Chat on your own site.
The one channel with no platform in the middle: no business verification, no conversation window, no per-message charge.
Website chat is a first-party messaging channel: a small widget on your own pages that lets a visitor start a conversation without installing anything or handing over a phone number. Because no platform sits in the middle, there is no conversation window, no template review, and no per-message fee, and the visitor's page, referrer, and campaign are known from the first message.
What it does on Website chatsoon.
Every one of these runs on your own account, with your own information behind the answers.
One line of code on your site
The chat window goes on with a single line of code. No plugin, no framework requirement, and no separate account for the visitor to create before they can ask a question.
- One line of code, on any site you can edit
- Tied to your workspace, and nothing else
- Conversations land in the same shared inbox as every other channel
Visitors identified properly, not guessed
If your site already knows who is signed in, it can tell Otobiz, and Otobiz checks that the claim really came from your site before it believes it. Without that check the visitor stays anonymous.
- Identity checked against your own site, not taken on trust
- An email address merges the visitor with their WhatsApp or Instagram history
- A claim your site did not sign is never treated as an identity
Attribution from the first message
Web chat is the only channel where you know the page someone was reading, where they came from, and which campaign brought them, at the moment they start typing. That context sits on the conversation, so the reply can use it.
- Page URL, title, referrer, and landing page
- Campaign and click identifiers from the query string
- Browser language and timezone for routing and tone
No conversation window
There is no platform rule to obey here. A visitor who asks a question at midnight can be answered in the morning without a template, an approval from a third party, or a fee for reopening the thread.
- No 24 hour clock and no template review
- No per-message charge from a platform
- Message copy changes take effect immediately
The same grounded drafting as everywhere else
Replies come from the same knowledge base, the same crawled website, and the same contact history that the other channels use, with the sources shown on the draft. A visitor asking about your return policy gets your return policy.
- Answers from your uploaded files, crawled pages, and Q&A pairs
- Sources named on every draft
- Uncertain and sensitive cases handed to a person
A safe place to start
Nothing about web chat waits on a platform review, so it is the channel to switch on while WhatsApp business verification is still in progress.
- Live without waiting on any platform approval
- Useful for testing your knowledge base against real questions
- Conversations carry over when the same person later writes on WhatsApp
What it will not do.
Most of these are the platform's rules, not ours. They decide what you can send, and when.
Nobody gets a notification
Web chat has no push. A visitor who closes the tab does not get a phone alert when you reply. If a conversation needs to continue later, move it to a messaging channel and say so.
Anonymous by default
A visitor your site has not identified is just a browser session. They become a contact when they give you an email or a phone number, or when your site tells you who they are.
You supply the traffic
The other channels bring an existing audience. Web chat only sees the people already on your site, so it converts the traffic you already have.
Consent wording is yours to publish
Because the widget runs on your domain, the privacy and consent copy shown next to it is your responsibility. Otobiz records the consent, and it does not write your policy.
What it takes to connect
Add the line of code to your site, decide where the chat window appears, and publish the consent and privacy wording that goes with it. If you want signed-in visitors recognised, your backend needs to compute one signature per signed-in visitor.
What you bring
- Somewhere on your site you can add a line of code
- Public privacy and consent wording that covers the chat
- A backend that can compute a signature, only if you want verified identities
- Someone on your team to answer, or an enabled automatic reply for routine questions
Common questions
What is website chat?
- A first-party chat widget on your own pages. A visitor starts a conversation without installing an app or giving a phone number, and the conversation lands in the same inbox as your other channels.
How is it different from WhatsApp?
- There is no platform in the middle. No business verification, no 24 hour conversation window, no template review, and no per-message charge. In exchange, there is no push notification and no existing audience.
How is it installed?
- One line of code, added to your site. No plugin and no framework requirement.
Can we know who the visitor is?
- If your site knows, yes. Your backend signs the visitor's identifier with a shared secret, and Otobiz recomputes the signature before treating the identity as verified. An unsigned claim is never trusted.
Does a web chat visitor become a contact?
- They become one once you know an email, a phone number, or a signed identifier. An email merges them with any WhatsApp or Instagram history you already hold for that person.
Is there a conversation window on web chat?
- No. That rule comes from messaging platforms. Web chat is your own site, so you can reply whenever you have an answer.
What does web chat cost per message?
- Nothing beyond your plan. There is no platform charging per conversation, unlike WhatsApp where Meta prices each delivered template message.
Does it work on mobile browsers?
- It is built for both. The point of a first-party widget is that it works wherever your site works, without asking the visitor to install anything.
Can the AI answer web chat questions automatically?
- Yes, on the same terms as every channel: grounded in your own content, automatic only for routine replies you have enabled, and handed to a person when it is uncertain or the topic is sensitive.
Should we start with web chat or WhatsApp?
- Web chat is usually the faster start, because nothing about it waits on a platform review. Most businesses run both, with web chat catching site visitors and WhatsApp carrying the ongoing relationship.