Add live chat to your website and answer from the Chats inbox

Add a chat widget

Settings → Integrations → Website chat → Add chat widget. Give it a name only your team sees — it labels the chats from this widget in the inbox and names the lead list its leads go into. A workspace can have up to 10 widgets, for example one per website or brand.

• Greeting — the first message visitors see while someone on your team is online. Leave it empty for a short default
• Away message — shown instead of the greeting when nobody who answers chats is online. Visitors can still write, and you reply when you are back
• Colour — used for the bubble, the header and the visitor’s messages. Pick a swatch or type a hex colour that matches your site

List the websites it may appear on

Allowed websites takes one address per line, up to 20. The widget then loads and accepts chats only on those sites and their pages; anywhere else it stays invisible. Leave the list empty and any site can use it — fine for a quick test, but anyone who copies your code could show your chat on their page.

• example.com matches that exact address on http or https — www.example.com is a separate entry
• *.example.com matches example.com and every subdomain
• An address with https:// in front matches only that scheme; a port, if you type one, must match too

Choose who answers

On a company workspace, Who answers decides where new chats go. A visitor who is already a lead always goes to that lead’s owner.

• Anyone on the team (first to reply takes it)
• Share in turn between the people below — chats and their new leads are dealt out between the agents and team leads you tick
• Always the person below — one agent or team lead takes every chat

Paste the code on your site

Press Embed on the widget and copy the line of code. Paste it just before </body> on every page that should show the bubble, or into your site builder’s custom code box. There is nothing else to install. Get a new key replaces the code — the old one stops working straight away, so paste the new line everywhere you want the chat to stay.

• Pause widget hides the bubble from your site without losing any settings; turn it back on with the same button
• Delete removes the bubble and the chats from that widget; the leads they created stay

What the visitor does

The visitor opens the bubble, sees your greeting (or the away message) and whether your team is Online or Away, then types their name, mobile number and message and presses Start chat. The mobile number is required and is checked as a valid number, so every chat can be called back. Replies appear in the same panel, and the conversation is still there if they come back to the site later in the same browser.

Every chat becomes a lead

When the chat starts, a new number becomes a lead with the source “Website chat”, in a lead list named after the widget, assigned by Who answers. A number you already hold is not duplicated: the existing lead gets a note that they enquired again through the chat, and the chat goes to that lead’s owner. The visitor is answered the same way either way. The conversation is summarised on the lead’s timeline, and automation rules can act on the “Website chat” source like any other.

Answer from the Chats inbox

Chats sits in the sidebar under Leads. Filter by All, Mine or Unassigned, and Open or Closed. Agents see the chats assigned to them and the unassigned ones they could take; team leads also see their team’s; owners and admins see every chat. Viewers can read but not reply. Each thread shows the visitor’s number (masked for agents if your privacy settings say so), the page they were on and their browser, with Open lead one click away.

• Answer this chat — takes an unassigned chat. Simply replying does the same
• Answered by — owners, admins and team leads can hand a chat to someone else (team leads only within their team); that person is notified
• Take over — moves a chat someone else is answering to you, for owners, admins and team leads
• “Seen” under your last message means the visitor had the chat open after it arrived

Close and reopen

Close chat ends the conversation: the visitor sees in the bubble that the chat was closed, and the lead’s timeline records it with the number of messages. Nothing is emailed to the visitor. If they write again, the chat opens again by itself and the team is notified; you can also press Reopen, or simply reply to a closed chat.

Notifications

A new chat, a message on a chat nobody has read, and a chat handed to you arrive in the bell, as a push on the phone and as a browser notification — never by email. They go to whoever is answering the chat, otherwise to the people under Who answers, otherwise to the owners and admins. Each person can switch “Website chats” off on the Notifications page (Preferences), unless an admin has locked it on.