---
title: "Chats answered in seconds, in your voice"
description: "Website and app live chat by trained agents with proactive chat and hand-offs. Dedicated assistant, your hours, backup included. Get a staffing plan."
url: https://assistbpo.com/services/live-chat-support/
updated: 2026-09-21
publisher: AssistBPO (SS Support Network LLC)
language: en-US
---

# Chats answered in seconds, in your voice

AssistBPO's live chat outsourcing staffs your website and app chat with a trained agent who answers visitors in seconds, in your voice, during the hours you choose. The same person handles pre-sale questions, support chats and hand-offs to your team, runs proactive chat on the pages you pick, and works inside Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias or your chat widget.

- Named assistant plus backup
- Customer support
- Employed, screened, managed

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) In short

- A named chat agent who answers in seconds during your hours
- Pre-sale questions, support chats and proactive greetings on key pages
- Every transcript tagged, every hand-off logged, every day reported

## What is live chat outsourcing?

Live chat outsourcing is having an outside team answer the chat window on your website or app in real time: greeting visitors, answering product and account questions, capturing leads and passing complex issues to your staff. AssistBPO provides a dedicated employed chat agent who works your widget in your hours rather than a call center pool covering many sites.

Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by [Issabela Masters](https://assistbpo.com/team/issabela-masters/)

[The role behind it **Hire a remote live chat agent** A real person on your website chat within seconds, in your hours](https://assistbpo.com/roles/live-chat-agent/)
## Who is the live chat support desk for?

**E-commerce stores**
: Sizing, stock and shipping questions answered before the visitor abandons the cart, with the order looked up in Shopify while they wait.

**SaaS and app companies**
: Trial users helped past setup snags and login problems in Intercom, with bugs escalated and feature requests logged.

**Clinics, firms and local services**
: Website visitors turned into booked consultations by a person who can check the calendar and take the details.

**Agencies managing client sites**
: One chat desk covering several client widgets with a separate tone guide and script for each.

## What does the live chat support service include?

These 12 tasks are what AssistBPO's live chat support desk handles as standard for a support team lead.

- Live chat answered in your brand voice during set hours
- Proactive chat triggers on pricing, checkout and help pages
- Pre-sale questions answered with product knowledge you approve
- Order, account and appointment lookups while the visitor waits
- Lead capture with the fields your CRM needs
- Warm hand-off to your sales or support staff
- Canned responses written and maintained in your tone
- Offline messages answered first thing the next shift
- Chat tagging by topic to show what visitors ask most
- Chatbot fallback monitored and picked up by a person
- Daily report on chats, response times and conversions
- Monthly QA scorecard on speed, accuracy and tone

## Deliverables and KPIs

AssistBPO reports 6 measures on the live chat support desk: what lands on your desk, what we count, and how often you see the number.

| Deliverable | KPI we report | Cadence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chats answered live | First response time and chats missed | Daily, in the end-of-day report |
| Chats resolved without hand-off | Resolution rate inside the chat | Weekly review |
| Leads and bookings from chat | Leads captured, consults booked | Daily and weekly |
| Proactive chat program | Engagement rate on triggered greetings | Weekly |
| Topic tagging | Top 10 questions with counts | Weekly |
| QA scorecard | Speed, accuracy, tone, closure | Monthly |

KPIs are what we measure and report, agreed per engagement in the weekly review. Service-level commitments are set in your agreement, not on this page.

## How does the live chat support desk work?

1. ### Match
A 20-minute call on your chat platform, traffic pattern, the pages that matter and whether chat is mainly sales or support. Within 72 hours we propose a named chat agent with fast, clean written English and a backup trained alongside them.
2. ### Onboard
We load your product facts, canned responses and hand-off rules into the chat tool, set proactive triggers on the pages you choose, run a week of shadowed chats with the team lead reading every transcript, then go live on your widget.
3. ### Daily rhythm
The agent logs into the queue at the start of your hours, keeps status set to available, answers each chat as it lands, tags the topic, captures leads into your CRM and hands off anything outside scope. The end-of-day report lists chats, misses, leads and open follow-ups.
4. ### Weekly review
20 minutes with the team lead on chat volume by hour, the questions that repeat, canned responses to add or retire and coverage for the coming week. Monthly, transcripts are sampled and scored on the QA scorecard.

## Hours, coverage and models

AssistBPO staffs the live chat support desk on 4 models. US, UK, Canadian and Australian business hours from the group's two offices. Overnight and AEST shifts are available on request, as is bilingual Spanish or French chat.

- Dedicated chat agent, 80 or 160 hours a month, one widget
- Multi-site chat desk for agencies, per widget
- Evening and weekend chat add-on
- 24/7 chat pod with a lead, on request

See what is staffed in your zone on the [coverage clock](https://assistbpo.com/how-it-works/#coverage).

