Free Live Chat for Your Website, with AI Chatbot Handoff

Live chat for a website is a small chat widget that lets visitors message your team in real time without leaving the page they are on. Messages travel over a live connection to an agent inbox, so a reply typed by your team appears in the visitor's chat window within seconds - no email thread, no phone queue. For the bigger picture of how automated and human conversations work together, see our guide on what a chatbot is.

How live chat works on a website, step by step

1. A snippet loads the widget. You paste one embed script into your site (or install a plugin) and a chat bubble appears in the corner of every page.
2. The visitor opens the chat and types. The widget keeps the conversation open as they move between pages.
3. The first reply comes from the bot. In Conferbot a chatbot greets the visitor, answers routine questions and collects details such as name, email and the reason for the chat.
4. A human takes over when it matters. A handover step in the flow, or an agent clicking take over in the inbox, routes the conversation to your team with the full transcript attached.
5. Nobody is online? Nothing is lost. Outside business hours the bot keeps helping and the conversation stays in the inbox as a ticket so your team can follow up.

That combination - a bot that answers instantly and people who step in for the hard questions - is what most teams mean today when they search for live chat software. Conferbot includes both on every plan, including the $0 Free plan. For how AI handles the first line, see our customer support chatbot guide.

You can add free live chat with AI chatbot handoff to most websites in about the time it takes to write your welcome message. No code is required.

1. Create a free Conferbot account and start a bot from a template, from scratch, or with the AI chatbot builder.
2. Add a human handover step wherever a visitor should reach a person - for example behind a "Talk to someone" button, or after the bot cannot answer.
3. Invite your teammates to the workspace so they can reply. The Free plan includes 2 team seats; Starter 3, Pro 5 and Business 15.
4. Set your business hours so chats outside them stay with the bot and wait in the inbox for your team.
5. Install the widget. Paste the embed snippet before the closing body tag, or use the ready-made plugin for WordPress, Shopify, Wix or OpenCart.
6. Reply from the inbox. New conversations, handovers and their full history appear in one place for the whole team.

Using another platform? The website chatbot guide covers the general install for any site that lets you add a script.

Live chat means a person replies. A chatbot means software replies. They solve different problems, which is why most teams end up running both in the same widget.

Side-by-side comparison

If you only have time for one, start with a chatbot that collects contact details and add a human handover for the questions it cannot answer. That gives visitors an instant reply around the clock while your team only joins the conversations that need a person. A well-designed AI chatbot acts as the first responder; the people on your team handle the exceptions.

In Conferbot, a chatbot and your team share the same conversation. The visitor never has to start over or switch channels when a person joins.

How the handoff works

1 - The bot answers first. Every conversation starts with your flow or AI agent. It greets the visitor, answers what it can using your AI knowledge base, and collects the details your team will need.

2 - Handover is triggered. Either the flow reaches a handover step (for example the visitor taps "Talk to a person"), or an agent watching the inbox clicks take over on a conversation that is still running in the bot.

3 - The bot pauses. Once an agent joins, the bot stops replying so two voices never answer at once. The agent sees the whole transcript and anything the bot collected.

4 - Hand back or close. When the agent is done they can end the chat, or hand it back to the bot, which resumes from the step the visitor was on.

When to send a chat to a person

• The visitor asks: "Talk to a human" or "connect me to an agent" should always be honoured.
• The topic needs judgement: billing disputes, complaints and cancellations.
• The bot is going in circles: if it has asked for clarification twice, hand over rather than guess.
• High-value intent: a visitor asking about a large order or a custom quote.

Handoff works the same on every channel - web, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram - and every handed-over chat lands in the same inbox.

Most time in live chat is lost on the first few messages - working out who the visitor is and what they want - and on chats that sit unanswered. These are the levers that address both.

• Bot pre-qualification: let the bot collect name, email, order number and the reason for the chat before a person joins, so the agent starts with an answer instead of a question.
• Full context on handover: the agent sees the complete transcript, so the visitor never repeats themselves.
• Status, priority and labels: every conversation is tracked as a ticket that can be open, pending, in progress, snoozed or closed, with a priority from low to critical and labels for sorting.
• Snooze: park a chat that is waiting on someone else and bring it back later instead of leaving it in the active queue.
• One inbox for every channel: agents do not switch between apps to answer website, WhatsApp and Instagram messages.
• Help while visitors wait: when everyone is busy, the queue can offer the visitor relevant help instead of a blank wait.

