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Help Center › Admin screens, field by field › Website chat: every setting and button
Website chat: every setting and button
Field-by-field guide to Website chat: replies, look, open hours, AI first reply, privacy, the snippet and the WordPress option.
Website chat is a chat box for your website. Visitors leave their name and a way to reach them. You answer from this screen or from your Messages inbox. The list refreshes itself every 15 seconds while this screen is open.
Where to find it: Contractor Hub → Marketing & Growth → Website chat. Your plan must include it (setting chat.widget; which plan is a placeholder, not approved). The screen has three tabs: Conversations, Look and hours and Put it on your site.
Before you start
- The chat is off until you tick Show the chat on my website. A yellow note says so at the top until then.
- For the AI first reply you need the AI Receptionist question-and-answer list (see receptionist-settings-keys), and the site owner must have added the AI key.
Tab: Conversations
The left list shows each chat with the name, time, last message, and labels “N new”, “Wants a person” and “Closed”. Click a chat to read it. With no chats you see “No chats yet”.
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your reply (placeholder “Write a reply”) | Your answer to the visitor. It also appears in your Messages. | Up to 1,000 characters. | Empty. Disabled when the chat is closed. |
| Send reply (button) | Sends the reply. If the box is empty it says “Write a message first.” | Click. | |
| Close this chat / Reopen (button) | Ends or restarts the chat. | Click. | |
| Delete this chat (link) | Deletes the chat and its messages after you confirm. The customer record stays. | Click and confirm. |
Replies are marked as you, “AI assistant” or “Automatic”.
Tab: Look and hours
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Show the chat on my website (enabled) |
Shows the chat box to visitors. | Tick when ready. | Off. |
Button and window title (title) |
The text on the chat button and the top of the window. | Up to 60 characters. | “Chat with us”. |
Greeting (greeting) |
The first message visitors see. | Up to 240 characters. | “Hi! Ask us a question or tell us about your yard. We reply here.” |
Side of the screen (position) |
Which corner the button sits in. Options: Bottom right, Bottom left. | Pick one. | Bottom right. |
| Colour (colour picker) | The chat’s colour. A live preview sits below. | Pick a colour. | Your brand colour. |
| Use my brand colour (checkbox) | Uses the brand colour instead of a custom one. | Tick or untick. | Ticked until you pick a colour. |
| Sun … Sat (open days, checkboxes) | Days you answer chats. | Tick each open day. | Monday to Friday. |
| Open from | Hour the chat opens. Choices run from 12 am to 11 pm. | Pick an hour. | 8 am. |
| Until | Hour it closes. Choices run from 1 am to 12 am (midnight). | Pick an hour. | 5 pm. |
After-hours message (after_hours) |
Sent automatically when a visitor writes outside your hours (once per 12 hours, with your hours added). | Up to 300 characters. | “Thanks for your message. We’re away right now and will reply here as soon as we’re open.” |
Let the AI answer first, from my own answers only (ai_on) |
The AI replies first using only the questions, answers, services and service area you saved in the AI Receptionist. It says it is your AI assistant if asked, never gives a price or promises a date, and hands the chat to you when it cannot answer or they ask for a person. Each AI reply uses 1 AI credit (placeholder, not approved). The code stops the AI after 3 replies in one chat. | Tick to turn on. | Off. A warning shows if the AI key is not set. |
Delete chats after this many days (retention) |
Chat messages older than this are deleted. The customer record stays. | 7 to 730. | 180. |
| Consent line (read-only) | The notice visitors see before they start. | Nothing to enter. | Fixed text. |
| Save (button) | Saves the tab. A bad value shows in red. | Click. |
Tab: Put it on your site
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat snippet (read-only box) | One short piece of code for another website. | Click inside to select it. | The chat shows nothing until it is turned on. |
| Copy snippet (button) | Copies the snippet. | Click, then paste it just before the closing </body> tag of the other site (many builders call it “custom code” or “footer”). |
|
| Shortcode (shown as text) | Puts the chat on one WordPress page or widget. | Paste [dreamscaper_chat] where it should appear. |
|
| Show the chat on every page of this site | Prints the chat on all pages of this WordPress site. | Tick (site administrator only). | Off. Others see “Only the site administrator can switch this on.” |
Steps
- Open Website chat → Look and hours.
- Set the title, greeting, side and colour. Watch the preview.
- Tick your open days and choose Open from and Until. Edit the After-hours message.
- Decide on Let the AI answer first… and Delete chats after this many days.
- Tick Show the chat on my website and click Save. Look for “Saved.”
- Open Put it on your site and use the snippet, the shortcode or Show the chat on every page of this site.
- Check Conversations often; answer from there or from Messages.
Tips
- Short greetings get more replies.
- A closed chat does not accept replies until you click Reopen.
If something goes wrong
- Visitors do not see the chat: it is off, or the snippet is not on the page.
- The AI never answers: the AI key is missing or the AI Receptionist has no saved answers.
- Save shows a red message: read it and fix the field. A retention value outside 7 to 730 days is adjusted into that range when saved.