Chat Proactive Messages
Proactive messages let the messenger start the conversation on pages you choose. For example, visitors to your pricing page could see "Questions about pricing? I can help you pick the right plan." after a few seconds. Set them up under Inbox, then Messenger settings, then the Proactive messages tab.
Creating a proactive message
Click Add a message, fill in the fields below, and click Save settings. You can have up to 20 proactive messages.
Every proactive message appears as a bubble above the chat button, on computers and phones alike. The messenger never opens on its own: the visitor clicks the bubble to open the chat with your message.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| On pages matching | The page or pages to show it on. See Choosing pages below. |
| After (seconds) | How long the visitor is on the page before the message appears (0–120) |
| How often | Once per visit, Once per visitor, ever, or Every time |
| Alerts go to | The team that conversations started from this message are routed to, or Decide automatically to use the usual routing. A team you've just added can be picked once it's saved. |
| Message | What the AI agent says, up to 500 characters. {title} is replaced with the page's title. See Using the page title below. |
| Suggested questions | Optional. Up to 4, one per line. They appear as buttons under your message, and replace the messenger's usual suggested questions on these pages. |
| On | Turn a message off to keep it without using it. Remove deletes it. |
Choosing pages
A path on its own matches on every site the messenger is installed on:
/pricing/matches that page, with or without the trailing slash./blog/*matches every page under /blog/, such as /blog/my-post/, but not the blog's home page /blog/ itself.*stands for at least one character. To include the home page too, add a message for/blog/, or use/blog*.
To target one site, start the pattern with its host:
app.example.com/matches only that site's home page.www.example.com/pricing/*matches only that site's pricing pages.*.example.com/matches the home page of every subdomain.- A host on its own, such as
app.example.com, means its home page.
If you paste a full address, the https:// is removed. Matching ignores capitalization and query strings. The first message in the list that matches a page is the one used, so put site-specific messages above general ones. Team page lists in Chat Notifications and Teams use the same patterns.
Using the page title
Put {title} in a message and it becomes the title of the page the visitor is on. That lets one message work across many pages. For example, a message on /blog/* can say "If you have questions about {title}, feel free to ask me."
- The title is the page's sharing title if it has one, otherwise its browser title.
- A site name at the end is dropped when it matches your site, so "Using email to SMS gateways - DailyStory Blog" becomes "Using email to SMS gateways".
- It's used as plain text, up to 120 characters.
- A page with no title gets "this page".
Visitors are never interrupted
- If a visitor already has the messenger open, or is mid-conversation, no proactive message appears.
- The message always appears as a bubble above the chat button, on every screen. It never opens the chat uninvited.
- A soft chime plays as the bubble appears, if the visitor has already clicked, tapped or typed on the page. Browsers don't allow a page to play sound before that, so for a visitor who has only scrolled, the bubble appears silently.
- On single-page apps, messages are checked each time the page changes.
When a visitor replies
Your message becomes the first line of the conversation, so the AI and your team see what the visitor was responding to. The conversation goes to the team you chose under Alerts go to, and the new-chat alert notes that it came from a proactive message.
Starting a chat yourself
Proactive messages are automatic. Your team can also start a conversation with a particular visitor from Visitors online in the inbox. See Using the Chat Inbox.
Ideas
/pricing/: "Questions about pricing? I can help you pick the right plan." Alerts go to Sales, with suggested questions such as "What does it cost for my list size?" and "Can I talk to sales?"/request-a-demo/: "Want a quick answer before you book a demo? Ask me anything."/blog/*: "If you have questions about {title}, feel free to ask me."app.example.com/: "Welcome back! Ask me anything about your account." Placed above any general home page message, so only your app's home page gets it./docs/getting-started*: "New here? Ask me anything about getting set up."
See also Chat Notifications and Teams and What Visitors See in the Chat Messenger.