## Tools we work in

- [Intercom](https://assistbpo.com/software/intercom/)
- [Zendesk](https://assistbpo.com/software/zendesk/)
- [Gorgias](https://assistbpo.com/software/gorgias/)
- [Freshdesk](https://assistbpo.com/software/freshdesk/)
- [HubSpot](https://assistbpo.com/software/hubspot/)
- [Help Scout](https://assistbpo.com/software/help-scout/)
- [Shopify](https://assistbpo.com/software/shopify/)
- [GoHighLevel](https://assistbpo.com/software/gohighlevel/)
- [Calendly](https://assistbpo.com/software/calendly/)
- [Slack](https://assistbpo.com/software/slack/)

[See all 80 tools we work in](https://assistbpo.com/software/)

## What are the terms on the live chat support desk?

The card, the contract terms and the live chat support desk's own numbers, in one place.

| Specification | What you get |
| --- | --- |
| Focus, 20 hours a week | $800 a month, 80 hours |
| Dedicated, 40 hours a week | $1,600 a month, 160 hours |
| Managed Pod, three seats or more | From $4,800 a month |
| Evening, weekend or overnight cover | Tier rate plus 20 percent |
| Desk | [Customer support desk](https://assistbpo.com/services/desks/customer-support/) |
| Standard schedule | Dedicated chat agent, 80 or 160 hours a month, one widget |
| Coverage | US, UK, Canadian and Australian business hours from the group's two offices. |
| Tools | 10 platforms, including Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias |
| KPIs reported | 6 measures: daily, weekly, monthly |
| Setup fee | None |
| Minimum term | Month to month, no lock-in |
| Notice | 30 days, to stop or to change hours |
| If the fit is wrong | Trained backup covers the desk the same day, re-match at no charge |
| Continuity | One named assistant, one named backup, one team lead |
| Who does the work | Employed by SS Support Network LLC, never freelancers or contractors |

These are rate-card starting points. What you pay depends on the hours, the desk and the coverage window, which is what the staffing plan sets. Rates improve as you add assistants. Your staffing plan states the rate for the number of seats you need. [The rate card](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/) carries the other currencies, the add-ons and the six things that move a plan off it.

## How much does live chat support cost?

Plans start at $400 a month for 40 hours, at $10 an hour, and rates improve as you add assistants. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day.

### What moves the plan

1. Hours a week and whether the desk is dedicated or shared
2. Phones: live answering needs a receptionist profile and a backup
3. Coverage zone: business hours, after-hours, weekends or 24/7
4. Tools and access to set up
5. One person or a pod with a lead

### What the market publishes

Other providers' published ranges, by market, so you have something to hold this against. These are not AssistBPO prices.

| Market | Published range | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | Managed offshore support staff $7 to $15 an hour; US premium assistant services $28 to $36 an hour at Time etc and $65 an hour at Boldly | Wishup and Cherry Assistant cost guides, 2026; Magic, Prialto and Staffify roundups, 2026 |
| United Kingdom | UK-based VA agencies £25 to £45 an hour, Virtalent around £28 an hour; offshore full-time staff £900 to £2,000 a month | Time etc, Virtalent and Outsource Accelerator UK figures, 2026 |
| Australia | Offshore managed staff A$8 to A$35 an hour against onshore assistants A$39.90 to A$65 an hour | Virtual Coworker, DotVA and Smart Staffing published rates, June to August 2026 |
| Canada | Canada-based assistants C$25 to C$60 an hour; managed offshore plans US$699 to US$899 a month | Virtual Gurus and VantaStaff published pricing, 2026 |

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [How we build a plan](https://assistbpo.com/pricing/)

Proof

## Case study

One engagement on this desk, anonymized. Numbers appear only once the owner has verified them.

[All case studies](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/) Peak season handled without a backlog

Case study
### [E-commerce Brand Survives Peak Season Support](https://assistbpo.com/case-studies/ecommerce-support-peak/)

A direct-to-consumer brand selling on Shopify did most of its year in six weeks. The rest of the year two people cleared the queue comfortably. In peak season the same two people were answering chat, email, Instagram messages and returns at once, first response times stretched into days, and shipping-delay questions arrived faster than anyone could answer them. Temporary hires had never worked out, because training finished about the time the season did. AssistBPO built a peak-season pod on the support desk: named agents with a team lead, trained in October, live from the start of November and stood down in January. The pod worked inside the brand's own Gorgias help desk using macros written with the in-house team. Tickets were tagged by reason so the operations team could see which problems were worth fixing at the source.

Consumer e-commerce
## Live chat support for your industry

- [E-commerce brands](https://assistbpo.com/industries/ecommerce/)
- [SaaS & startups](https://assistbpo.com/industries/saas-startups/)
- [Law firms](https://assistbpo.com/industries/legal/)
- [Medical & dental practices](https://assistbpo.com/industries/medical-practices/)
- [Real estate agents & teams](https://assistbpo.com/industries/real-estate/)
- [Fitness, salons & spas](https://assistbpo.com/industries/fitness-salons/)
- [Education & tutoring](https://assistbpo.com/industries/education/)
- [Marketing agencies](https://assistbpo.com/industries/marketing-agencies/)
- [All industries](https://assistbpo.com/industries/)

## Security and compliance

1. Chat agents are employed and background checked, with an NDA per client
2. Agent seats in your chat tool carry only the permissions you assign
3. Managed workstations with MFA; transcripts stay in your platform, never on local disks
4. Payment details are never taken in chat; visitors are sent to your secure checkout
5. Personal data shared in chat is handled under your privacy policy and deleted from notes

Full control list on the [security page](https://assistbpo.com/security/) and country rules for calls, texts and email on the [compliance page](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/). Certifications are listed only when held.

