What your visitors see
The chat on your website from a visitor's side, from the button and the greeting to the name-and-email form and what happens when you are away.
Knowing what visitors see helps you set the chat up well. Here is the chat from their side.
The chat button
A round button sits in a bottom corner of every page, in your accent colour. Clicking it opens the chat window, which shrinks to fit on a phone.
If someone in your team writes while the window is closed, a short preview of the message appears above the button, so the visitor does not miss it.
Opening the chat
The window shows your Widget title, with a line under it: "We typically reply in a few minutes" while someone in your team is online, or "We'll reply by email" when nobody is. Below comes your Greeting.
If the website asks for name and email first, the visitor sees "Tell us who you are so we can follow up.", fills in Name and Email, and clicks Start chat. Websites that already know who the visitor is can skip this; see Recognise customers who are signed in to your website.
Then the visitor can write, or tap one of your suggested questions, which wait under the greeting while the chat is still empty.
Under each reply the visitor sees the name your website has chosen; see Choose the name visitors see on replies.
When nobody is online
The window says "We'll reply by email" and shows your Offline message. Visitors can still write: their message waits in your Inbox for whoever is in next.
When a chat is closed
When your team closes a chat, the visitor sees "This conversation was closed. Send a message to start a new one." Writing again starts a new conversation.