help your visitors feel more engaged since they know you’re just a click away. In this article, we’ll get to know the excellent WP Live Talk Support plugin, how to set it up, and how to operate it. Let’s get busy!

Introducing the WP Live Talk Support Plugin

The WP Live Talk Support plugin enables you to communicate with your clients and visitors via talk, with very little setup necessary. It boasts an easy-to-use interface for both users and agents, and it even enables you to save your conversations. That way, you’ll be able to reference old talks and help users more efficiently. What’s more, it plays exceptionally well with Divi, and we encountered no issues during testing.

In this article, we’ll concentrate on WP Live Talk Support’s free version, but there’s also a premium version available. The plugin’s free version is more than powerful enough for petite to medium sites, and – in our opinion – it might not be worth upgrading until you reach the point where you need more than one agent.

Before we budge on, it’s worth noting we’ve covered other WordPress live talk alternatives in the past, such as Zendesk Talk. However, we determined to go with WP Live Talk Support for this lump since it’s one of the most comprehensive options that doesn’t rely on a third-party platform.

• Supports an unlimited number of simultaneous live talks.
• Provides agents with detailed visitor information.
• Records conversations for record-keeping purposes.
• Offers a fully customizable live talk box.
• Notifies agents whenever a user commences a conversation.
• Integrates with Google Analytics.

How to Set Up the WP Live Talk Support Plugin (In three Plain Steps)

Most of you are very likely capable of installing WordPress plugins in your sleep, so we’ll skip right over that step. However, do recall to back up your WordPress installation before diving in using a solution such as UpdraftPlus – after all, you’ll be appreciative for it if the worst happens!

Step #1: Configure Your General Settings

As soon as you enable the WP Live Talk Support plugin, two things will happen: a petite live talk box will emerge on your website, and a fresh tab will be added to your WordPress dashboard. Before we play with the former, let’s explore the latter.

Click on the Live Talk tab on your dashboard, and choose the Settings option. Here, you’ll find a broad range of options for configuring the plugin. For now, we only need to concentrate on the General Settings tab:

Most of the options here are fairly straightforward. You can choose to disable live talk, select whether users should provide contact information (which is always a good idea), and the message your input field should include.

Other advanced settings include the option to see user details if they’re logged in, the capability to record IP addresses, and the option to play a notification when someone sends a fresh message. All of these options are on by default, and there’s no harm in keeping them enabled.

Most importantly, keep an eye out for the option to enable live talk on mobile devices. Smartphones are a burgeoning source of traffic nowadays, so disabling this option may hinder your customer relationships.

Ultimately, the plugin also enables you to track your live talk statistics using Google Analytics:

For this feature to work, your WordPress site should already be configured to work with Google Analytics. If you’re unassured how to do this, there are several methods to get you there. Pick the one you’re most comfy with, then enable the corresponding option in the General Settings tab for WP Live Talk Support.

Step #Two: Optimize Your Message Settings

Moving on, click on the Talk Box tab right below General Settings. This section includes a diversity of customization settings – several of these are only available for premium users, but the basic options are still suitable.

Firstly, you can determine on the location of your live talk pop-up box. In most cases, we’d recommend that you stick to the default location (bottom right) since the others can be a bit awkward, but your mileage may vary. You can also enable an option for the box to expand automatically, which should be avoided for usability reasons:

The plugin can also be configured to display users avatars and usernames if they’re logged in, which can be useful if you need to go after up at a later date. You can also disable live talk for users who aren’t logged in. However, we’d recommend against since you want to reach as many potential clients as possible.

Eventually, you can set the live talk to display timestamps on your messages, which helps with record keeping. You can then access any past conversations from the History tab, and know exactly during which time of the day they took place:

Aside from these settings, WP Live Talk Support also enables you to receive messages while offline. The process is as elementary as it sounds – if you aren’t online when a customer sends a query, you’ll get a notification as soon as you comeback to the dashboard.

Step #Three: Commence Talking With Your Customers

This plugin comes with a wealth of customization options, but not at the expense of usability. As soon as a visitor comes in your site, they’ll see a puny talk icon floating in the bottom right-hand corner (as long as you kept to the default location). In the example below, you can see the live talk box working on a page built using Divi:

Clicking on the icon will prompt users to come in their name and email:

Once they click on Embark Talk, the plugin will notify you there’s a user waiting for your reply. If you enabled the option to play a notification sound under General Settings, be warned – it can get very noisy. The plugin will also request your permission to send you browser notifications once you receive your very first message.

To reply to your visitor, head to the Live Talk tab and click on the Open Talk button next to their name:

The following window will display any available information about your visitor, and enable you to talk with them for as long as you like:

Congratulations, you enabled live talk on your WordPress site!

Conclusion

Keeping your guests blessed should always be a priority. Usable contact forms and thorough documentation can go a long way towards enabling users to help themselves, but both of these options lack the individual touch of live talk.

Setting up WordPress live talk is remarkably effortless if you’re using a plugin such as WP Live Talk Support. In fact, it can be done in three brief steps:

1. Install the plugin and configure your general settings.
2. Optimize your message settings.
3. Begin talking with your customers!

Do you think live talk is a valid way to increase visitor engagement? Subscribe and share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!

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