Add Live Chat to Your AI Chatbot

Follow these 9 steps to upgrade to Business or Scale, invite teammates, test visitor handoff, and deploy live chat on your website.

1. Upgrade to Business or Scale plan

Live chat handoff is available on Business ($99/month) and Scale ($149+/month) plans. Log into your workspace and navigate to Settings > Plan to upgrade.

→Business plan: $99/month, 50 bots, 100k messages/month, includes live chat handoff and webhooks
→Scale plan: $149+/month, 100 bots, 250k messages/month, includes live chat handoff and webhooks with pay-as-you-go overages

2. Invite collaborators (optional)

If you have teammates, invite them to your workspace so they can receive and reply to visitor handoff requests. Go to Settings > Collaborators and add their email addresses.

→Invited collaborators receive email notifications when visitors request human help
→When they click 'Reply', they're taken directly to the Live Inbox
→Multiple collaborators can manage the same conversations

3. Create or select a public bot

Live chat handoff works with public bots. If you don't have one yet, create a bot and train it with your content. Make sure to set it as public before testing.

→The bot must be public (not private) to enable live chat
→Train your bot with PDFs, website pages, images, pasted text, or Live API sources
→Test AI answers in the private preview before making it public

4. Test visitor handoff

Use the public bot page or test the widget. Type natural handoff requests like 'Can I talk to a person?', 'I need to speak to someone', or 'Connect me to support'.

→Ask My Bot detects clear handoff requests and queues the visitor
→The visitor enters a queue and waits for your team to respond
→If no agents are available after 15 minutes, the visitor becomes a lead with their contact details captured

5. View queued chats in Live Inbox

Go to your workspace and click Live Inbox (or Live Chat). You'll see all queued and active conversations with unread message counts.

→Live Inbox shows visitor names, messages, and the full conversation history
→You can see whether visitors are waiting or active
→Resolve a conversation when you're done, which ends the chat

6. Reply to visitors

Click on a queued conversation, read the visitor's message and history, and type your reply. Your message appears in their widget or public page chat.

→You have full conversation context—see what the AI answered and what the visitor asked
→Type your reply and hit send
→The visitor sees your reply in real time
→You can go back and forth as many times as needed

7. Test offline lead capture

Close your Live Inbox or stop watching conversations. In a new browser/incognito window, test a handoff request. Since no agent is 'online', the bot asks for contact details.

→The visitor types their handoff request
→Ask My Bot asks for their email and any other configured lead fields
→The visitor's details are captured as a lead
→You can see the lead in your Dashboard > Leads section with the transcript

8. Configure webhook forwarding (optional)

If you want missed chats sent to your CRM, go to Settings > Webhooks and add your endpoint URL. Test payloads include visitor details and conversation transcripts.

→Webhooks forward new leads, including missed live chat conversations
→Each missed chat includes the visitor's contact details and full conversation history
→Payloads are JSON with lead and customFields data
→Ask My Bot shows the latest delivery result in webhook settings

9. Install the widget on your site

Copy the widget install script from your bot's share assets. Paste it into your website HTML. The widget now includes live chat on your live site.

→Widget script is available in your bot's settings under 'Share & Embed'
→Paste the script into your website's HTML footer or head
→Test the widget on your live site by typing a handoff request
→Customize widget color, title, position, and teaser text from bot settings

Best practices

✓Keep your Live Inbox open during business hours so visitors don't timeout into missed chats
✓Reply to queued visitors within 15 minutes to prevent them timing out to offline lead capture
✓Add collaborators for 24/7 coverage if you manage multiple timezones or shifts
✓Use webhooks to forward missed chats to your CRM so no lead is lost
✓Test handoff phrases like 'talk to a person', 'human please', 'connect me to support' in your live site
✓Monitor analytics to see how many visitors request human help vs. getting AI answers only

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between handoff and basic widget?

The basic widget (all plans) answers questions with AI. Live chat handoff (Business/Scale) lets visitors request human help and your team reply directly.

Can I test handoff before upgrading?

Not directly. You must upgrade to Business or Scale to unlock live chat handoff. However, you can test in a staging environment if you set one up.

What happens to queued visitors if I close Live Inbox?

Queued visitors see their conversation status change to 'waiting'. After 15 minutes with no agent response, they automatically become leads with contact details captured.

Can I customize handoff detection?

Ask My Bot automatically detects clear handoff requests like 'Can I talk to a person?'. There's no way to customize the detection logic currently.

Is there a limit to how many conversations I can have?

No specific limit on live chat conversations. Your plan's monthly message limit includes AI and live chat messages, so plan your capacity accordingly.

Live Chat Overview View Plans Documentation