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Live chat triggers: send automatic chat invitations

A live chat trigger is an automatic chat invitation. When a visitor has been on a page you choose for a set number of seconds, the Chatlio widget shows your message, for example “Any questions about pricing?” on your pricing page after 30 seconds. If the visitor replies, the conversation starts in Slack, Microsoft Teams or Discord like any other chat, and your team sees which invitation the visitor answered.

A peek trigger on a pricing page, 30 seconds after the visitor arrives.

Triggers are part of the Team, Business and Scale plans. See pricing.

Create a trigger

  1. Open the Triggers tabIn the Chatlio dashboard, open your widget's settings and select Triggers.
  2. Write the messageAsk one short question that fits the page. Keep it under 110 characters, because a peek bubble cuts off longer text.
  3. Set the delayEnter how many seconds the visitor must stay on the page first. Use 0 to show the message right away.
  4. Choose the pagesEnter a full URL such as https://yoursite.com/pricing/ or a path such as /pricing, then pick how Chatlio matches it.
  5. Pick a display stylePeek shows a small bubble beside the chat launcher. Full opens the chat window with your message in the conversation.
  6. Turn it onMake sure the trigger is enabled and save. Visit the page in a private window to see it.

Choose which pages show a trigger

Chatlio compares what you entered under pages with the visitor’s current URL. If you leave pages empty, the trigger can show on every page.

Contains default

Your text appears anywhere in the URL or path.

pricing matches /pricing/, /pricing/teams/ and /blog/pricing-tips/.

Starts with

The URL or path begins with your text.

/docs/ matches every page in your docs, and nothing else.

Exact

The URL or path is exactly your text.

/ matches only your home page. /products doesn't match /products/tractors.

Contains also matches query strings, so lang=es targets visitors on your Spanish pages.

How often visitors see invitations

The minimum delay setting on the Triggers tab is the time, in minutes, that must pass before the same visitor sees another invitation. It defaults to 60 minutes. A visitor who moves around your site sees at most one invitation in that window, even if several triggers match the pages they visit. Set it to 0 to let invitations show without a gap.

Why a trigger doesn’t show

A trigger waits or stays hidden when showing it would interrupt the visitor or leave them without an answer. Check these first:

  • Nobody is available. Triggers only show while your widget shows your team as online.
  • The visitor saw an invitation recently. Another trigger already showed within the minimum delay.
  • The chat window is already open. The visitor already knows where to find you.
  • The widget is hidden on that page, for example with _chatlio.hide() or the data-start-hidden attribute.
  • The trigger is off, or the page doesn’t match. Check the matching option against the URL in your browser.
  • Your plan doesn’t include triggers. The Mini plan doesn’t.

When you test, use a private browser window so earlier visits don’t count toward the minimum delay, and wait the full delay with the chat window closed.

What your team sees

When a visitor answers a trigger, the first message your team receives includes the invitation the visitor replied to. Your operator can see that the visitor wrote back to “Any questions about pricing?” rather than starting cold, and answer with that in mind.

In the widget, the trigger message stays in the conversation, so the visitor sees what they replied to.

Triggers that work well

Good places to ask

  • Pricing, after 30 to 60 seconds: "Questions about which plan fits your team?"
  • Checkout or signup, after a long pause: "Stuck on anything? We can help right here."
  • Setup docs, after a minute: "Need a hand with the install?"

Places to skip

  • Every page at 0 seconds. It reads like a pop-up and visitors close it.
  • Blog posts people came to read, before they reach the end.
  • Pages where you can't answer quickly, such as outside your team's hours.

Fire a trigger from your own code

Use the JavaScript API when your rule depends on something only your app knows, such as a cart value or a failed form. Call _chatlio.trigger() with a message, a delay in seconds and an optional ID:

if (cartTotal > 500) {
  _chatlio.trigger({
    message: "Want help choosing the right plan?",
    after: 10,       // seconds
    uid: "big-cart", // optional, one ID per invitation
  });
}

Triggers from the API follow the same one-per-window rule, and they don’t show on screens 480 pixels wide or narrower. See the trigger() reference.

Questions

Do triggers work when my team answers from Teams or Discord? Yes. Triggers run in the widget on your website, so they work the same with Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord.

Can a visitor see the same trigger twice? Yes, but not within the minimum delay. With the default of 60 minutes, a visitor who comes back the next day can see it again.

Questions about triggers? Chat with us using the widget on this page, or email support@chatlio.com.