Hiver, a Gmail-based customer service platform, has launched a tool that allows users to interact with customers via live chat from Gmail. 

Previously, Hiver was an email solution exclusively. But the new tool, Live Chat, extends its capabilities, according to the announcement, which is datelined San Jose and Bangalore. 

The main benefit of Live Chat is that it “works within Gmail and, therefore, is extremely easy for teams to learn and use,” says Niraj Ranjan Rout, co-founder and CEO of Hiver. 

In addition, Google Workspace users can manage customer-service channels like email and chat “minus the complexity of a clunky helpdesk solution,” Ranjan Rout adds. And Live Chat enables them to avoid switching between tools or adapting to alien software. 

According to Hiver, Live Chat includes these features: 

– Agent-assignment — This allows firms to assign agents to specific customer chats. 

– Cross-team collaboration: Agents can share chat history for context with other teams. 

– Missed chats — Automated warning emails are sent when agents don’t respond to a chat within a specified period of time. 

– Collision alerts — Agents are notified when another team member is already responding to a customer chat.

– CSAT surveys —  Agents can collect customer feedback after a live chat, using Hiver’s customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys.

In addition, Live Chat teams can utilize query delegation, real-time status tracking, and workload management as well as other Hiver tools.