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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Olark

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AOlark is a website live chat tool for engaging website visitors while they browse. It can be used to to track leads, drive sales, provide support.

    $15

    per month

    Pure Chat by Ruby

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/APure Chat is a live chat tool with a free version for limited usage or paid versions with unlimited chat, developed by the company of the same name in Scottsdale, Arizona, and acquired late in 2020 by Ruby. Pure Chat is now a Ruby brand.

    $10

    per month

    Salesforce Starter

    Score9 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Salesforce Starter (formerly Salesforce Essentials) is a small business CRM that replaces the former SalesforceIQ product. It is priced at $35 per user, on a monthly basis, or at $25 per month for if billed annually ($300) and can be tried free for 14 days on a trial.

    $35

    per month per user

    Pricing
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Editions & Modules
    Self Service
    $19.00
    Per Agent Per Month
    Additional Users - Pro
    $10
    per month
    Additional Users - Growth
    $15
    per month
    Growth
    $49
    per month
    Pro
    $99
    per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Free Trial
    YesYesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Considered Multiple Products
    Olark
    No answer on this topic
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    Chose Pure Chat by Ruby
    Most chat products are pretty similar in terms of functionality, it comes down to price and function. I've reviewed Olark and LiveChat when we were searching the marketplace for comparison purposes and both services were very comparable in functionality and pricing however it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Pure Chat by Ruby
    Didn't see much pros and cons comparing Pure Chat and Olark. They all do the job. However, Pure Chat is free to use on basic functions.
    Incentivized
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Would buy again
    4 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    -
    Ratings
    Chat history and transcripts10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat reporting10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics10.01 Ratings00 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sales Force Automation
    Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.7
    7 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings00 Ratings7.37 Ratings
    Territory management00 Ratings00 Ratings7.57 Ratings
    Opportunity management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
    Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings00 Ratings9.56 Ratings
    Quote & order management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.55 Ratings
    Interaction tracking00 Ratings00 Ratings8.56 Ratings
    Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Marketing Automation
    Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    7.2
    6 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Lead management00 Ratings00 Ratings7.26 Ratings
    CRM Project Management
    Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.2
    5 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Task management00 Ratings00 Ratings9.65 Ratings
    Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings00 Ratings6.35 Ratings
    Reporting00 Ratings00 Ratings8.65 Ratings
    CRM Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    9.0
    5 Ratings
    16% above category average
    Forecasting00 Ratings00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Pipeline visualization00 Ratings00 Ratings8.85 Ratings
    Customizable reports00 Ratings00 Ratings9.25 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    6.7
    6 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Custom fields00 Ratings00 Ratings7.06 Ratings
    Custom objects00 Ratings00 Ratings7.05 Ratings
    Scripting environment00 Ratings00 Ratings5.75 Ratings
    API for custom integration00 Ratings00 Ratings7.35 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.6
    6 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
    Social CRM
    Comparison of Social CRM features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.6
    5 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Social engagement00 Ratings00 Ratings8.65 Ratings
    Integrations with 3rd-party Software
    Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.2
    5 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Marketing automation00 Ratings00 Ratings8.35 Ratings
    Compensation management00 Ratings00 Ratings8.15 Ratings
    Platform
    Comparison of Platform features of Olark and Pure Chat by Ruby and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Pure Chat by Ruby
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.3
    6 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Mobile access00 Ratings00 Ratings8.36 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Small Businesses
    Gist
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Olark
    Score10 out of 10
    Salesflare
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Kintone
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Oracle Sales
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (18 ratings)
    8.6
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    4.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    OlarkPure Chat by RubySalesforce Starter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Olark
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    Chat is nothing new but the ease of use and functionality is key, that being said Pure Chat nails it across the board. We use the chat across our website and ad pages. Don't see a situation where this effective tool would be less appropriate, consumers want instant information and instant connection, chat provides both without being tied up on the phone
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    If you own a business that has complex selling processes or requires integrations with 3rd party tools/systems, you should look at Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited editions. Salesforce operates very well across pretty much every industry, but not all sales, marketing, and operational processes are created equal. If your marketing process requires a long list of sendable contacts then I would recommend adding on Pardot or Hubspot. Always start small and scale up, to avoid boxing yourself in down the road.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Olark
