Customize chat in the widget
Customers start conversations from the Messages page of your widget. The Widget page under Conversations settings controls what they see there: whether new conversations are open, what you ask of anonymous visitors, the greeting, and the reply-time expectation.
Everything on this page stays editable even while new conversations are turned off, so you can prepare before opening the doors.
Allow new conversations
The master switch at the top. When it is off , customers cannot start new conversations, but existing ones stay visible with their full history, and customers can still reply to them. Use it to pause intake without hiding anything.
Ask for visitor details
This applies only when an anonymous visitor starts a conversation. Users who are signed in, or identified through your app, never see it.
Three modes:
- Don't ask lets visitors chat with no details.
- Ask optionally lets the first message go through, then asks for an email so the visitor can get replies when they leave. This prompt only appears when Email is among the fields you collect.
- Require before sending asks for the selected details before the first message can be sent.
You choose which fields to collect: Email lets the visitor receive replies by email, and Name adds a display name to the conversation. These details are self-declared, so they show as unverified in the dashboard.
Greeting
The greeting appears above the message box when a customer starts a new conversation. It is part of the screen, never a message in the thread.
Leave it empty to use the default, which reads "What can we help you with?" in the widget. Custom greetings can run up to 240 characters and save when you click away.
Reply time
The reply expectation is a line of copy shown before a customer starts a conversation, like "Typically replies in a few hours." It sets expectations and nothing else: it does not change routing or your team's availability.
The options:
- Automatic calculates it from your recent reply history. It shows nothing until there is enough history to be honest: at least five first human replies over the last 30 days, spread across most of that period.
- A few minutes, A few hours, and Within a day are fixed choices.
- Custom duration takes anything from 5 minutes to 7 days.
- Don't show hides the line entirely.
Pick something you can actually hit. This line is a promise your team makes on every new conversation.