Embeddable chat widget
Customize colors, placement, and pre-chat forms to match your brand.
Live chat support
Live chat that converts and resolves Widget, routing, and context
Embed live chat on your site, route conversations to available agents, and convert chats into tracked tickets with full customer context.
Last updated on 2026-07-08
Written by Malik S
Reviewed by Gandral V
Real-time agent workspace
Handle multiple chats alongside email and portal tickets in one inbox.
Chat-to-ticket continuity
Every chat becomes a ticket with history, SLA tracking, and follow-up via email.
Overview
Live chat works when it is part of the inbox, not a separate tab. Helpefi embeds a widget on your site, routes visitors to agents who are actually online, and turns every conversation into a ticket with history. If nobody replies in time, the visitor can leave an email and the thread continues as a normal request.
Configuring the chat widget
The widget installs with a snippet before the closing body tag on your site. Colors, position, launcher label, and greeting text are set in the workspace, so marketing can adjust copy without a deploy. A pre-chat form can collect name, email, and a couple of qualifying fields; keep it short, since every added field costs conversations. Widget loading follows business hours, so visitors outside support hours see an offline form rather than an empty window.
Routing chats to available agents
Chats route by team, language, or brand, and only to agents marked online. Availability can follow a schedule, so a US team and an EMEA team share one widget without stepping on each other. Overflow rules send a chat to a backup group when the first queue is saturated. Agents can also see a queue count before accepting, which lets them finish a reply instead of juggling four windows at once.
Handling several chats at once
An agent can hold multiple conversations with each one showing typing state and last activity. Collision detection applies here too: if a teammate opens the same chat, both see it before replying. Chats that go quiet can be parked, then resumed when the visitor returns, without losing the transcript. Concurrency limits are a staffing decision, and the workspace shows enough state for a lead to judge when the queue needs another person.
From chat to ticket without losing context
Every chat creates a ticket, so the transcript, customer details, and any order or account context sit together. When a visitor drops off, the ticket stays open and a follow-up email continues the conversation. If the issue needs a day of engineering, the agent does not need to recap anything: the chat history is the ticket history. SLA timers apply the same way they do for email, which keeps chat from becoming an unmeasured side channel.
Offline mode and after-hours behaviour
Outside business hours the widget can hide, show a message, or switch to a form that creates a ticket. A short response-time promise on that form sets expectations better than a silent launcher. Holiday calendars follow the team schedule, so a regional holiday does not leave a widget claiming to be online. If you run chat for sales as well as support, separate widgets with separate routing keep the two queues honest about their own hours.
Use case: Pricing page questions
A visitor asks about plan limits. The agent answers with the relevant tier and a link to start a trial, and the chat becomes a ticket.
Use case: Checkout assistance
A payment error during checkout reaches an agent with page context, who resolves it before the customer abandons the cart.
Use case: Employee IT support
A widget on an internal service portal connects staff to IT for access issues, with a ticket created for the audit trail.
Use case: Post-signup onboarding
A proactive invitation after first login gives new customers a person to ask about setup instead of a help article.
Use case: Language-based routing
Widget language and browser hints route visitors to an agent who speaks their language, with the greeting in the same language.
Chat that ends in a resolution
Install the widget, route to agents who are online, and let every conversation become a ticket. When chat shares the inbox with email, the transcript becomes context instead of a screenshot pasted into a note.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a chat become an email ticket?
- Yes. Every chat creates a ticket, and a follow-up email continues the same thread with the full transcript attached.
- Does live chat support AI deflection?
- Yes. The widget can suggest knowledge articles as the visitor types, answering common questions before an agent joins.
- How many chats can one agent handle?
- Concurrency is configurable per team. Most support teams settle between two and four simultaneous chats depending on the product and the length of a typical answer.
- Can we customize the widget?
- Colors, position, launcher text, greeting, and pre-chat fields are set in the workspace. Custom CSS is available for deeper brand matching.
- Does chat work on mobile?
- The widget and the agent workspace are both responsive, so agents can reply from a phone when they are away from a desk.
- Can different teams set different chat hours?
- Yes. Business hours are per team and follow a holiday calendar, and the widget shows offline behaviour for the relevant team.
- Which plans include live chat?
- Live chat is available on every plan as one of your channel connections. Starter includes two connections, Professional includes ten.
References & sources
-
Helpefi on G2 →
User reviews and ratings for Helpefi on G2.
Add live chat to your site
Install the widget during setup and start engaging visitors in real time.
Start free trial