Nutshell Chat is available on the Engagement Suite Foundation plan and above.
Welcome to Web chat, your gateway to connecting with website visitors in real time! This guide will walk you through setting up Web chat and using it to engage with your leads and customers. Whether you're chatting live or collecting inquiries while you're away, Nutshell Chat makes it easy to stay connected.
What is Web Chat?
Web chat is a web-based messaging feature that lets website visitors start conversations directly on your website. Here's how it works:
Visitors interact with a chat widget embedded on your website
If your agents are online, conversations happen in real time
If you're offline, visitors can leave a message through a customizable form
All chats are managed through your Nutshell Engagement inbox, where you can assign chats, respond, track details, and even create leads
Get started with Web Chat
To get started with Web chat, your admin will first need to configure your chat widget.
Click on Engagement > Chat
1. Customize your chat widget
Customizing the chat widget is about making it feel like an extension of your business. You can personalize its appearance, welcome and nudge messages, and functionality to ensure it fits your brand and serves your customers effectively.
Click on the Look & feel tab to customize your chat widget
Here you’ll be able to customize the:Widget color
There are default colors that you can select from but you can also choose a specific color by clicking the '+' button
Icon
There are three default icons available for you to choose from, alternatively, you could upload a custom image to add as your icon
The name you’d like to display on the chat widget, perhaps your company name
Conversation starter message i.e. the message that automatically shows in the chat widget to your visitors
A nudge message, which helps draw attention to visitors on your website encouraging them to start a conversation. For example: Hi there! How can we help you today?
As you make edits to the look and feel of your widget, you’ll be able to see the preview of what it looks like on the left side. Once you’re happy with your updates, click ‘Save changes’.
2. Customize your intake form
The intake form lets you collect important information from visitors before they connect with your team. After a visitor sends a message, they’ll be prompted to fill out the form with their details. You can view the submitted information directly on the Person page in Nutshell.
Name: This field is required and automatically included in the form.
Phone and email: These fields are optional. You can choose whether or not to include them based on your preferences.
Customizing the intake form ensures you gather the details you need up front, helping you stay organized and prepared for conversations with your customers.
3. Set up chat assignment
When a visitor starts a new chat, you can choose how to assign them to your team, either by evenly distributing chats or assigning them to a specific agent. This allows you to manage how chats are handled based on your team's needs. There are three options to choose from:
Round-robin: Chats are distributed evenly among available team members.
Specific-user: Chats are assigned to a specific agent. If they’re unavailable, the chat won't be assigned.
Nobody: Visitors are placed in a queue, and your team can assign chats as needed.
4. Configure the offline experience
When your team is unavailable, you have two options for managing chats:
Ask a visitor to fill out a form: This Nutshell Form can be customized to collect the information you need, such as the visitor's name, phone number, email, or any other fields available in Nutshell Forms. You can also add a custom message at the top of the form to share anything with visitors, like a friendly note or specific instructions.
Do not ask for visitor information: Visitors won’t be prompted to provide any details, and the chat widget will remain inactive until your team is online.
Select the option that best suits your team’s needs for handling chats outside of working hours.
5. Set up your team as agents
Agents are team members with an Engagement license, allowing them to manage and respond to chats. They play a key role in providing support, and their availability helps determine how visitors interact with your team.
Assigning Engagement licenses
Engagement licenses are purchased and assigned per user. Head to the Users & teams page, where you’ll be able to toggle the Engagement license on for the user/s you’d like to allocate it to.
Managing agents as an admin
Admins have full access to the Agents page in the Engagement sidebar menu. This page serves as the central hub providing your admin with a full view of their agent list. Additionally, they can:
View agent's status
Set individual availability to "Available" or "Not accepting chats."
Monitor the number of open chats each agent is handling, with a clickable link to dive into those conversations.
Setting availability as a non-admin agent
Non-admin agents can easily manage their availability status. To update your availability, click on your avatar in the top right corner of the app and toggle the "Available" setting. When set to "Available," chats will be automatically assigned to you. If you're not ready to accept chats, simply toggle it off.
