Web widgets- A complete guide for 2024

Web widgets are small, customizable applications or tools embedded into websites or web applications to enhance functionality, engage users, and improve user experience. A widget on a website typically serves specific purposes like providing live chat support, capturing leads through contact forms, displaying social media feeds, showcasing product reviews, or enabling website analytics. 

Web widgets enable businesses to add interactive elements, gather valuable data, and streamline processes directly on their websites without users needing to navigate to external platforms. They help businesses increase customer engagement, capture valuable insights, and drive conversions by providing convenient and accessible tools and information to website visitors. 

Overall, web widgets are essential for businesses looking to optimize their online presence, engage with customers effectively, and enhance overall website performance.

What is a chat widget?

A chat widget, also known as a live chat widget or chatbot widget, is a tool or application embedded in a website or web application that enables real-time communication between website visitors and businesses. It typically appears as a small chat box or window allowing users to initiate conversations directly with customer support representatives, sales agents, or chatbots on the website. 

Chat widgets are designed to provide instant assistance, answer inquiries, resolve issues, and guide users through the website or sales process. They can be used for various purposes, such as providing customer support, offering product information, capturing leads, scheduling appointments, or facilitating online sales. 

Chat widgets enhance user experience by providing immediate and personalized assistance, leading to increased customer satisfaction, improved engagement, and higher conversion rates.

Why do you need a web widget on your website?

A chat widget is a valuable tool for businesses to enable on their website for several reasons:

• Real-time support: A chat widget enables businesses to provide real-time assistance to website visitors. Customers can get immediate answers to their questions, resolve issues, and receive support without waiting for email responses or phone calls.

• Improved customer experience: Offering a chat widget enhances the overall customer experience by providing a convenient and accessible channel for communication. Customers appreciate getting quick and personalized assistance, leading to higher satisfaction levels.

• Increased engagement: A chat widget encourages user engagement by initiating conversations and guiding visitors through the website. It can promote products, gather feedback, capture leads, or offer personalized recommendations, leading to higher conversion rates.

• Cost-effective support: Chat widgets can help businesses reduce support costs by handling multiple inquiries simultaneously and automating responses using chatbots. This efficiency improves productivity and allows support teams to focus on more complex issues.

• Lead Generation: Chat widgets can be used as lead generation tools to capture visitor information, such as names and email addresses, during conversations. This information can then be used for targeted marketing campaigns and follow-ups.

Overall, having a chat widget on your website enhances customer support, boosts engagement, improves user experience, and increases sales and customer satisfaction.

What are the benefits of using a webchat widget?

Using chat widgets on your website offers several benefits:

• Real-time communication: Chat widgets enable real-time communication between businesses and website visitors, allowing immediate responses to inquiries and issues.

• Improved customer service: Chat widgets enhance customer service by providing quick and personalized assistance, increasing customer satisfaction and retention rates.

• Increased sales: Chat widgets can be used for sales purposes by engaging with potential customers, answering questions about products or services, and guiding them through the purchasing process.

• Enhanced user experience: Chat widgets contribute to a positive user experience by offering a convenient and accessible channel for communication, reducing wait times, and providing support directly on the website.

• Lead generation: Chat widgets can capture visitor information such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers, helping businesses generate leads and build their customer base.

• Cost-effective support: Chat widgets are cost-effective tools for providing support as they can handle multiple inquiries simultaneously and automate responses using AI chatbots, reducing the need for extensive human resources.

• Analytics and insights: Many chat widgets come with analytics features that provide valuable data and insights into customer behavior, preferences, and pain points, helping businesses make informed decisions and improve their strategies.

Using chat widgets can lead to improved customer service, increased sales, enhanced user experience, and valuable insights that contribute to business growth and success.

What are the different types of widgets?

Chat website widgets

Chat widgets serve as real-time communication channels connecting businesses and website visitors. These compact and user-friendly pop-up windows instantly assist users with inquiries or concerns, eliminating the need for phone calls. Generally, they greet visitors and offer support as needed, which enhances customer engagement and provides adequate customer support.

