Olark Reviews & Insights

Score10 out of 10

35 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Olark are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Business Problems Solved

Olark is a versatile live chat software that is widely used by customer service teams to provide immediate support to customers during the checkout process. By utilizing the chat widget on their website, customer service staff can engage with potential clients and address any questions or concerns they may have. The software also offers the option for screen sharing, which proves to be particularly useful when clients struggle to describe their issues. Additionally, Olark's chat archives are highly regarded for their convenience, allowing customer service representatives to reference past conversations and follow up with customers effectively.

Furthermore, Olark is praised for its ease of use and reliability, making it a popular choice among businesses of all sizes. The software offers a range of customizable features such as initiating conversations based on specific customer behaviors and storing chat transcripts. It also integrates seamlessly with popular platforms like Salesforce, Desk.com, and Zendesk, further enhancing its functionality and versatility. While some users have noted that stronger analytics capabilities would be beneficial, Olark has proven to be effective for companies with up to 15 employees actively engaged in chat support. Overall, Olark not only improves customer support but also helps businesses capture more leads and increase sales opportunities.

Olark Reviews

5 Reviews

Customer Service

Olark Makes it Simple to Chat with Customers in Real Time

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

September 19, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use the free version of Olark on our website and it is monitored by our customer service staff. It allows our customer to chat with us immediately if they have a question or issue with checkout. Because it is so quick and easy to chat we are able to turn problems into sales. We can also see what page the customer is on in the website and what pages they have visited. This lets us suggest other products for them to look at based on their browsing.

Pros

Showing us what page the customer is on the website lets us track the path they follow through the products. It lets us know what what page they looked at and what they are looking at next, or if they are stalled on one page.
Yotpo chat lets us know how the visitor came to our site - we can see in real time what the search query was.
The away feature lets us put up a message on the chat about how to contact us while we are away plus links to commonly asked questions.

Cons

The version we have does not allow us to set up a list of common responses to pop into a chat. We keep them handy on a separate document so it makes for extra steps.
We have not been able to add html for clickable links in the away window even though the site says you can do it.

Likelihood to Recommend

Olark chat is easy to set up and use. You can have more than one user logged in to monitor the chat on different computers. This makes a fast response time more likely. Although you have to be sure to keep your volume up on the computer so you hear the sound letting you know there's a chat waiting. I like that you can see the customers path through the website and you can put clickable links while you are in a chat to guide the customer to a product or a help page. Plus you can see if they actually went there. This makes it easier to upsell.

Vivian Vassar

Owner in Corporate at Hey Viv Inc (Apparel & Fashion, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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Olark for Customers

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

January 31, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Olark to interact with our online visitors. It is used by our Guest Experience team and it has really helped elevate our guest service even more. We have real people providing answers to guests that would not necessarily call in for their quick questions. We have also increased our number of reservations by really focusing on converting those visitors into guests!

Pros

It is easy to learn and implement.
It is easy to set up and create shortcuts.
It is very affordable!

Cons

There is not a way to add a queue. We have guests that get a little impatient when we are very busy. This would allow for the guest to know that we are working on getting to them and not ignoring them.
We have experienced outages this past year, and the communication in regards to what is happening is not the best.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is a great tool if you are wanting to add it to a website so you can provide quick answers to your clients/customers/guests. I would not recommend it if you don't have a website. If you wanted this for internal use I would recommend a different service. It is quite affordable, so if you want to test it you would not lose much by doing so.

Verified User

Manager in Customer Service (Entertainment company, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Olark, your household chat platform

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

February 15, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Olark was previously used as a chat widget our clients and end users would engage my support team for help desk related inquiries. Our sales team also uses olark as a chat widget on our homepage to engage potential new clients. The problems olark helps us address is allowing our client base to communicate to us via our CSM or homepage so we can answer any questions or concerns they may have.

Pros

Ability to chat via mobile web browsers.
Ease of implementation.
Their support is very courteous and eager to assist.

Cons

More options to edit the theme of the chat widget.
They lack a Mobile app for end users to chat with the individuals that reach out to them via chat.
Their Slack integration needs some work, or I need to make sure all of the settings are in place correctly.

Likelihood to Recommend

Olark is well suited for an implementation. The ease of applying their SDK into your website takes minimal effort.

Also, you're able to observe which site your guest is viewing and a trail of sites they've visited prior to engaging the chat.

Their support is superb because they're always courteous and willing to help.

Quinton Myers

Director Of Support in Customer Service at Appetize (Information Technology and Services, 201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

Try Olark On a Lark

Rating: 9 out of 10

August 13, 2014

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Olark is primarily used in the customer service department of our company. Olark allows us to directly connect with and support our customers. As our website performs a variety of functions, we have a wide array of issues that arise that Olark allows us to resolve quickly and efficiently. There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than to want to use a tool, but unable to due to either lack of know how or technical difficulties. Additionally, as we are directly connected to the entertainment industry, much of what we do is extremely time sensitive. The immediacy of Olark allows to put out small fires quickly rather than wait for them to turn into full blown five alarm nightmares. The screen share option has proven to be particularly helpful - especially with those clients who are not used to describing, in detail, the issue they're having - obviously compounded by frustration. The archives of all chats prove to be helpful as well when referencing past conversations for following up.

Pros

Screen share is an invaluable tool for offering that support to customers who are not completely computer savvy and require some special TLC.
Provides a user-friendly chat window - easy to read, and navigate.
Also, Olark customer service whenever I've had an Olark question proves very helpful.

Cons

Doesn't easily allow you to email a transcript of the chat you've had to a customer.
Copy and pasting of chat information is difficult.
Screen share sometimes does not work.

Likelihood to Recommend

All of my current colleagues use Olark - within my department. If I met someone who was in the same line of work as me who was not currently using Olark - I would highly recommend it for customer service. It's much less taxing than answering live phone lines - but just as direct and immediate. Obviously, the thing I dislike about it most is all of the 11 year old children who decide it's a good idea to 'be an actor' and want advice without their parents' knowledge - that does take up a considerable fraction of our time that you would not encounter over the phone, but it also protects you from dealing directly with stressful customers.

Lindsay Bytof

Customer Service Agent in Customer Service at Backstage (Publishing, 11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

This Little Birdy Says...

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

August 11, 2014

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize Olark to provide customer support to visitors on our website. It's a positive asset because it allows us to answer questions online rather than on the phone in our offices, and it occasionally will funnel customers directly toward someone that can walk them through the sales process. Some of our best leads come through Olark chats. We don't have specific departments here, but it is used for sales and customer support.

Pros

I think Olark does an excellent job of making an easy to use product that anyone can pick up in a matter of minutes.
Olark's overall site design and layout is clean, tasteful and playfully their own. It's easy to find exactly what you need.
This doesn't have much to do with the actual use of the product, but Olark has built an enduring brand that I find incredibly charming, relatable, and fun. I love their updates on their retreat and the way that they enthusiastically talk about their identity.

Cons

I hate the fact that I can't create the username I want. Olark only has one server and I have a common name. I'm the only Jacob in our office, but because Olark has one central server, I have to be Jacob10 because one of their other clients has that username.
I wish I could see more information about previous conversations with returning customers. Simply saying "this is a returning customer" doesn't do me much good.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think this is well suited for companies that sell products online or are involved in technology and need to offer technical support. I don't think this is best for high touch industries where customers are onsite a lot, but its perfect to help customers make purchases and offer occasional support.

Verified User

Employee in Customer Service (Computer Software company, 1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience