Configuring your chatbot's opening lines and suggested responses helps create a smooth, engaging experience for your website visitors. By setting up targeted welcome messages and clickable replies, you can help users navigate to the information they need faster.
Configuring the Welcome Message
To configure the welcome message, navigate to your assistant's settings and locate the "Welcome message" field in the "Engagement" tab of "AI Assistants" menu. The welcome message serves as the first interaction visitors see when they engage with the chat widget.
The message text must be between 1 and 250 characters, and a character counter is displayed below the input field to help you track its length.
The default welcome message is set to "How can I assist you today?".
The welcome message appears as the first assistant message in an open chat window, in a greeting popup after a 5-second delay, and in the collapsed widget preview.
Returning visitors who already have an existing chat history will not see the welcome message; they will only see their previous conversation history.
Setting Up Conversation Starters
To set up conversation starters, use the toggle switch under the "Conversation starters" section located in the "Engagement" tab of "AI Assistants" menu. Conversation starters are clickable, pill-shaped buttons that provide visitors with pre-defined options to begin a chat without needing to type.
You can configure a maximum of 5 conversation starters per assistant, and each starter must be between 1 and 50 characters long.
When the conversation starters feature is enabled, the system requires you to configure at least one active starter.
These starter buttons appear in the collapsed widget's popup alongside the welcome message, or aligned to the right at the bottom of the open message area.
Clicking a conversation starter automatically sends its text as the visitor's first message, after which all starter buttons disappear from the interface.
The widget tracks conversation starter clicks as events to provide you with analytics data.
Customizing the Input Placeholder Text
To customize the input placeholder text, edit the "Message box placeholder" field in the "Engagement" tab of "AI Assistants" menu. The input placeholder functions as the gray hint text shown inside an empty message field, letting visitors know they can begin typing.
The placeholder text must be a minimum of 1 character and a maximum of 50 characters.
The default placeholder text provided by the system is "Type your question...".
This text displays at 50% opacity and instantly disappears as soon as the visitor begins typing.
The chat input field allows visitors to type messages up to 2,000 characters long and automatically resizes vertically up to 2 rows to accommodate longer texts.
Managing Contextual Quick Replies
To manage contextual quick replies, toggle the feature on or offin the "Engagement" tab of "AI Assistants" menu. Quick replies are AI-generated buttons that suggest relevant follow-up options based entirely on the current conversation's context.
The quick replies feature is enabled by default for all newly created assistants.
Quick replies are generated automatically once the assistant finishes generating its response.
The suggested replies appear as a horizontal row of pill-shaped buttons directly below the most recent assistant message.
Selecting a quick reply sends that text as the visitor's next message, causing the previous quick reply buttons to disappear from the chat.
Quick replies only display for the latest assistant message and remain hidden while the assistant is composing the response.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I set different welcome messages for different pages on my website?
You can display different welcome messages on different website pages by configuring multiple assistants with routing rules. Because the chat widget loads the specific configuration for the active matching assistant, each page can display its own unique welcome message.
Why aren't conversation starters displaying for my website visitors?
Conversation starters are intentionally hidden if a visitor has an existing chat history from a previous session on your site. Additionally, they will not appear if the "Conversation starters" toggle switch is currently disabled in your assistant settings.
Benefits
Provide immediate guidance to your website visitors by offering pre-defined conversation starters and customized welcome messages.
Help your users respond faster and more intuitively using contextual, AI-generated quick replies that adapt to the conversation.
Gather valuable interaction data, as clicks on conversation starters and quick replies are continuously tracked for your analytics.