Email marketing website widgets

Email marketing widgets are robust tools that seamlessly integrate user-generated content (UGC) into your email marketing strategies, amplifying the impact of newsletters and email campaigns for eCommerce brands. Here are practical ways to leverage email marketing widgets:

• Social sharing: Prompt recipients to share their UGC on social media directly from emails, extending the brand reach and promoting content generation.

• UGC-Driven campaigns: Develop email campaigns focused on UGC, such as customer success stories or before-and-after photos, resonating with the audience and fostering community.

• Loyalty and rewards: Incentivize UGC sharing with exclusive discounts or rewards, boosting engagement and building brand loyalty.

• Product reviews and ratings: Incorporate UGC by showcasing authentic customer reviews and ratings for specific products in your emails, fostering trust and encouraging purchase clicks.

• Visual user experiences: Enhance emails with UGC images and videos from satisfied customers, creating a dynamic and persuasive visual experience.

• UGC galleries: Feature engaging UGC galleries within emails, presenting collections of images or testimonials for fashion brands, travel companies, or visually-driven businesses.

By skillfully implementing email web widgets, you can leverage the authenticity and influence of UGC to create compelling email campaigns, resulting in increased conversion rates and customer engagement.

Social media website widgets

A social media widget is a plugin that empowers website visitors to share your site’s content on their social profiles, follow your brand’s social media accounts, and seamlessly integrate your website with social platforms. These widgets use visitors' connections to generate new traffic, improving your site’s search engine ranking. Given the 5+ billion global social media users in 2024, these widgets are indispensable for expanding your online reach.

Here are effective ways to use a social media widget on your site:

• User-generated content (UGC): Encourage customers to share experiences with specific hashtags, curating and displaying this UGC on your website for authenticity.

• Social sharing prompts: Use pop-up or in-line prompts to encourage visitors to share experiences or products on social media strategically.

• E-commerce integration: Add social sharing buttons to product pages for customers to easily share products with their network.

• Analytics: Monitor widget performance, track shares, follows, and clicks, and use data to refine social media strategy and widget placement.

• Social media integration: These widgets dynamically integrate your website with popular social platforms.

• Share buttons: Incorporate share buttons on blog posts, product pages, etc., making it effortless for visitors to share your content.

• Follow buttons: Display social media follow buttons prominently to encourage visitors to connect with your brand on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

• Social feeds: Showcase live social media feeds to provide real-time updates and keep visitors engaged with your social content.

• Shareable content: Create visually appealing shareable content, increasing the likelihood of it going viral on social media.

Leveraging social media widgets helps expand online reach, enhance brand visibility, and drive traffic to your website. Implementing these strategies effectively allows you to boost your online presence and engage with your audience across their preferred social platform, meeting them where they like to spend their time. 

Booking website widgets

Booking website widgets are practical tools for travel websites, enabling guests to book appointments, rentals, and tours directly from your site using a 'Book Now' button or call-to-action (CTA). These widgets improve user convenience, streamline the booking process, and increase conversions on your travel site. 

They are precious for service-based industries such as hotels, restaurants, salons, medical clinics, and event venues, as they facilitate easy online scheduling for customers. Also,  businesses offering classes, workshops, or guided tours can efficiently manage bookings with these widgets, enhancing the overall user experience and making them a valuable addition to any appointment-based services or events website.

Forms and surveys website widgets

Forms and survey web widgets are indispensable tools for effective audience engagement. For instance, a contact form widget is a vital conduit for collecting leads genuinely interested in your products and services. For answers to certain questions, survey web widgets allow your business to go straight to the source: customers. Surveys are vital for providing tangible insight and context to your business decisions.

You can strategically embed these forms on dedicated pages or in your website’s footer, ensuring maximum visibility and lead generation across all pages.

What are the different types of chat web widgets offered by Freshchat?

Freshworks is a robust messaging platform to help sales and customer support teams have conversations with customers at scale. Freshworks enables your team to live chat across channels, including web chat, email, phone, and social media. It also includes the Freshworks widget and AI-powered chatbots.

Key chat features:

• The user-friendly dashboard with conversation archiving provides a complete chat history for each customer, so you don’t have to request previously provided details and start all over.

