Guide5 min
Live chat settings
Set your greeting, chat hours, offline message and e-mail alerts, and decide what the AI assistant does.
On this page
Video coming soon. The written steps below cover everything in the meantime.
With Website live chat ($49/mo), visitors chat with you from your site and you answer from your dashboard, on a computer or your phone. It includes 500 conversations a month, a 12-month history and up to 3 alert recipients.
Open Live chat in the dashboard menu, then its Settings. Select Save changes when you’re done; your chat uses the new settings right away.
1. Write your greeting
Under Greeting, the Welcome message is the first thing visitors see when they open the chat.
2. Set your chat hours
Under Business hours, choose:
- Always open: visitors can chat any time
- Same as my site hours: uses the weekly hours on your site
- Custom chat hours: for example, only answer chats 9–5. A closing time earlier than the opening time runs past midnight (for example 6 PM to 2 AM)
Outside these hours, the chat becomes a “leave a message” form. Stepping out? Turn on I’m away right now to show the form even during business hours.
3. Write your offline message
Under When you’re offline, the Offline message is shown on the “leave a message” form, and after a visitor sends one.
4. Choose your e-mail alerts
Under E-mail alerts, choose Every new chat (plus a reminder if nobody answers in 2 minutes) or Only if nobody answers in 2 minutes. Messages left after hours are always e-mailed. Who gets them is set in your notification settings.
The AI assistant
Website live chat includes an assistant that takes visitors’ details when you can’t answer. If nobody answers in 2 minutes, or after hours, it asks for the visitor’s request, so the chat becomes a complete lead. It never answers questions.
The Live chat with AI upgrade (+$30/mo, $79/mo in total) answers visitors from your site’s content and your own questions and answers, in English and Spanish:
- Its first message always says it’s an AI, and it stops as soon as you reply or take over.
- Add up to 30 questions and answers: prices, areas you serve, what you don’t do. What isn’t on your site or in your answers, it tells visitors you’ll confirm.
- 300 AI conversations a month are included. After that, each one is $0.20, or add 500 conversations this month for $50. The fair-use limit is 2,000 AI conversations a month.
Tip: You can prepare these settings before turning chat on. They apply once Website live chat is on in Add-ons.