    • Olark is user friendly for both sides of the CHAT conversation. If you are initiating the chat, or the one receiving the chat, it is extremely easy to follow and use. There are many different levels of computer use comprehension and Olark is for every level.
    • Olark has reporting features to allow you to check the quality of your employees chat abilities as well as their productivity. It provides feedback for the employee themselves to also see how they are doing and take any suggestions the customer may leave for them regarding their chat experience.
    • Olark is very affordable and offers you the option, at a low cost, to look bigger and more professional that you even are. We were a smaller company and has the chat option with Olark and now have grown tremendously and STILL have the Olark chat option. Olark allowed us to grow and provide professionalism to our customers .
    • The Olark program allows you to set up quick responses to keep your customer from waiting, and to allow your employees to not have to retype the same response over and over. It is a great program that the employees really enjoy as well. It reminds you if you forgot to log out when you left your desk and provides your customer a quick note giving them the option to send the chat as an email inquiry instead, so you don't miss a thing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    • Online chat
    • Multiple websites, multiple users
    • Supervisor feature
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • Tracking phone calls is extremely easy when using the app on the iphone. After a phone call is complete it prompts the user to enter in call details.
    • SalesforceIQ also automatically logs emails for us. This has saved us time from entering in information manually.
    • SalesforceIQ was easy to set up and allowed us customization for fields that were relevant to our business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Olark
    • Not really an area of improvement for Olark specifically, but I will offer that it is incredibly important to keep in mind your company's "shopping hours" or peak traffic times (there is a Reports feature on the software that allows you to analyze peak traffic times).
    • Transcript history can be a little tricky - if you're searching for a specific past conversation, sometimes you may get multiple search results and have to sift through them until you find exactly what you're looking for.
    • I'd also offer that you will occasionally come across folks that are on your site to cyberbully or say nonsensical things. While there isn't an absolute fullproof way to deal with this, Olark does offer a nice "block" feature to disregard any unwanted conversations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    • Transcripts that could generate in a PDF or Word doc rather than .txt file, option would be nice
    • Chat is straight forward so not much room for improvement, we're happy with the service, functionality, and ease of use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • Table views can be sorted by column. Filters can be applied, but only to one column. Multi-column filtering like Excel allows would be extremely useful and a big improvement.
    • The ability to quick copy data in a table view would also be helpful, like (ctrl ') in excel.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Olark
    To be honest, renewal decisions are not currently within my power. Hypothetically speaking, I'm very comfortable with the platform, have used it daily for nearly a year, and would see no reason to switch to anything else. The small criticisms I had are not significant enough to deter me from using Olark. It's a user friendly, effective tool for our department.
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Olark
    It is simply easy and customizable to be exactly what you need it to be
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    The system is very user-friendly on a desktop but lacks mobile friendliness. The Customer relationship manager disappears after the deal is signed. We struggled to get the system in a usable format, which was not cost-effective. The CRM system on desktop was great but way more complicated than it should be.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Olark
    Our organization does not have any complaints about Olark's Support. Anytime we reached out to them for assistance, we received a prompt, helpful reply! As mentioned previously, we used Olark fairly basically so we didn't have too much need to work with their support team other than a few general questions here and there. They were always pleasant to work with.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    No answers on this topic
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Olark
    Olark has an easier implementation process and has better functionality such as the ability to send commands through the platform to either create a ticket in your CRM or push an opportunity to salesforce; you're even able to 'push' the end user to a web page. Implementing their SDK is a snap as well.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    Didn't see much pros and cons comparing Pure Chat and Olark. They all do the job. However, Pure Chat is free to use on basic functions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    more expensive but as an industry leader and go, the learning curve pays for itself in ROI in lost time in onboarding
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Olark
    • Olark allows my customer support team to respond to inquiries much faster than before.
    • We have seen an uptick in sales as we are able to address more questions from website visitors.
    • We have changed the design of our website based on chat feedback and questions obtained through Olark.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Ruby Receptionists, Inc
    • Instant connection with our clients and prospects
    • Expanded our ability to increase client contact efficiency
    • Allows us to stay up to date with the ever changing demand of consumers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • It made the job more efficient for staff so they can spend time doing other tasks rather than configuring and maintaining Salesforce Starter.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Salesforce Starter Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot