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Live chat has changed the way customer engagement happens.
It has opened a big window of opportunities for businesses across sales, support, and marketing. From quick replies to real-time support, from personalized responses to feedback collection, the use of live chat solutions has ensured that both, customers and businesses, experience – and also benefit from – a new dimension of engagement.
However, not all live chat systems are created equal as some are less secure than others. As a business, you would ideally like secure live chat to minimize risks with customer communications. After all, any compromise with customer data can harm your business interests in a big way.
When the live chat your business uses lacks security features, it might stop you from giving a secure conversation environment to customers, resulting in a loss of trust for your business.
In this blog, we will discuss what secure live chat is, explore the various features of such live chats, and discuss the top secure live chat solutions on the market.
But first, let’s get started with understanding what secure live chat is…
What is Secure Live Chat?
Secure live chat is a software communication system that enables safe and secure conversations between users and businesses. It has all the features for protecting user data, safeguarding privacy, and maintaining confidentiality during real-time interactions.
The use of secure live chat ensures that conversations between agents and users are safe from risks of data breaches, unauthorized access, and cyber threats. It works as a secure communication channel where the integrity is maintained with data exchange and data stays protected as well.
Common Live Chat Security Risks for Businesses
Live chat is a great channel for customer communication but it’s not 100% safe. These tools are prone to various security threats that not only compromise the integrity of communication but also raise serious questions over the privacy of customer data.
Discussed below are some of the most common live chat security risks –
- Email frauds – Cyber crooks are very smart these days as they can sneak into the live chat system and steal customer data such as email and passwords. This email information is either hacked for malicious purposes or used to run scams.
- Phishing attacks – Data breaches caused by phishing are never easy to detect and they cause serious damage as well. In this type of attack, scammers use the live chat system as legitimate entities to access customer data and then use the same data to scam.
- Internal data breaches – Live chat is also prone to human errors resulting in internal data breaches where someone deliberately breaches the standard protocol and leaks customer information. Having role-based user controls and permissions with the live chat system can minimize this type of risk.
- Identity fraud – Live chat tools with weak security features might be at risk of compromise. In that case, personal details can easily be accessed and stolen for malicious purposes.
- Cyber extortion – This form of risk is the most sophisticated where illegal access is gained to the data and then the money is demanded. Cyber extortion, ransomware attacks, and cyber espionage are some forms of this kind of risk. After all, only 14% of businesses are prepared to defend against cyber attacks of any form.
Importance of Using Secure Live Chat Tools
Using secure live chat is vital for ensuring the integrity of communication between customers and businesses. It enables safeguarding sensitive information, resulting in building trust with users. A business that uses secure live chat is better placed to provide a safe and reliable environment for communication.
Here are the key reasons your business should use secure live chat –
- Your business can prevent unauthorized access to conversation data when the live chat used is secure.
- Such live chat software uses various encryption and security measures that help protect key information such as personal and financial data.
- Live chat conversations are prone to data breaches but this risk can be hugely mitigated with proper security features. Otherwise, it takes 197 days to discover such data breaches.
- Customers engage more freely and trust a business more when communication is protected.
- By using secure live chat solutions, your business can comply with data protection regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, etc.
- Secure live chat tools are designed to thwart and mitigate those cyber-attacks that often prey on weak communication channels and cause damage.
- Secure chat solutions are key to protecting sensitive conversations involving financial transactions as customers often hesitate to share financial details over unprotected channels.
- Secure chat solutions not only prevent unauthorized access to conversations but also ensure that chats remain private and confidential.
Features of Secure Live Chat Platforms
Secure communication is what customers want. To meet their needs, a business should use a live chat solution that enables authenticity and integrity of communication. All this is not possible unless a chat tool has certain security features.
Here are the top features of a secure live chat platform –
- GDPR Compliance – A quality live chat solution will always be GDPR compliant (General Data Protection Regulation). The European Union implements this regulation with the purpose of safeguarding the privacy of personal data. When a live chat tool is GDPR compliant, it means it follows the set rules and standards for handling the personal data of users.
- Data Privacy – Any business that does some form of customer communication must prioritize data privacy by investing in a secure live chat solution with robust data protection features. It should ensure the protection of the personal information exchanged during chat conversations. This information could be anything be it the name of the user, phone number, email, or other details that are generally shared during conversations.
- User Authentication – Unauthorized access is a huge risk to customer communication. It can compromise the safety, integrity, and confidentiality of customer data. A secure live chat with a user authentication feature can help avoid that risk. Such a tool can verify customers’ identities before giving access and that can improve the protection of conversations.
- Chat Activity Tracking – Risks to customer communication are greater when agents are not able to track and monitor chat activity. This stops them from quickly detecting unusual actions that can lead to potential damage. When a live chat solution has a chat tracking feature, it keeps the conversations risk-free.
- Blocking Malicious Users – Chat sessions are prone to spam or misbehaviors from unruly users. You however can block such users who are spammy or offensive if your live chat software has the feature for it. By blocking unwanted users, the chat environment can be made professional.
- Data Encryption – Top chat tools enable end-to-end encryption so that the message can only be encrypted on the sender’s side and decrypted on the recipient’s side. By employing encryption, you can stop anyone from accessing the content of the message. This is how all confidential information is made safe.
