Live chat is such a common feature today that visitors have become accustomed to seeing chat boxes on websites that they visit. They’ve even become used to having their questions answered almost instantly. Live chat functionality really can mean the difference between a conversion and a lost opportunity, so it’s hugely important for growing businesses.
The problem is that organisations don’t always have the time to manage their live chat. And while hiring full-time operators is a solution, it’s not always very cost-effective. Many businesses are getting around this problem by using Melu Live Chat.
What is Melu Live Chat?
Melu Live Chat is a WordPress live chat plugin that’s 100% managed by the Melu team. This means that you can operate a 24/7 live chat service on your WordPress website, with all questions and queries answered by trained, experienced operators. They act as your own online receptionist – without the salary. All chat data is stored in your Melu Live Chat account so that you can access it – and act on it – whenever you like. Ultimately, by ensuring visitor enquiries are dealt with in a timely manner, you’re helping to create better experiences that build and nurture relationships, and boost conversions.
How much does Melu Live Chat cost?
Unfortunately, there’s no fixed pricing for Melu Live Chat. Fees are determined by average chat volume, and by the level of coverage you need. Prices start at £99 + VAT per month if you sign up for a year. It’s £119 + VAT per month if you want to subscribe on a monthly basis. These costs are for businesses with very low chat volumes, who require Melu’s standard weekday coverage between 8am and 10pm.
If your chat volume is greater, or you require weekend or 24/7 coverage, fees for the service will be higher. The best way to determine how much Melu Live Chat will cost your business is by signing up for the 14-day free trial. Melu Live Chat will provide a quote after the 14-day period has expired.
How does Melu Live Chat work?
Melu works simply by incorporating two lines of code into the relevant pages of your WordPress website. If you have experience in this area, you may be able to do this yourself. If not, we can do it for you if you are a WPMaintain customer.
Once the code is in place, all you need to do is install the Melu Live Chat software. This connects your WordPress website to Melu’s team of live chat operators. The software uses 256-bit encryption to ensure that all data that’s transferred between your site, your visitors, and Melu Live Chat remains secure.
How do you integrate Melu Live Chat?
It only takes a few minutes to integrate Melu Live Chat with WordPress. All you need to do is install it through your WordPress dashboard (select ‘Add Plugin’ and search for ‘Melu’), then activate.
When you’ve activated the plugin, select ‘Melu Live Chat’ from your list of plugins in the admin navigation, and enter your product key to get started. You’ll need to sign up for a Melu Live Chat account through the website first. You’ll be sent your product key via email after agreeing to the trial terms.
How do you convert visitors using Melu Live Chat?
The great thing about Melu Live Chat is that all the hard work needed to inform and guide your visitors is handled by the Melu team. However, there’s only so much that the chat operators can do. The good news is that you can continue to nurture relationships with potential leads through the Melu client portal. Here, you’ll find a copy of all your chat transcripts and information about your leads. An email notification is sent automatically after each chat, so you always know when there’s new data.
Using this, you can continue to support those leads that you’ve deemed to be ready to move forward in the journey, using your own engagement strategies – such as email, phone calls, or targeted marketing.
Pros and cons of Melu Live Chat
Pros
- Based in Oxford, all Melu Live Chat operators are native English speakers
- Melu Live Chat guarantees that operators will respond to initial chat requests within 30 seconds
- Operators can prompt casual visitors to chat, boosting engagement
- There’s an option to have your live chat box functional 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Cons
- Pricing is based on a quote following the free trial, so it’s difficult to determine costs upfront
- Some businesses may feel disconnected from their customers, or feel like they lack control over leads
- Coverage for weekends, after 10pm, or before 8am costs more
- There’s some training time involved; businesses need to complete detailed FAQ documentation for operators to use
Melu Live Chat alternatives
Melu Live Chat is designed to take some of the pressure off growing businesses. It aims to manage top-of-the-funnel leads to leave organisations with more time and resources to focus their efforts on MQLs and SQLs. Of course, some people won’t feel that managed live chat is right for them. If you’d rather operate your live chat service in-house, there are a few great alternative plugins for WordPress that are worth considering.
Tawk.to
Tawk.to is a live chat platform for WordPress that enables businesses to engage directly, in real time, with their website visitors. Along with not being a managed service, the thing that really differentiates Tawk.to from Melu Live Chat is that Tawk.to is focused more on the customer journey. Melu is more about enhancing communications and onboarding leads. Tawk.to’s features make it easy to identify possible sticking points in the customer journey, and to tweak these areas to facilitate conversions.
LiveChat
LiveChat is very similar to Tawk.to in terms of live chat functionality, but this is only one of the customer engagement features available through the plugin. Despite the name, LiveChat is more of an all-in-one customer engagement tool. It delves deeper into online behaviours and advanced analytics to help you engage with the right people, at the right time. Some users love this additional functionality. But if you simply want a live chat plugin, LiveChat can be a bit ‘heavy’. Melu Live Chat is much more streamlined.
Melu Live Chat summary
While there are many live chat plugins available for WordPress, Melu Live Chat is one of the only fully managed solutions out there, and is UK based which we love. It’s ideal if you’re looking for a UK-based team who speak English as a first language. But if you want to explore more options, check out our live chat blog post today.