## Country rules for this service

AssistBPO makes outbound calls, texts and emails only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. Assistants never take card numbers. [Country rules](https://assistbpo.com/compliance/).

- US: chat transcripts that collect personal data follow your privacy notice; California CCPA requests are logged for you
- UK: UK GDPR applies to chat data, and cookie consent for the widget stays your responsibility
- Canada and Australia: PIPEDA and the Privacy Act govern chat records; we keep them only in your platform

## Frequently asked questions

### How much does live chat outsourcing cost?

Plans depend on hours, desks and coverage. Get a staffing plan within 1 business day. As a reference point, cost guides in 2026 put managed offshore support staff at $7 to $15 an hour (Wishup, Cherry Assistant), while US premium assistant services publish $28 to $36 an hour at Time etc and $65 an hour at Boldly. AssistBPO prices per agent for a block of hours in your time zone, so the number of chats in a busy week does not move the bill.

### How fast will chats be answered?

The agent's only job during your hours is the chat queue, with status set to available and the widget open on a dedicated screen. Speed to first response is tracked on every chat and shown in the end-of-day report alongside any chats that were missed. During the discovery call we agree the response target you want and size coverage to hit it, adding a second agent at peak hours if your traffic needs it.

### Can the agent sell as well as support?

Yes. Most chat desks are a mix: a visitor asks about sizing or pricing, the agent answers, then offers to book a call or apply a code you have approved. We load product facts, objections and the offers you allow into the canned responses, and the agent captures name, email and interest into HubSpot, GoHighLevel or your CRM before handing off. Chat-sourced leads and bookings are counted separately in the weekly review.

### What happens when the agent is offline?

You choose. The widget can switch to an offline form, a chatbot, or a message that gives your hours, and the agent answers every offline message at the start of the next shift. If you need a person around the clock, we build a 24/7 chat pod of agents and a lead who share one queue and one set of canned responses, with AEST overnight shifts available on request.

### Which chat platforms do you support?

Intercom, Zendesk Messaging, Gorgias, Freshchat, HubSpot Conversations, Help Scout Beacon, Shopify Inbox, GoHighLevel and most website widgets. The agent works inside your account under a seat you create, so transcripts, tags and reporting stay yours. If you run a chatbot for first contact, the agent monitors its hand-offs and steps in when the bot cannot answer or the visitor asks for a person.

### Will one agent cope with several chats at once?

A trained chat agent handles a few conversations in parallel, and the tool shows the team lead the live load. If your traffic regularly pushes past that, we add a second agent for the busy hours rather than letting response times slide. Traffic by hour is one of the first things we look at in the weekly review, so coverage follows your actual visitor pattern, not a guess.

### How do you keep the agent's answers accurate?

Product facts live in a shared knowledge sheet you approve and can edit at any time, and canned responses are versioned so an old answer is never sent. Anything not covered is handed off rather than improvised. The team lead reads transcripts every week and scores a monthly sample on accuracy, speed and tone, and any correction you send is folded into the knowledge sheet the same day.

### Can we start with sales hours only?

Yes. Many clients start with coverage on their busiest four or five hours, usually late morning and early afternoon in their own time zone, and extend once they see the conversion numbers. Coverage windows can be changed at the weekly review, and the daily report shows chats by hour so you can see exactly where extending the desk would pay off.

### Should we run an AI chatbot instead?

Run both, with the bot in front. A bot handles the questions that repeat: opening hours, shipping times, where the tracking link lives. It handles badly the visitor who is annoyed, the one whose question has two parts, and the one who is ready to buy and wants a person to confirm something first. The agent monitors the bot's hand-offs and picks up where it stalls, so the bot takes the volume and the person takes the chats where the money and the complaints are.

### Can we cut coverage back in the off season?

Yes, and the daily report is how you decide where to cut. It shows chats by hour, so you can see which part of the window is earning its keep before you shorten it. Coverage windows change at the weekly review, and the plan itself is month to month with thirty days notice to move between the 80-hour and 160-hour desks. Clients who drop back to sales hours usually leave the offline form switched on, and the agent clears those messages at the start of the next shift.

### What do we need to give the agent before go-live?

Three documents and one seat. The product facts the agent may state without checking, the canned responses written in your tone, and the hand-off rules saying which chats go to your sales or support staff and how. The seat lives in your own Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias or widget account with the permissions you assign. We then set the proactive triggers on the pages you pick, usually pricing, checkout and help, and run a shadow week with the team lead reading every transcript before the widget goes live.

Still deciding

A 20-minute call with someone who runs live chat support every day. No sales script, and you keep the notes.

[Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) [Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) Next step

## Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are.

Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours.

[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours, or [hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/).

- A named assistant proposed within 72 hours
- Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers
- Your hours, your tools, your data

---

Source: https://assistbpo.com/services/live-chat-support/ · Contact: https://assistbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://assistbpo.com/llms.txt