Live chat and chatbots
Zoho SalesIQ: the complete independent guide
Zoho SalesIQ adds live chat, chatbots and visitor tracking to your website. It shows who is on your site right now, lets your team or a bot talk to them, and sends the conversation to your CRM. This guide explains what it does, which edition to choose and how to set it up so it helps visitors instead of interrupting them.
- Best for
- Businesses whose website visitors have questions before they buy or book
- Editions
- Free, Basic, Professional, Enterprise
- Billing
- Per operator, monthly or yearly
- Free plan
- Yes, with a limited number of operators and chats
- Channels
- Website, mobile apps and messaging apps such as WhatsApp
What it is
Zoho SalesIQ is a chat widget and what sits behind it. On the visitor's side, a bubble opens a conversation. On your side, operators see the list of people currently on the site, the pages they are viewing and where they came from, and they answer chats from a shared console or a mobile app.
Chatbots take the first line. A bot built without code can greet, ask qualifying questions, book a meeting or answer from your help articles, and hand over to a person when it reaches its limits. Outside business hours, it captures the request instead of losing it.
Linked to Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk, each chat becomes a lead, a contact activity or a ticket. Sales sees that a known prospect is back on the pricing page. Support sees the customer's history before typing.
Who it fits
A good fit when
- Visitors leave your site with unanswered questions, and you see it in a low enquiry rate.
- You want to know which companies and prospects are visiting, and when.
- The same ten questions arrive every day and a bot could answer them.
- You already use Zoho CRM or Desk and want chats filed there automatically.
Look elsewhere when
- Nobody will answer chats during business hours and you do not want a bot. An unanswered chat is worse than no chat.
- Your site has very little traffic. A clear contact form will do the same job.
What it does well
- Live chat
- A widget in your colours, routing by department, canned replies, file sharing, and voice calls or screen sharing from the chat on higher editions.
- Visitor tracking and scoring
- See live visitors with their source, pages and time on site, and score them by behaviour to spot the ones worth approaching.
- Chatbots
- A visual builder for guided conversations, an answer bot that draws on your articles, and AI-based bots on the editions that include them.
- Proactive triggers
- Start a chat automatically on rules such as time on a page, number of visits or a return to the pricing page.
- Messaging channels
- Handle conversations from WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and other channels in the same console.
Editions and pricing explained
Zoho SalesIQ is sold per operator, meaning each person who answers chats. Editions differ by chat volume, tracking depth and bot capabilities. See Zoho's price list for current prices and limits.
| Edition | Made for | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Trying chat on a small site | A few operators, a monthly chat limit and basic visitor information. |
| Basic | Small teams answering chats themselves | More chats, a first chatbot, messaging channels such as WhatsApp, departments, chat routing and visitor scoring. |
| Professional | Teams that want bots and tracking | Unlimited operator chats, more chatbots, conversation monitoring, AI-based routing rules and real-time and scheduled reports. |
| Enterprise | High-traffic sites and several brands | Answer Bot and AI self-help, telephony integrations, audit logs and the highest limits. |
Count operators, not employees: only people who answer chats need a seat. Zoho SalesIQ is included in Zoho One and in CRM Plus.
How to set it up properly
Decide who answers, and when
Set business hours and name the operators for each period. Outside those hours, switch to a bot or an offline form that promises a reply time you can keep.
Install the widget with consent in mind
Add the script to your site and configure cookie and tracking consent to match the privacy laws that apply to your visitors, such as Québec's Law 25 and the GDPR.
Write the bot from real questions
Start with the five questions your team answers most. Give the bot a clear way to hand over to a person.
Connect CRM and Desk
Decide what a chat creates: a lead for a new visitor, an activity on a known contact, a ticket for a support request.
Rather have a specialist do it? Talk to TECHMA
Common problems and how to fix them
Chats go unanswered
Operators were not notified or were away. Turn on mobile notifications, set a maximum number of simultaneous chats and let the bot take over after a short wait.
The pop-up annoys visitors
Proactive triggers are too eager. Trigger on real intent, such as a second visit to the pricing page, not on every page after five seconds.
The bot goes in circles
It has no exit. Add a visible option to reach a person or leave a message at every step.
Adding AI
SalesIQ's bots can use generative AI to answer from your own content and to summarize a chat for the operator who takes over.
You can also connect a model such as Claude or ChatGPT to the bot through its API, so answers come from your documentation, prices and policies. Limit it to what your content says and tell it to hand over when unsure. A wrong answer about a price or a guarantee costs more than a slow one.
Questions people ask
Is Zoho SalesIQ free?
There is a free edition with a limited number of operators and chats per month, enough to test chat on a small site.
Does Zoho SalesIQ work with Zoho CRM?
Yes. Chats and visitor activity are pushed to Zoho CRM, and CRM data on a known visitor is shown to the operator.
Can a SalesIQ chatbot book appointments?
Yes. A bot can offer time slots through Zoho Bookings or another calendar and confirm the meeting inside the chat.
Is visitor tracking allowed under privacy laws?
It depends on your jurisdiction and on how you inform visitors. SalesIQ provides consent and anonymization settings. Configure them with your privacy policy.
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