Being connected to customers is important for all businesses. As more people have access to mobile phones, live chat has become as personable as texting. From problem-solving to sales, live chat has been a growing key feature to online businesses. According to INC., 44% of consumers believe live chat is an important feature for websites, and that 60% of customers in the 18-34 age range "regularly use live chat for customer service."

PhotoBiz gives you the ability to embed any live chat code you want to your website in the CSS/JS section of your website. Here are 3 different available choices, from paid services with automated response tools, a free service with robust tools, and integrating your Facebook page's messenger chat directly to your page!

Intercom is one of the latest and fastest-growing live chat platforms on the market. With over 30,000+ large brands using it, (pst, it's what we use!), it's a no brainer. Intercom has tons of features that help you track customers, their habits and other details. One big feature it has is chatbots where you can create automated responses to typical questions your customers may have such as, 'How much do your services cost? What time do you open?'  

Intercom collects data and responds to customers so you can be there when you're not there. It's a paid monthly subscription that can grow with the size of your company.

Tawk.to is a free live chat platform as well, that Forbes.com says "Ranked #1 with a 98% customer satisfaction score, over 2.2 Million teams & individuals use Tawk.to to interact with 1.6 Billion visitors every month, that's 1 in every 3 people online."

It may not have automated functions or AI chatbots like Intercom, but it does have a long list of features such as detail reporting on customers, file transfer, in-chat payments, and canned shortcuts. The best thing about Tawk.to for a small team is that it's free and they have an app with notifications to help you stay connected with customers anywhere, anytime.

If you have a Facebook page for your business, you already have a hidden feature that you can add directly to your website, Facebook Messenger's live chat! Yes, really! It not easy to find but we made an easy to use guide on how to place it on your website right here. 

You can create some automated messaging through your Facebook pages back end, then have it connect to your website. It's a great free way to keep all your messages in one place. No need to check multiple apps if you already have one that works for you.

Those are just a few live chats that are out there that we've tested and worked on the PhotoBiz platform. Select what works for you and stay connected to your customers easier than ever.