The chat as your visitors see it

Before you train your team, it is worth looking at the other side: what does a visitor see when they open the chat? This page describes the widget as it appears on your website. What of it is visible depends on your project settings; how you set them is described in the Customisation part.

The button and the window

The chat button sits in the bottom corner. It shows unread messages as a number. A click opens the chat window; on a phone it takes up the whole screen and moves out of the way of the on-screen keyboard.

You can also have the chat opened from your own links and buttons, or hide the button altogether: Open the chat from your own link or button.

The window header shows the title and, below it, a note on availability, such as “We're here”, “{n} online” or “Usually replies in {n} min”. While the AI assistant is answering, the second line reads “AI assistant”.

Home, messages, help

If the home screen is switched on, the window has up to three tabs:

• Home – a greeting, tiles with ways to get in touch (for example “Send us a message”, “Leave a message” or a link), and recent conversations to continue.
• Messages – the conversation itself.
• Help – your published help articles, with search. If the search finds nothing, the visitor can ask the assistant instead. The tab only appears once your help center has an address and at least one article is published.

A visitor can have several conversations. Under Your conversations they see them with their current state; a closed conversation cannot be continued, but a new one can be started at any time.

Writing

The visitor types into the “Write a message …” field and sends with Enter. How long a message may be depends on the plan (see Plans and limits); if it is too long, the widget says so before anything is lost.

Below each of their own messages is its state: “Sending”, “Sent”, “Delivered”, “Read” or “Not sent” with Send again.

What happens in the background:

• Sensitive details are masked. Card numbers, IBANs, email addresses, phone numbers and tax and ID numbers are made unrecognisable in the browser before the message goes out, and a second time on the server. The visitor sees the note “Sensitive data is removed before sending.”
• Nothing is lost without a connection. If the connection drops, the window shows “No connection” or “Reconnecting …”; the message goes out as soon as it is back.
• Drafts are kept. Text the visitor has started survives a page reload.
• The history survives page changes. Clicking on, reloading and going back change nothing about the conversation.

The visitor can add attachments (beta) with a button or by drag and drop, if this is switched on for your project. Images, PDF, text and CSV are allowed; the size per file depends on the plan.

When the AI assistant answers

Before the assistant's first answer there is a notice: “You are chatting with {name}, an AI assistant. AI can make mistakes – please check important information. A person from the team can take over at any time – just say so.” Each of its messages carries the AI badge. You may not remove this labelling; it is part of the Terms of Service.

While it is working, the widget shows (if switched on) a status such as “Searching the website …” or “Writing the answer …”. Answers based on your pages or documents list their Sources below, ready to click.

If the answer points to a control on your page, the assistant can highlight it. Where that does not work directly, for example on a phone, the message carries a Show me button. The chat window never closes by itself while doing so.

If the visitor wants a person, they simply type that or use the Talk to the team button. More about how the assistant behaves is in The AI assistant.

When a person takes over

At the handover the visitor sees a short sentence, for example “Someone from the team is taking over and can see the conversation so far.” or “{name} is taking over the conversation.” When it is busy, the widget shows the position in the queue (“Number {n} in the queue.”, “You're next in line.”) and, if known, the approximate waiting time.

When someone from your team is typing, the visitor sees “{name} is typing …”. Your team only sees what the visitor types once they send it; there is no typing preview.

When nobody is available

Outside your opening hours the header shows “Nobody is here right now.” and, if known, when you will be back. Depending on the situation the visitor then gets:

• the AI assistant as before, if it is switched on,
• the choice “I want to ask something else” or “I want to leave a message”, if they ask for a person,
• the Leave a message form with name, email and message. Afterwards it says: “Thanks, we'll reply by email.”

When exactly the form appears and how the message reaches you is described in Availability, callbacks and notifications.

Forms, buttons and cards in the conversation

Your team and the assistant can send the visitor more than text: reply buttons, a small form, cards with image and link, the offer to open a particular page (“Open page” / “Not now”), or a note as an overlay. A page only opens if the visitor agrees.

If a pre-chat form is set up, the widget asks for name, email or phone before the first conversation. Depending on the setting, the visitor can skip it with Continue without details.

If callbacks are switched on, the visitor can ask for a call with Request a callback.

Rating and transcript

At the end the widget can ask “Was this helpful?” with thumbs up or down and an optional comment. The answers feed into the Reports.

With Email me this conversation the visitor sends the conversation to an address themselves. This option is on by default and can be switched off per project.

Consent and their own data

Depending on your project's settings, the visitor sees a consent request before the first message (“Your consent” with I agree.) or just a notice above the input field.

Under Your data the visitor can see what the chat has stored in their browser and, if you offer it:

• Withdraw consent – the conversation ends and the data is deleted,
• Delete everything – all conversations from this browser on your website are deleted on the server.

They can also simply write a deletion request into the chat. What of this you offer and how deletion works is up to you; see Privacy and security.

Accessibility

The window can be used with the keyboard alone, Escape closes it, and focus returns to where it was before. New messages are announced to screen readers, and the contrast of the text is calculated from your brand colour so that it stays readable. Details are in Technical detail.