A chat box only works if visitors notice it, trust it and can use it on a phone. Try your own colour, greeting and position in the preview below, then check it against the eight placement rules.
A website chat widget is the chat button and window in the corner of a site. Put it bottom right unless that covers your call button or cart, let visitors open it rather than popping it open, say who is answering in a first message under about 120 characters, and keep text contrast at 4.5:1 or better for WCAG 2.2 AA. Load it after the page so it doesn’t slow your site.
Change the colour, name, greeting and side. The contrast check updates as you type. Nothing is saved.
Text contrast 18.1:1 passes WCAG AA (needs 4.5:1)
Your business
AI assistant
Hi, I'm the AI assistant here. Ask me about prices, bookings or anything else.
Sam runs a mobile dog grooming van on the Gold Coast. His chat bubble sat bottom right, directly over the “Call now” button on his phone layout, and opened itself after three seconds. Moving it left, stopping the auto-open and changing the greeting to “Ask me about prices or which suburbs we visit” meant people used both the chat and the call button.
Illustrative composite based on common patterns, not a single client.
Installing it next? See adding a chatbot to WordPress or Shopify live chat. Deciding who answers it? Read the real cost of live chat software, or see how we build the AI chatbot behind the widget.
The chat button and window that sits in the corner of a website. Visitors click it to message the business; behind it is either a person using live chat software, an AI chat agent, or a message form.
Bottom right is what visitors expect. Move it to the bottom left if that's where your call button, cart or cookie banner is, and check on a phone that it covers nothing important.
Who's answering and what they can help with, in one short line. For example: "Hi, I'm the AI assistant for [business]. Ask me about prices, bookings or our service area."
Usually yes, so it's there when a question comes up. Some businesses hide it on checkout or contact-form pages so it doesn't distract from finishing.
Most widgets take a brand colour, a name and a logo. Check the text on your brand colour stays readable (the preview on this page tests it), and keep the window plain so the conversation is easy to read.
Australian law doesn't have a single cookie-banner rule like Europe, but the Privacy Act covers personal information you collect through the chat. Mention the chat in your privacy policy, and if you already run a consent banner, decide whether the chat loads before or after consent.
Common reasons: it opens itself and gets closed on reflex, the first message is generic, it promises a reply nobody sends, or it sits where visitors don't look. Fix the first message and the hand-over before redesigning anything else.
We build and run a custom AI chatbot for your website: $299 one-off setup, then from $29.99 a month (AUD, ex GST), month-to-month. See our AI chatbot plans and pricing.