Chat with your website visitors

You can view and reply to messages sent via your live chat widget or bot in the conversations inbox.

If you're using the HubSpot mobile app, learn how to respond to chats using conversations on mobile. 

Before you get started

Before you can start chatting with your visitors, make sure to set up the following:

• Set up your chat channel in the conversations inbox: customize your default inbox and connect channels such as a team email or a Facebook messenger account.
• Create a chatflow: after you've set up your chat channel in the conversations inbox, you can create a live chat, where you can connect your website visitors to members of your team.
• Edit your display image and name in your profile and preferences: the profile image and name you set up in your profile and preferences will appear whenever you're assigned or transferred a conversation.
• Add a meetings link to the chat widget: include a meeting link in your chat widget so visitors can access your scheduling page and book time with you during your conversation.

Respond to a chat conversation

You can compose your chat response using the reply editor in the conversations inbox. The contact record is available in the right sidebar for full context throughout your conversation.

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Conversations > Inbox.
• In the left sidebar, click a chat conversation to open it.
  
  • If you have an assigned Service Hub paid seat and there are other users already responding to the visitor or viewing the thread, their avatar will appear in the reply editor and a typing indicator will signal that they're actively responding. You should open another unassigned conversation. 

• • If you want to assign the conversation to a new owner, or take over a bot conversation, click the Assignee dropdown menu in the top-left corner. If the conversation was transferred over from a bot, the avatar in the chat widget will transition from the bot avatar to the owner's profile photo and name that they configured in their profile and preferences.

• • If you want to loop in another team member, click the Comment tab. Type @ and your team member's name, then click Add comment.
  • Type your response into the reply editor at the bottom of the conversation. 
    • Use the link link icon to share a link with your contact.
    • Use the attach paper clip icon to share an attachment from your device or your file manager with your contact. You can also drag and drop files from your computer into the chat widget. Learn more about the chat widget's supported file types. 
    • If you want to use your sales or service tools in your response, click Insert, then select one of the following:
      • Documents: attach a piece of content to your chat.
      • Snippets: quickly add short, reusable text blocks into your chats.
      • Meetings: add a meeting link to your chat so a visitor can access your scheduling page and book time with you during a chat conversation.
      • Knowledge Articles: add a knowledge base article to your chat conversation.
      • Quotes: share a quote in your chat.
      • Video: share a video via chat. Chat visitors can click and play the video directly in the chat widget.
  • When you're ready to send each response, click Send.
  • Once your chat is closed, click success Marked as closed.

Continue chat conversations over email

When responding to a live chat or Facebook Messenger conversation, you can change channels and respond via email. This allows you to continue the conversation even if the visitor leaves the chat. During a live chat or Facebook Messenger conversations, click the channel dropdown menu in the reply editor and select Email. 

In the email sent to the visitor at the end of the conversation, it will include the entire message history, including the chat transcript. 

If you want to call the contact, learn how to make a call from the conversations inbox. 

End a chat

There are two ways to end a chat conversation:

1. The user ends the chat from the inbox by clicking succesClose conversation. If there is a ticket associated with the conversation, the user can close the ticket and the conversation at the same time, or just close the conversation by clicking the More dropdown menu and selecting Close conversation. 
2. The visitor is inactive for a period of time after starting a chat with a bot. The amount of time depends on the bot’s session timeout settings.

When a conversation ends, the visitor can initiate a new conversation by clicking the hyperlinked text in the chat window.

Please note: if a HubSpot user closes a Facebook Messenger thread in the inbox, if the visitor responds to the thread in the Messenger chat widget, the response will create a net new thread in the conversations inbox. 

Email the chat transcript

By default, the chat transcript is automatically sent to the contact when the chat ends. You can choose which email address the transcript is sent from in your chat channel settings. If you don't select an email, the transcript is sent from your HubSpot fallback email address. You can also manually send the transcript to another contact.

Please note: the transcript is not automatically sent when the conversation ends for a bot conversation, or if you created a ticket for the contact. You can manually send the transcript from a bot conversation following the steps below.

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Conversations > Inbox.
• In your inbox, select a closed chat conversation.
• In the top right, click the More dropdown menu, then select Email chat transcript.

• Click the Email address dropdown menu and select a contact's email address.
• In the Subject field, edit the subject line text.
• Click Send transcript.

The transcript will be sent directly to the visitor's inbox and includes a timestamp of your conversation and a link to the website where the chat started.