Top Secure Live Chat Solutions for Your Business
Live Chat is now central to offering great customer experiences. It helps in real-time and quick conversations that enhance the value of engagement. There are so many quality live chat solutions available that can add immense value to the way your business handles customers and offers services.
Here are some of the top live chat solutions for your business to choose from –
1. REVE Chat
REVE Chat is a quality live chat tool that helps your business offer the best omnichannel support to customers in a secure manner. This tool will help your business be where your customers are and offer them a unified experience at each stage of their journey with your business.
The live chat software from REVE Chat is not only secure but also full of advanced features such as intelligent chat routing, proactive triggers, and in-depth analytics. It’s powerful as your business can use it to understand customers’ needs and provide personalized support at the right time.
The key features of this tool include voice & video chat, co-browsing, chatbots, omnichannel messaging, and advanced customization. It will let you seamlessly engage your customers over their preferred channels and offer an amazing omnichannel messaging experience.
Security Features
- End-to-end encryption
- User authentication
- Access control
- File transfer security
- Secure attachments
- Blacklist
- Real-time monitoring
2. LiveChat
LiveChat is a cloud-based customer service software app with high-quality live support and features. It also comes with a powerful ticketing system and web analytics capabilities. By using this software, your business can reduce customer calls and emails and enhance engagement manifold.
It’s rated one of the best tools in the category as it enables multi-channel support and communication through various popular channels. Using this tool, your agents can offer answers and responses from anywhere, connect with customers in real time, and use predefined answers to increase sales.
The top features of LiveChat include notifications, chat tags, chat archives, and file sharing. You can configure incoming notifications, integrate with over 200 platforms, and do chat widget customization.
Security Features
- Encrypted connection
- Hide feature for sensitive data
- Access is limited to specified IP addresses.
- Ban spam chats
- 2-Step Verification
3. Userlike
Userlike is another cloud-based live chat software that enables real-time communication between customers and businesses. Made for website and mobile support, it helps agents message via different channels and boost customer engagement. This tool helps in building customized chat buttons and lets agents proactively invite visitors to chat.
Some of the top features include proactive chat, canned responses, routing, integrations, and website visitor tracking. While it offers a free plan, you might not get access to powerful features such as analytics with this plan.
Security Features
- Data encryption
- End-to-end encryption
- User authentication
- Access controls
- Secure file sharing
4. Drift
Drift is another key name in the list of popular secure live chat solutions for businesses to engage in real-time, personalized conversations with customers. It’s a kind of tool that encourages live conversations, and that’s why lacks forms to collect customer info.
Using this powerful live chat solution, your business can offer real-time support to visitors and your agents can handle multiple conversations simultaneously. The tool allows the sending of targeted messages based on user behavior.
Some of the top features of Drift include proactive chat, canned responses, routing, and website visitor tracking. The main focus of this platform is on lead generation and conversion as it helps in capturing information and qualifying potential leads.
Security Features
- Data Encryption and end-to-end encryption
- Data storage
- User authentication
- Access controls
- Secure file sharing
- Compliance with data protection regulations
5. Tidio
Tidio is another addition to the list of cloud-based live chat systems for businesses. It can integrate messages from live chat widgets, Facebook Messenger, and emails. With this live chat software, you will get basic live chat features and you can connect it to all websites and platforms via plugins.
Some of the top features of Tidio chat include proactive chat, routing, canned responses, offline form, and website visitor tracking. Using this chat, you can automatically qualify leads, gather emails and phone numbers, and boost sales. However, the analytics are basic, and native integrations are limited.
Security Features
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption
- Multi-level access control
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- End-to-end encryption
6. ChatSupport
ChatSupport is a feature-rich live chat solution that helps businesses engage with visitors by adding chat prompts to specific pages on the website. You can also add relevant messages to the page where chat prompts are added to engage customers better. It offers a lead capture form to collect visitor info when agents are offline.
With ChatSupport, you can also personalize the chat widget to match your brand. It’s also possible to recognize return visitors and see who is on the website. A post-chat survey form is also available to collect feedback after interactions and optimize support.
Security Features
- End-to-end encryption
- Access control
- Authentication
- Data protection
7. Tawk.to
Tawk.to is a live chat tool that is not only secure but also full of features for customer engagement. Its free version has many useful features such as automated triggers, chat whisper, and unlimited users. The chat widget is completely customizable and you can set it with options for message preview, and sound notification.
You can enable and disable the chat widget automatically due to a consent form option. The chat inbox will show a message queue where each message will show the IP address, email, location, and OS of the user. Agents can also convert the chat to a ticket.
Security Features
- Encryption protocols (SSL/TLS)
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- Role-based access controls
- Compliance with data protection regulations
Make Your Digital Customer Communication Secure With the REVE Chat Tool
Risks are many to customer communication as cases of data breaches and cyber threats are growing by the day. We, at REVE Chat, understand how businesses want a live chat solution that is secure and that helps maintain the integrity of communication.
Our live chat software comes with all the features to make customer engagement safe and risk-free. Plus, you can find other useful tools to engage customers better, such as co-browsing and video chat. You can add an AI-powered chatbot and automate various tasks across sales, support, and marketing as well.
Final Thoughts
The digital landscape is evolving at a rapid rate but this evolution is also causing threats to communication channels and making engagement risky.
With REVE Chat, you find a secure live chat tool to mitigate the inherent risks with communication.
You can sign up and see how our live chat tool works for your business.
