Best Live Chat Software for Dental Practices
Having a live chat and virtual receptionist software has become indispensable for many dental practices. Live chat can help organizations of all types capture new patient information, remind patients of appointments, and allow patients to get in touch after hours.
There are many live chat tools on the market today, which makes choosing the best solution difficult. This article will walk you through our list of top live chat solutions for dental practices. We’ll discuss pricing, pros and cons, and any notable features to help you pick the best solution.
Table of Contents
- What Features Matter Most to Dental Practices?
- How Much Does Live Chat Software Cost for Dental Practices?
- Does Live Chat Software Integrate With My Practice Management Software?
- The Best Live Chat Software for Dental Practices
What Features Matter Most to Dental Practices?
Live chat software includes features that streamline the communication between patients and the dental practice. We’ve listed some of the most important features found in live chat solutions.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| After-Hours Patient Contact | There are many reasons a patient will need to contact your practice after hours: a dental emergency, a billing concern, or for other urgent questions. Installing live chat software on your website will ensure that patients can contact the practice at all hours. Some solutions also have chatbots, which handle after-hours communication. |
| Lead Capture & Qualification | Live chat tools can improve patient acquisition rates by capturing the contact information for potential patients. |
| Industry-Trained Chat Agents | Some solutions will allow you to hire chat agents who will communicate on your practice’s behalf. Tools that offer chat agents that are well-versed in the dental space will be particularly advantageous — some such tools are listed below. |
| Appointment Scheduling | Calendar integrations are often included in live chat widgets, which lets patients schedule appointments without having to call your practice. There are a myriad of these calendar tools that integrate with live chat solutions, so you’ll likely be able to find a pre-built integration with whichever tool you already use. |
| Practice Management System Integrations | Some live chat tools integrate with dental practice management systems. This allows for data to flow easily between your different systems, ensuring a simpler process for your entire practice. |
A live chat window on your practice’s website will look something like this. Patients will use the widget to enter information and get in contact with your team.
How Much Does Live Chat Software Cost for Dental Practices?
The dental-specific software we’ve included on this list tends to cost $400 per month. This software comes with a broad set of features for live chat, and also appointment reminders, patient reviews, payment processing and customer surveys.
We’ve also included two industry-agnostic live chat solutions, HelpCrunch and Gist. These solutions are priced for less than $100 per month, and come with live chat and email features.
There are a few solutions that are either entirely free or offer free plans, though we found that these likely don’t have the features required to support most dental practices. If you’re on the hunt for free options, however, you can check out our list of best free live chat solutions.
Does Live Chat Software Integrate With My Practice Management Software?
Some live chat solutions have pre-built integrations with dental practice management software like Eaglesoft and Open Dental. Pre-built integrations are particularly helpful for those who want data to be shared between different platforms. Some live chat solutions don’t integrate with dental practice management tools, but will have integrations with other helpful scheduling tools. Here is a list of live chat tools that integrate with practice management solutions:
| Live Chat Software | Practice Management Integrations |
|---|---|
| Podium |
|
| Simplifeye |
|
| Weave |
|
| Birdeye |
|
| Smith.ai |
|
The Best Live Chat Software for Dental Practices
Our top 7 live chat solutions were chosen with dental practices in mind. These choices can boost your connection with patients and make office practices more efficient.
Podium
Podium is a unique chatting solution that allows texting between dental practices and their patients, which is especially helpful for managing conversations on-the-go. Podium has pre-built integrations with popular dental practice management solutions like Eaglesoft and OpenDental. The tool also includes payment processing, analytics, and customer feedback capabilities.
Podium is priced at $399 per month, which is standard for the tools on this list. While this is a great tool and one that we’ve highly recommended in our reviews, it lacks chat agents for hire. If you want to hire chat agents to staff your live chat, check out the next solution on this list.
Simplifeye
Simplifeye is a HIPAA-compliant software tool that’s built for dental practices. It includes live chat, 24/7 chat agents, appointment scheduling capabilities, and pre-built practice management system integrations. It also has a feature called Simplifeye Connect, a telehealth platform that allows you to video conference with patients.
Simplifeye pricing begins at $349 per month per practice. There are no startup or cancellation fees. You can sign up for a free demo and then test the software free for 60 days, which will ensure that you like the tool before committing to it.
Weave
Weave is a patient communication system for dental practices. Its key features include two-way texting, appointment reminders, patient reviews, payments, and phone line integrations. We rated Weave very highly in our dental reviews category due to its broad range of features and the unique VoIP phone integration.
Weave costs $399 per month, making it the same price as the first four choices on the list. However, there’s a hefty $750 setup fee, which makes this slightly more expensive overall than some of the other tools on this list. Dental practices who want to do a run-through of the product can sign up for a free demo and someone on the Weave team will walk you through the product.
BirdEye
BirdEye is a reputation management platform that includes an inbox that will allow your practice to converse with patients. Both text messages and website chat messages will go to the same inbox, which streamlines the communication process.
You’ll be able to send attachments and images, track unread messages, and mark conversations as complete when you’ve finished helping your patients. The widget is customizable and you can set automated forms that will capture patient contact information, respond to FAQs, and accept appointments. This tool also integrates with many dental practice management systems.
BirdEye pricing is $399 per month for the plan that includes live chat. This price is just for a single location, and if you add features or more locations, the price will go up.
Smith.ai
Smith.ai is a live chat and 24/7 virtual receptionist service. While the solution isn’t built specifically for dental practices, there are some features that can support your practice. Smith.ai offers live chat agents who can schedule appointments and perform patient intake.
Smith.ai’s Basic Plan costs $140 for 20 chats and charges $6 per additional chat, making this solution less affordable for dental practices with high traffic.
HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch is a tool that’s not built specifically for dental practices but can still serve your patient communication purposes. It offers live chat, automated and manual messages, and a knowledge base that you can set up as an FAQ page for clients. This tool is powerful yet easy to set up.
HelpCrunch starts at $29 per team member per month on the chat and email plan. If you want just live chat, the price is just $15 per team member per month. Though this choice is not an all-in-one dental practice solution like Simplifeye, it’s one of our top live chat choices.
Gist
Gist is a live chat tool with chatbots, which can handle client communication after hours. Other notable features include outbound messages and an events tracker, which may be helpful for understanding how your patients are interacting with your website.
Gist is the most affordable option on this list, with pricing starting at $29 per month for five seats and a knowledge base. The price can get quite high—up to $548 per month—but you can certainly use this tool for less than $50 per month.