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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

    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)

    Score6.5 out of 10
    N/ASkype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.N/A
    Pricing
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    Self Service
    $19.00
    Per Agent Per Month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Considered Both Products
    Olark
    No answer on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    80%
    Would buy again
    85 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    80 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    98 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    56 Answers
    Features
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    -
    Ratings
    Chat history and transcripts10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat reporting10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
    Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    8.0
    195 Ratings
    1% above category average
    High quality audio00 Ratings9.1191 Ratings
    High quality video00 Ratings9.0185 Ratings
    Low bandwidth requirements00 Ratings5.0181 Ratings
    Mobile support00 Ratings9.0146 Ratings
    Screen Sharing
    Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.0
    191 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Desktop sharing00 Ratings9.0191 Ratings
    Whiteboards00 Ratings5.0120 Ratings
    Online Meetings / Events
    Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    9.3
    188 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Calendar integration00 Ratings10.0174 Ratings
    Meeting initiation00 Ratings9.5182 Ratings
    Integrates with social media00 Ratings8.182 Ratings
    Record meetings / events00 Ratings9.0143 Ratings
    Slideshows00 Ratings10.0115 Ratings
    Online Events Collaboration
    Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.5
    173 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Live chat00 Ratings8.5171 Ratings
    Audience polling00 Ratings7.094 Ratings
    Q&A00 Ratings7.094 Ratings
    Online Events Security
    Comparison of Online Events Security features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    6.8
    156 Ratings
    17% below category average
    User authentication00 Ratings9.0142 Ratings
    Participant roles & permissions00 Ratings8.5148 Ratings
    Confidential attendee list00 Ratings3.0109 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Olark and Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Feature
    Olark
    -
    Ratings
    Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    7.8
    1 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Video conferencing00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Audio conferencing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Video screen sharing00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Instant messaging00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    Gist
    Score9.5 out of 10
    ClickMeeting
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    JioMeet
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Webex Meetings
    Score8.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (18 ratings)
    8.4
    (198 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.8
    (2 ratings)
    8.5
    (40 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    OlarkSkype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
    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
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    Discontinued Products
    Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams is a remote/virtual team collaboration tool must have...especially if you already use Microsoft tools. Of course, since it now part of an MS 365 subscription, it really doesn't make sense to use anything else. It is easy to use and just works. I'm not sure how anyone who works with digital files/documents and needs to work with other people doing similar work can be effective without such a tool. Of course, there are a number of alternatives like Zoom or Webex, but why pay or use another separate tool if you don't need to. :-)
    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
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    Discontinued Products
    • Instant messaging to anyone who we know only by name/email. Even if they're offline, they get the message in missed convos and a notification automatically goes to them via Outlook mail. All conversations are saved and accessible via Outlook.
    • Video and voice calls are a norm in the WFH scenario, and an average employee has around 4-5 calls a day. Skype gives notifications for upcoming meetings, allows easy scheduling via outlook calendar, and its audio/video quality [is] reasonably good compared to the amount of data it consumes.
    • Status availabilities - in the WFH scenario, you could be off for lunch, out of office, busy, sharing screens - and might not want to be disturbed. Skype allows you to do that, and in case you're off, ensures that you know that you have missed messages.
    • Screen sharing - we have to share screens at least once or twice a day with a coworker when working on some issues/features, and Skype easily lets us do that. One of the best things about Skype is that the screen can be shared without being on a video/voice call - which is of immense advantage because oftentimes, you could prefer sharing the screen, while it [is] too noisy to talk.
    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
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    Discontinued Products
    • Connection issues can be hard to diagnose when they come up(as some knowledge of server information may be needed to reestablish as the connection troubleshooting options on the sky are not as user-friendly as the rest of the platform.
    • Some issues setting up camera/sound could use more info on troubleshooting options with playback sound, video, etc.
    • Statuses sometimes are unreliable and do not display correctly .
    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
    Discontinued Products
    The software is simple to install and configure. It is rather simple to explain for correct use. It is possible to profile users for the different functions offered. It is integrated quite completely with Outlook and with Active Directory security. It performs all communication functions well with one or more interlocutors and the possibility of granting control of your computer is convenient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Olark
    It is simply easy and customizable to be exactly what you need it to be
    Incentivized
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    Discontinued Products
    Very easy to use. Even though Microsoft Teams has a lot of features and integrations, as a user I feel completely comfortable on finding what I need, getting information about the app extensions and using them. It's a very comprehensive tool, intuitive design and does not make me feel tired to be using it. I am glad with the current experience.
    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
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    Discontinued Products
    I have only had to reach out to the Support team at Skype for Business once with an issue, and I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the quickness and thoroughness of their response. The wait time was short and my question was dealt with politely and clearly, so I would say the support team has it together.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Olark
    No answers on this topic
    Discontinued Products
    Skpe for business is utilized company wide in regards to my company. Everyone not only uses it, but uses it often. It is an effective way of communicating. It also integrates very nicely with outlook and all conversation history is pushed to a folder within the outlook system. We also have it so that if someone misses a message, they are sent an email reminder saying that there is a message that went unread.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Discontinued Products
    For the below reason I will always choose this app over its competitors: Better audio and video quality, Little to no disconnections or freezing when on a call/video conference Integrates well with mailbox/ calendar/ one drive, and SharePoint is easy to use
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    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
    Discontinued Products
    • Skype for Business has enabled a migration in part away from fixed line telephony and introduced the user to mobile working with a headset which cannot be overstated as being a game changer.
    • Being able to schedule Skype for Business meetings through Outlook has meant meetings with colleagues without a meeting room has been a great enabler.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots