Chat & Inbox
The Message widget type adds a live chat bubble to your website. Visitors can start conversations and your team responds from the Inbox.
Setting up chat
Create a widget with channel type Message.
Configure the welcome message and pre-chat form (optional — you can ask for name/email before the chat starts).
Publish the widget. A chat bubble appears on your site.
Add your team members as chat agents under Settings → Team.
How conversations work
When a visitor opens the chat bubble for the first time, a Conversation is created. The visitor's external ID (stored in their browser's localStorage) ties all their messages together across page refreshes. If the visitor provides an email or name in the pre-chat form, it is stored on their profile.
The visitor polls for new messages every ~3 seconds. Agents reply from the Inbox in the dashboard.
Inbox
The Inbox (Inbox in the left sidebar) shows all conversations across all sites in your org, filtered by status:
- Open — active conversations waiting for or currently receiving responses.
- Pending — conversations flagged as pending further action.
- Closed — resolved conversations, kept for reference.
Click any conversation to open the full thread and reply. The Inbox shows 50 conversations per page. Use the status tabs and search to find specific threads.
Unread indicators
Messages sent by visitors are marked as unread by agent until an agent opens the conversation thread. Messages sent by agents are marked as read by visitor the next time the visitor polls for new messages.
Assigning conversations
Open a conversation and use the Assign dropdown to assign it to a specific agent. Assigned conversations appear prominently in that agent's view.
Closing conversations
Click Close on a conversation to mark it as resolved. Closed conversations move to the Closed tab. If the visitor sends another message, the conversation automatically re-opens.
Push notifications for agents
Agents who have the VisitorLoop mobile app installed will receive a push notification whenever a visitor sends a new message. The notification shows the visitor's name and the first line of their message.
Mobile app required for push notifications
Chat availability
You can configure the chat widget to show a custom message when no agents are available (e.g. outside business hours). Set this in the widget's settings under Offline message.
Visitor identity
Visitors are identified by a UUID generated and stored in their browser's localStorage. If a visitor clears their storage, they start a new conversation. If the pre-chat form captures their email, subsequent conversations from the same email can be correlated manually in the Inbox.
Conversation ownership