Question
What will my widget look like to my customers when my website first loads? When does the widget launcher say "Help" and when does it say "Chat" or "Call us"?
Answer
When you first embed the Web Widget on your site, if you've left all the default configuration, it will appear as a little bubble at the bottom of your screen as shown here:
Widget launcher icon and text
The word and icon that appears on the launcher depends on what contact options you have enabled on the Web Widget settings and what selections you have made for the Web Widget button text and the Contact form button text. See this article for more details on those text options and how to pick custom text: How do I change the text on the widget button on my website?
Depending on what contact options you have enabled in your Web Widget settings, the text you chose may be overridden by different text and icon. You can see detail of how enabling live chat and phone calls affect the icon and text of the widget launcher in the tables below. For more detail on both, see these articles: Understanding the end-user experience: Live Chat and Understanding the end-user experience: Phone Calls.
| Launcher appearance | Contact options and agent availability |
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If Chat is the only contact option enabled in the Web Widget and a Chat agent is online, the launcher includes the Chat icon and says Chat. |
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If Chat and the Help Center are enabled, when a chat agent is online, the launcher includes the Chat icon and says Help. |
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The chat badge is a special launcher that allows a customer to get support from a chat agent immediately. It's larger than the default Web Widget launcher button and it doesn't include other contact options (see Customizing the Chat Badge section). If the chat badge is enabled, chat is the only contact option enabled in the Web Widget, and a Chat agent is online, the chat badge appears on the page instead of the regular Web Widget launcher. |
| If Chat is the only contact option enabled and no agents are online, the launcher does not display. |
| Launcher appearance | Contact options and agent availability |
 
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If Talk is the only contact option enabled in the Web Widget and an agent is online, the launcher includes the Talk icon and says either Request a callback or Call us, depending on your configuration. |
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If Talk and the Help Center are enabled in the Web Widget, and an agent is online, the button says Help. |
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If Talk, the Help Center, and Chat, or contact forms are enabled in the Web Widget, and agents are online, the launcher includes a question icon and says Help. |
5 Comments
Is it possible to customize the icon on the launcher? If not, is this a planned feature?
Hey TJ! It is not possible to customize the icon on the launcher today, but I would encourage you to follow and upvote this feature request on making the icon changeable.
Just a quick follow up that might help! TJ Grist, we do have some developer resources if you're interested in building out your own custom launcher. You can read more about that here: Quickstart Creating a Launcher for the Web Widget.
Not sure if/how to change this but on mobile, this icon shows in the bottom right but when you tap on it, the pop up offers article search. As a user, I would think the speech bubble would bring up chat as the first offering. Is there a way to force the ? or something else to show since this isn't the case?
Thanks!
Hi Fiona,
I'm afraid there is no option to change the order of channel/contact options shown in the web widget. With the Help Center component enabled, users will be always offered with the option for article search first. You may disable Help Center in your Web widget settings if you want Chat to always be the first option; or, you and your developer team may be able find a workaround with the Web Widget API to customize the widget behavior when chat agents are online.
Thanks Fiona!
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