Additionally, you can set your availability to automatically toggle on when using Nutshell. This way, you won’t need to manually update your status each time.
When this setting is on and you'd like to mark yourself as 'Not accepting chats', you can toggle it on and it will remain off until the next business day.
6. Embed and enable your chat widget
To make your chat widget live on your website, you’ll need to embed the chat widget and ensure it’s enabled.
On the Chat settings page, look for the Embed button in the header. Click it to open the embed modal, where you’ll find the code snippet for your chat widget.
Copy the provided code snippet and paste it into the <head> section of your website's HTML wherever you want the chat widget to appear. To make the chat visible to your website visitors:
Check the Enable chat on your website checkbox next to the Embed button on the Chat settings page.
Alternatively, you can toggle the widget on directly within the embed dialog after copying the code.
With these steps complete, the chat widget will be active on your site, ready to connect visitors with your team.
Managing Web Chat threads
The Engagement page in the main navigation menu is the hub of your organization’s chat and text message threads organized by thread status.
On this page you’ll see:
Chat thread overview:
Unassigned: Chats that have not been assigned to an agent based on configuration/availability
Open: Active chats
Needs reply: Chats that need to be responded to
Closed: Conversations that are completed i.e. marked as closed by the agent
Thread assignment: Each thread shows who it’s assigned to. Admins can reassign threads if needed, while non-admins will only see their assigned threads.
Filter: Admins can filter text messages by team members, and non-admins will only see threads assigned to them.
Visitor presence in chats
While engaging with visitors, you’ll be able to see their real-time presence:
Active visitors will show a green dot and a “Chatting now” status, indicating they are actively chatting with you.
Inactive visitors will appear with a gray dot, and you’ll also be able to see when they were last seen—helping you know when they were last active in the chat.
Creating a lead from a chat
You can turn a web chat visitor into a lead directly from the chat thread view.
In the chat thread, you'll see a +New Lead button next to the visitor's name. Clicking this button lets you quickly create a lead and assign it to a specific pipeline, connecting the visitor's details to your sales process. This ensures you can capture potential opportunities directly from your chat conversations.
Receive notifications
When a chat is assigned to you or a response is received, you’ll receive an in-app notification. This way you are up to date with the status of your chat and can act accordingly.
Ready to start using Web Chat?
As part of our early access release, all CRM-licensed users gain access to the Nutshell Engagement Foundation for free, which includes unlimited use of Web chat. This allows you to assign Engagement licenses to the right team members.
As an admin, go to Settings > Users & teams. Select the team member you’d like to enable for Web chat, then toggle on the Engagement license directly in the table or in their profile.
For more help or questions, please reach out to our support team: support@nutshell.com. Enjoy managing your chat conversations with Nutshell! 🎉
FAQs
How do I set specific hours when my team is available for chats?
While agent availability is set individually, you can also use the Offline settings on the Web chat settings page to customize the experience for visitors who reach out during off-hours.
Can admins reassign a chat to a different agent?
Yes, admins can reassign chats directly from the chat thread view. This ensures chats reach the right agent if a reassignment is needed for expertise or availability.
Is there a limit to the number of agents I can have?
The number of agents is determined by the Engagement licenses your team has purchased. You can assign and manage these licenses in the Users & teams page.
Can visitors send attachments through the chat widget?
Currently, visitors can only send text-based messages, URL’s included.
What if I want to temporarily disable Web chat?
You can disable the chat widget by unchecking the Enable chat for your website in Web chat settings.
How can I notify a visitor that a chat might take longer to respond to?
You can include this information in the welcome message or offline form message. For example, you can set a custom message like, “Thanks for reaching out! We’ll respond as soon as we can.”
What happens to chats if an agent goes offline in the middle of a conversation?
If an agent goes offline during a chat, the conversation remains in the chat queue.
Can I see chat threads on timelines?
Absolutely, you’ll see closed chat threads right at the top of a Person, Company, or Lead timeline. Clicking on it will open the sidebar where you can view the full conversation in read-only.