Best cobrowsing solution
How to choose the right co-browsing solution for your business
As customer support, sales, and onboarding move online, cobrowsing has become a critical capability. The best cobrowsing solution allows businesses to support customers in real time by securely sharing a live web session—without screen sharing, downloads, or privacy risks. This guide explains what makes a cobrowsing solution “the best,” what to look for, and how Cobrowse by Zoho Assist meets these criteria.
What is cobrowsing, and why is it essential for customer operations?
Cobrowsing (collaborative browsing) is a functionality that allows an agent and a customer to view, navigate, and interact with the same webpage in real time during a live support session. It helps reduce verbal explanations with visual guidance because agents can highlight elements, scroll through the page together, help in form completion, or troubleshoot webpage issues.
Cobrowsing is essential for customer operations because it helps streamline support processes to result in faster resolutions, better customer experience, and higher conversions.
How cobrowsing differs from screen sharing
- Cobrowsing and screen sharing may sound like interchangeable terms, but they’re entirely different in terms of what’s being shared.
- In screen sharing, a presenter shares their entire screen with a remote user. It’s a GPU-intensive process that involves encoding, transmission, decoding, and rendering of all the contents on the user’s screen. Only the presenter can control their screen while the remote user can view and annotate on it. If the presenter swaps screens with them, they can control their own screen during the broadcast.
- On the other hand, cobrowsing allows a remote agent and a visitor to view a website together, scroll through it, and annotate on it. This works only when the website has the cobrowsing script embedded in it. Instead of sharing the screen, it uses DOM synchronization to relay the actions taken, leading to stable and low latency connections.
What are the key features to look for in a cobrowsing solution?
A cobrowsing software must have the following set of key features to make it the best in the market.
Browser-based software
The best solutions are the ones that are easy to use for the customer without any friction. Cobrowsing software must work entirely on the browser and shouldn’t require any plugins, apps, or installations from the customer side.
Performance and scalability
The best solution is lightweight, fast, and reliable—even at scale. The script that enables cobrowsing for a website must be efficient and lightweight so that it doesn’t slow down the entire website and impact SEO stats negatively.
Device and platform compatibility
With most users spending time on mobiles or tablets, a cobrowsing solution that works on these devices have a higher competitive edge and increased positive engagement. It should function seamlessly across desktop browsers like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge, and mobile or tablet browser (iOS and Android) without losing performance.
Visual guidance tools
A strong cobrowsing platform comes with visual aids like laser pointer or annotation tools to help agents highlight fields or buttons, drawing customer attention to it instantly. These tools come in handy while filling extensive forms or for finding certain hyperlinks or buttons on a website.
Built-in privacy and security
Privacy and security are non-negotiables in cobrowsing tools. The top cobrowsing tools will automatically mask sensitive fields (passwords, payments, PII) to ensure data protection and require customer consent for higher-level access and control. Encryptions are key to maintaining session and portal security and ensuring the customer’s interests are safeguarded. Additionally, it should be compliant with data protection regulations such as GDPR, PCI, and HIPAA.
Why Cobrowse by Zoho Assist is considered one of the best cobrowsing solutions
Cobrowse by Zoho Assist is a practical example of what modern businesses look for in a cobrowsing platform. It supports real-time mobile cobrowsing that’s optimized for touch interactions. It’s primed for GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI compliance, and helps your business provide seamless, secure support for your customers.
Key functionalities of Cobrowse by Zoho Assist
- Real-time collaborative browsing
- No downloads or screen sharing required
- Mobile and desktop support
- Easy deployment with a single script
- On-demand cobrowse sessions
- Advanced field masking for sensitive data
- Visual guidance tools for accurate inputs
- No session recording to ensure compliance
- Auditable session logs
- Custom reports for cobrowse activities
Where the best cobrowsing platform creates the most impact
Whenever you hear customers saying “I’m stuck” or “I don’t see that,” that’s where cobrowsing can be a game changer. That includes:
- Customer support teams
- Sales and pre-sales teams
- Onboarding and success teams
- Banking and financial service providers
- Educational programs
- Telecom services
- E-commerce brands
- SaaS companies