• Native integrations with Freshsales and popular CRM solutions let your support agents view each customer’s profile and buying history. 

• Programmable “away” messages tell users when chat is unavailable and when to expect a response.

• On-hand FAQs that users can browse through the chat window and reach out if they have additional questions.

• Proactive notifications that reach out to idle visitors and increase your chances of converting them with engaging messages.

• Free AI chatbots and an integrated knowledge base enable self-service capabilities for your customers with just a few clicks.

• Intelligent routing sends live chats to the most qualified available support agent.

Pros and cons:

• No-code widget builder makes it easy to configure, customize, and deploy.

• The customizable widget can be personalized to match your brand’s image and use language that would resonate with your customers.

• Canned responses make it easy for your business to respond to common queries.

• Free customer support from Freshworks is included.

What are the differences between widgets and apps?

Widgets and apps serve as computer programs but differ in their operational methods.

Apps, short for applications, are comprehensive software programs that require downloading and installation before use. They are compatible with various devices, such as computers and mobile devices, and typically require user interaction by clicking on their icons to launch.

In contrast, widgets are compact programs tailored for specific functions. They remain active on the device continuously and offer swift access to information or tasks without requiring user initiation.

Widgets act as convenient shortcuts to essential features, ensuring they are readily available for user convenience. Whether accessed on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or desktops, widgets simplify tasks and present valuable data on the screen, ensuring accessibility at all times.

How do our customers use the Freshworks chat widget?

Razorpay

Razorpay, India's pioneering full-stack financial solutions company, leverages the Freshworks chat widget for customer support, enabling real-time assistance. In addition, they have seamlessly integrated our chatbots to deliver immediate resolutions and enhance their customer experience.

BEL USA

BEL USA, a prominent distributor of promotional products in the United States, employs our chat widget to proactively engage with online visitors and customers. After integrating the chat widget onto their website, they observed a reduction in the bounce rate, indicating improved visitor engagement.

Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman, the largest multinational retailer in Australia, leverages the Freshworks chat widget to elevate its support experience by providing self-service and chat support options for customers.

Why should you choose the Freshworks chat widget?

Choosing the Freshworks chat widget can offer several benefits for businesses looking to enhance customer communication and support:

• Real-Time Engagement: Freshworks enables real-time engagement with website visitors, allowing businesses to respond promptly to inquiries, provide instant support, and guide users through the sales process.

• AI-Powered Chatbot: Freshworks’ AI-powered chatbot can automate responses to common queries, qualify leads, provide personalized recommendations, and handle routine tasks 24/7, improving efficiency and customer experience.

• Multi-Channel Support: Freshworks integrates with various messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more, enabling businesses to engage with customers on their preferred channels and provide seamless communication experiences.

• Customization Options: Freshworks offers customization options for the chat widget's appearance, behavior, and messaging, allowing businesses to align the widget with their brand identity and communication style.

• Analytics and Insights: Freshworks provides analytics and insights into chat interactions, customer behavior, response times, and more, enabling businesses to track performance, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to improve customer support and engagement.

• Scalability: Freshworks is scalable and suitable for businesses of all sizes, from startups to enterprises, offering flexible pricing plans and features to accommodate varying needs and growth stages.

Overall, choosing the Freshchat chat widget can help businesses streamline customer communication, improve response times, automate tasks, and deliver exceptional customer experiences across multiple channels.

How can I add a widget to my website?

Incorporating a chat widget into your webpage is a breeze with Freshworks. Simply define your bot flows and seamlessly embed our chat widget by going to Deploy > Deploy options > Conversations widget > Save. If you prefer to add a self-service widget, opt for the self-service widget instead of conversations.

Consider implementing open source widgets using JavaScript

Use widgets when you want to incorporate more features into your website quickly. For example, a news widget, countdown widget, search widget, recent posts widget, sidebar widget (for various functions like including a calendar widget to book times with you or a weather widget if you’re a news website), and much more.

There are several providers of these widgets that make implementation easy—most commonly using a javascript snippet to help get it off the ground.