A live chat widget gives a website visitor a way to ask a question without leaving the page, and gives your team a new contact the moment they do. Configured badly, it is a bubble that greets people with "How can we help?" and then says nothing for an hour. This article answers one question: how do you configure the chat widget itself on the levelpartner.ai platform, from greeting to contact fields to out-of-hours behaviour, so every chat becomes a contact in Conversations with a clear next step?
What the widget actually does
The widget is the small panel in the corner of a page. When a visitor opens it and writes, the platform creates or matches a contact and starts a thread in Conversations. Your team replies from the inbox, or an AI agent replies first. The visitor sees answers in the widget while they are on the site, and the thread can continue by SMS or email once they leave.
That last part is the difference between a web widget live chat and a standalone chat tool. The conversation does not end when the browser tab closes. It sits on a contact record with an owner, and the follow-up runs like any other lead.
Decisions to make before you configure it
Five settings shape how the widget behaves, and each one needs a decision rather than a default.
- The greeting. Say who is answering and what they can help with. "Ask us about fees, availability or booking a call" sets a clearer expectation than a generic hello.
- When contact details are asked for. Asking for a phone number before answering anything costs conversations. Asking after the first reply keeps most of them.
- Which details. Name and either phone or email is enough. The rest can come later.
- Out-of-hours behaviour. Either an AI agent answers, or the widget says plainly when a person will reply.
- Who answers. An AI agent first with a handover, or a named person or team.
Before you start
You need access to Sites, Conversations and Settings. Have your logo or a team photo for the widget avatar, your brand colours and your opening hours. Decide who owns new chats. If you want an AI agent to reply first, set it up in AI Agents before you switch the widget on. Check that SMS sending is set up, since chats that continue after the visitor leaves often move to text.
How to set it up
Make the five decisions above first, then set the widget to match them.
- Go to Sites > Chat Widget.
- Click New, or open the widget you want to change.
- Select Live Chat as the widget type.
- On the Style tab, set theme, icon, welcome messages and avatar.
- Under Widget Placement, select Sticky or Embedded / Inline.
- On the Chat Window tab, set the title, intro message and contact form.
- Under Additional options, configure Compliance notice & consent.
- Optionally enable Load on user interaction to help page speed.
- On the Messaging tab, set acknowledgements and the widget language.
- Copy the widget code and add it to your website.
Opening hours are set on the same widget:
- Go to Sites > Chat Widget and select a Live chat widget.
- Open the Chat Window tab and find Business Office Hour Setup.
- Edit the Outside Office Hours Welcome Message.
- Set the time ranges for each day, Sunday to Saturday.
- Copy the times to other days where they match.
Finish by opening your site in a private window, sending a test chat and replying to it from Conversations.
How the team works with it
Chats arrive in Conversations next to every other channel, so nobody needs a separate chat screen open. The owner sees a new thread, replies, and the visitor gets the answer in the widget. If the visitor has gone, the reply can go by SMS or email using the details they gave.
Say the firm's site draws about 1,500 visits a month and produces around 12 form enquiries. If a widget with a specific greeting brought in 25 chats a month, and 15 of those were new prospects who would not have used the form, enquiries would more than double. Two staff sharing replies in working hours might spend around 20 minutes a day between them. The inputs are hypothetical; run the same sum on your own traffic.
Leaving the default greeting and offline message. A generic greeting gets generic questions, and an offline message with no reply time makes visitors assume nobody will answer. Write both yourself, and keep the promise in the offline message.
What it replaces and what it costs
The widget replaces the "email us" link and often a separate chat tool with its own login. Configuration takes an hour or two. Running it costs the time to answer chats, which for most firms of 10 to 250 staff is under half an hour a day, less if an AI agent handles the first reply.
When not to switch it on
If nobody can answer chats within working hours and you do not want an AI agent to reply, leave the widget off. A form with an honest reply time is better than a chat that goes unanswered. Chat also adds little on pages where visitors already know what they want, such as a client login page.
For the split between an AI agent and your staff, read AI live chat with a handover to people. Swapping an older chat tool for this one on a site built elsewhere is covered in moving off an existing chat plugin. And running one inbox for every channel explains where the chats land.
Troubleshooting
The widget does not appear on the site. The code is missing from the page or blocked by a cookie or security setting. Check the code is in the page source and test with the consent banner accepted.
Chats create duplicate contacts. Visitors give a different email from the one on file. Ask for phone number as well, and merge duplicates in Contacts weekly.
Replies do not reach the visitor after they leave. They gave no phone or email, or SMS is not set up. Ask for a contact detail after the first reply and check your SMS settings.
The widget covers buttons on a phone. It sits over a sticky call-to-action. Move the widget to the other corner or adjust its position in the settings.
Frequently asked questions
What is a web widget live chat?
It is a chat panel embedded on your website where visitors message your team in real time. On the platform, each chat becomes a contact and a thread in Conversations.
Can I use the widget on more than one website?
Yes. Use the same widget code on each site, or create separate widgets if the sites need different greetings or owners.
Does the chat widget slow down my site?
Any extra script adds some weight to a page. Test your most visited pages on a phone before and after adding it, and keep the widget off pages where speed matters most.
Can visitors attach files in chat?
Check the current widget options in your account. If it matters to your process, send a link to an upload form from the chat instead.