Many people search for answers to their legal questions after business hours. They search for attorneys and law firms in the middle of the night. Is your law firm missing those leads?

Having a live person available to speak to potential leads 24/7 means that you never need to miss a lead. Furthermore, having agents respond to live chat messages during business hours means you do not need to take employees away from other duties to respond to website leads. 

If you are unfamiliar with live chat for law firms, our law firm SEO experts have made it easy for you. We gathered information on ten of the best live chat apps for law firms and put them together in one convenient list. 

Top Live Chat Apps for Law Firm Websites

Below is a short description of ten live chat apps for attorney websites (in no particular order). In many cases, you can test the app for free or receive a free demo to see which live app works best for your needs.

Ngage Live Chat for lawyers and law firms provides 24/7 live operators to respond to chat requests. According to the company website, operators are trained not to provide legal advice, yet they are professional and courteous. 

The cost of the service is based on “relevant opportunities.” The company claims that it can reduce the time needed for client intake, which makes initial consultations more productive. It also states that it has the “highest conversion rate” in the industry.

Features include:

  • 24/7/365 chat 
  • Live transfer of phone calls
  • Self-service portal to adjust settings
  • Client Performance Reports 
  • CRM integration for your intake system
  • Text-to-chat feature
  • Chat directly on Google Ads
  • Facebook Messenger integration
  • Automated email/text functionality
  • Request a free demo

The app allows law firms to integrate the chat feature into their profile on Lawyers.com and Avvo. This ability can increase the number of leads.

SimplyConvert claims to increase engagement by over 400% over traditional live chat while providing instant legal guidance 24/7/365. The criteria-based questions used by SimplyConvert allow law firms to understand how they can assist the potential lead during the first conversation.

Additionally, by rejecting unqualified leads immediately, your staff members can prioritize outreach efforts.

Services and features of the Instant Case Evaluation platform include:

  • Conversational bots to qualify leads by practice area
  • Instant email and text notifications
  • Embed contracts into chats
  • No coding or building bots
  • Instant contracting for qualified leads

The company provides a free trial for 30 days. Lawyers developed the automated chat feature.

According to ApexChat, their live chat system is used by more than 2,000 law firms. Trained chat agents are available to chat with visitors to your website 24/7.

During regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), the company states that an average of 42 percent of leads converts via live chat. 

Calls may be transferred from live chat to your phone line in real-time. The app is fully customizable for your website and brand. The system uses Geo-mapping and routing to get customers from your area. 

You do not need to worry about missing leads from individuals using mobile devices with mobile-optimized features. 

The service fees are based on each qualified lead. However, there is a $50 monthly minimum charge. There is a 14-day free demo available.

The app supports both English and Spanish languages.

Client Chat Live was created by lawyers and has provided live chat services for law firms since 2008. The live chat service supports English and Spanish languages. According to their website, Client Chat Live is “experienced and specialized in helping law firms.” 

In addition to live chat, you can allow your website visitors to text your law firm. Client Chat Live operators respond 24/7 to those messages. The company claims that this feature has shown 20 to 30 percent increases in chat leads.

Almost everything about the look of Client Chat Live is customizable for your website. You can change the chat script, chat icon, proactive pop-up, and other details to customize the chat feature for your brand.

Professional chat operators monitor the chat 24/7. The real-time lead conversion allows live phone transfer of leads. Monthly reports of all valid chats and a summary of visitor details and associated analytics are provided to the law firm.

You may request a free quote by contacting the company. 

CUGIC offers trained professionals who provide live chat 24/7/365. The company is not specific to the legal industry, but does have customized live chat for several practice areas, including personal injury, family law, real estate law, tax & bankruptcy law, and criminal defense. 

Live chat features include:

  • Automatic greetings invite visitors to chat 
  • Customized automated greetings for every different URL on your website
  • The real-time typing view allows you to see what is in the chat window, even though the person does not send it
  • One agent may handle multiple chats
  • Real-time access to visitor profiles once they sign up with an email ID
  • Analytics and reports to measure success 
  • Customizable chat buttons, greetings, graphics, etc.

Pricing is based on one of four plans. You can try the service for a 14-day free trial. 

Zoho Sales IQ is not law firm-specific. However, it is a popular live chat program with roughly 100,000 users worldwide.
A benefit of the system is that you can observe how visitors interact with your website and reach out to them in real-time with personalized messages. 

You can choose live chat or customized chat boxes based on your branding. In addition, the app supports multiple languages, which may be beneficial for large or international law firms. The live chat feature is part of a suite of services offered by the company. 

The fee is fixed, which is suitable for small law firms with fixed marketing budgets. However, pricing depends on the package you choose and the number of operators responding to your live chat app. You can request a 15 day free trial of the app on your website. 

Ruby provides live virtual receptionists and chat 24/7/365. Even though your law firm might not be virtual or remote, your firm never needs to miss a call or connect with website visitors. Every potential lead can be verified and routed to the correct person for follow-up.

Even though Ruby is not law-firm specific, about 42 percent of the company’s clients are attorneys. You can customize the call-handling instructions for the virtual receptionist.

The virtual receptionist can answer questions, schedule appointments, complete short intakes, take messages, and route calls to specific individuals based on the criteria you set.

Webchat services catch the visitors who do not want to call the law firm but are willing to chat with someone online. The operators for the webchat services can provide the same human service as the virtual receptionists.