Track how these changes play out in Conferbot analytics and the ticket system.

The quality of the handoff decides whether hybrid support feels seamless or frustrating. A good handoff keeps the context, sets expectations and never leaves the visitor wondering whether anyone is there.

Handoff configuration steps

Step 1: Place the handover step. In the visual flow builder, add a human handover where a person should take over - after a "Talk to someone" button, at the end of a failed answer, or on topics such as refunds.

Step 2: Collect context first. Ask for the essentials before the handover so they are attached to the conversation: name, email and a short description of the issue.

Step 3: Invite and organise your team. Add teammates in team management so handed-over chats have somewhere to go.

Step 4: Define business hours. Decide what happens outside them: the bot keeps helping, takes the visitor's email and leaves the conversation in the inbox for the morning.

Step 5: Test the whole path. Open your site in a private window, trigger the handover and reply from the inbox to check what the visitor sees.

Best practices for smooth handoffs

• Tell the visitor what is happening: "I'm connecting you with someone from our team."
• Be honest about timing outside business hours instead of promising an instant reply.
• Never make visitors repeat information the bot already collected.
• Hand simple follow-ups back to the bot once the person has resolved the tricky part.

Customers do not stick to one channel. Conferbot puts conversations from every connected channel into a single team inbox, so whoever is on shift can answer all of them from one screen.

Channels you can answer from the inbox

• Website widget: the live chat bubble on your site
• WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram direct messages
• Telegram, Slack, Discord, LINE and Microsoft Teams
• Your own app through the mobile SDK

Channels are not plan-gated: every plan, including Free, can connect every channel. The same bot and the same handover rules apply wherever the conversation starts.

For a wider view of running one bot across all of these, see the omnichannel chatbot page.

Track a handful of numbers consistently rather than everything at once. Benchmarks vary widely by industry and team size, so compare against your own last month first.

Response metrics

• First response time: how long a visitor waits for the first reply. A bot greeting makes this near-instant; watch the time to first human reply after a handover separately.
• Queue wait time: how long handed-over chats wait for an agent. If it keeps climbing, add people at peak hours or let the bot handle more topics.

Quality metrics

• Resolution: share of conversations closed without a follow-up.
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT): a short rating after the chat. Conferbot's CSAT dashboard is included on Pro and Business.

Efficiency metrics

• Handoff rate: share of bot conversations that need a person. Read the transcripts of the most common ones - they are your next bot improvements.
• After-hours volume: how many chats arrive when nobody is online, which tells you whether the bot's after-hours path deserves more work.

Review these weekly in your analytics dashboard.

Good live chat is mostly good conversation habits, supported by a bot that removes the repetitive parts.

Conversation design

• Personalise immediately: use the visitor's name and what the bot already collected.
• Set expectations: if something will take a few minutes to check, say so and come back with an update.
• Offer alternatives: instead of "I can't do that," say "What I can do is..."
• Close clearly: summarise what was resolved and ask if there is anything else.

Operations

• Staff to your busiest hours: check when chats arrive and schedule people around those peaks.
• Define escalation paths: who takes over when an agent cannot resolve something.
• Review conversations weekly: a few random transcripts per agent are enough to spot coaching needs.

Automation

• Bot pre-qualification: gather name, email and issue category before routing to a person.
• Teach the bot from handovers: when the same question keeps reaching people, add the answer to the bot.

Read the customer support chatbot guide for more implementation detail.

Conferbot pricing is flat per workspace, not per agent, so adding a teammate does not add a monthly fee until you outgrow the seats in your plan.

Growth stages

One person: let the bot answer the repeat questions and after-hours chats so you only see conversations that need you.

A small team: agree on business hours, use priorities and labels to sort the inbox, and review the most common handovers each week.

A department: split work by topic or channel, add team leads who review transcripts, and keep moving repeat questions into the bot.

The most useful scaling lever is usually not hiring - it is teaching the bot the questions that keep reaching people. Use your AI knowledge base for that, and see pricing for full plan details.