You can download an ebook from their website for more information about how the live chat works.

Pricing is based on the package you choose for your law firm. There are several packages with flat-rate monthly fees.

In addition, the company offers a “no-questions-asked 21-day money-back guarantee,” which is subject to terms and conditions. 

ClickDesk reports that it is “trusted” by over 185,429 businesses. It also boasts that it has the “easiest live chat app on the planet.”

Some of the features of ClickDesk live chat include:

  • Pre-chat surveys collect the person’s name, email address, and a brief message
  • Keystroke previews allow you to see what someone is typing before they send it
  • Fast and customizable software
  • Live chats map allows you to see real-time information about the visitor
  • Send automated personalized greetings to website visitors
  • Take calls and chats from any device, including mobile devices
  • Translation feature includes more than 90 languages
  • Real-time file sharing
  • Chat with up to five customers at the same time
  • Track agent activity

The fees are based on the package. The company is not law firm-specific.

Zendesk allows you to reach your customers instantly via social, mobile, and web live chat and messaging.

Some of the features of Zendesk include:

  • Triggered automatic responses based on how visitors interact with your website
  • Distributes chat evenly among agents to ensure quick responses
  • The chat widget is fully customized to offer visitors a unique experience
  • Monitor chat volume in real-time to adjust to customer needs
  • Pre-chat and offline forms
  • Engage visitors with complete conversation histories available at all times
  • Chatbots
  • Case management workflows
  • Chat routing and chat queue management
  • Brand customization 

The company offers a suite of products that includes live chat services. You can request a demo or a free trial of the live chat software.

Used by numerous large corporations, Acquire focuses on live chat for websites. The easy-to-use chat software provides immediate service.

Some of the features include:

  • Allows you to share files, launch video and voice calls, share screens, and more from the messenger
  • Customize the messenger’s look to match your brand
  • Auto-translates more than 100 languages
  • View the actions visitors took before they began chatting 
  • Ability to “tag team members” to assist with questions or requests
  • Ability to share personally identifiable information with full encrypt ion
  • A mobile software development kit
  • Track key chat metrics

You can pair live chat with chatbots. Chatbots route conversations to human agents if there is an issue or problem. Bots use AI and natural language to respond in chat.

Pricing is based on the number of agents the law firm desires to retain for the live chat. You can book a demo for your law firm through the company’s website. 

Pros and Cons of Live Chat for Law Firms 

Before you choose a live chat app for your law firm’s website, it’s wise to consider the pros and cons of live chat. Live chat can be a powerful tool to increase business, but attorneys may need to address some potential problems with live chat apps.

Benefits of Live Chat on Your Website 

The best advantage of a live chat option on your law firm’s website is that visitors can immediately access a person who can answer their questions.

When people search for a lawyer online, they often click through numerous law firms until they find something interesting. They are unlikely to call each law firm that they view online.

However, when you give the option of speaking to a “live” person online, they may be more willing to make contact. If that person can answer their questions and provide helpful information, they may be more inclined to schedule a consultation with the attorney. 

Potential Issues with Live Chat Apps

The downside of live chat is that it requires an immediate response. People have short attention spans and desire immediate gratification. So if they wait over a few seconds, they may click on the next law firm website on the search results.

Therefore, you must have someone to respond to chat messages 24/7. Unfortunately, even during business hours, there might not be someone in the office to respond to a chat message.

That leaves you with the choice of using an automated bot or hiring a company that provides agents 24/7/365 to respond to chat messages.

Also, there may be instances in which the person asks a legal question regarding a specific situation. A staff member or agent cannot provide legal advice. Transferring the chat to a lawyer may not always be an option. 

Furthermore, some people may try to use the chat feature as a way to obtain a free consultation. However, it is usually impossible to get all information that an attorney needs to provide a legal analysis during a chat. 

A Few Things to Keep in Mind When Choosing a Provider for Live Chat

Each live chat app has different features. For example, some companies do not provide agents to respond to website chat messages. Instead, bots are programmed to respond to questions and gather information. 

If you want to reach as many potential leads as possible, you may want to consider a live chat service that provides human agents 24/7/365 to respond to website chat messages.

In addition, some companies may offer software that allows your team to respond during business hours and a chatbot to respond outside of office hours.

Another essential factor to consider is whether the company is specific to the legal field. If so, the programming is targeted at legal websites. In addition, agents are trained to respond specifically to individuals who are seeking legal advice.

As with any product or service for a law firm, do not use a “one size fits all” approach. Because many companies offer free trials, an attorney can try several apps to determine which app works best for their needs and goals.

Why You Need a Live Chat App If You’re Doing Attorney SEO

If your law firm SEO efforts are working, then you’ve probably seen a considerable increase in the traffic to your law firm’s website.

If you’re gearing up to launch an aggressive SEO campaign to climb in the rankings, then you need to prepare for the visitors who will ultimately end up clicking on your site and seeing what your law firm has to offer during their time of need. 

Whether you’re a personal injury lawyer, handle criminal defense matters, or practice another type of law, it can be important to have a live chat feature on your site. Without it, you might miss the opportunity to convert those clicks into paying clients.

Not sure which live chat app is best for you? Contact LawRank. Our SEO company for lawyers can help you understand what options might work best for a law firm like yours.