# Add live chat to your shop > Show a chat bubble on your Shoprocket shop and on your own website so shoppers can message you while they browse. Choose where it shows, its colour and greeting, your support hours, and an AI assistant that answers when your team is away. Help Centre / Orders and customers - Updated 29 October 2026 Live chat puts a chat bubble in the corner of your shop. Shoppers click it and write to you, and the conversation lands in your **Inbox** where you reply. It works on your Shoprocket shop and on every page of your own website where you have added Shoprocket. This article covers setting it up and what your shoppers see. To answer chats, see [Answer customer chats and messages](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/message-customers.md). The examples use a coffee shop in Portland, OR, open for chat Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00. ## Before you begin - Live chat is the **Live chat** app, on every plan. New stores start with it on. If you don't see **Inbox** under **Sell** in the sidebar, go to **Apps** and click **Add** on **Live chat** under **Customer service**. - The **AI assistant** is on the **Business** and **Plus** plans. - Chat starts when your shop goes live. While your shop is in test mode, **Settings > Chat** says "Chat starts when your shop goes live." ## Step 1: Switch chat on 1. Go to **Settings > Chat**. 2. Switch on **Live chat**. 3. Click **Save settings**. Under the switch, a line tells you where things stand: "Chat is set up for your shop." once it is ready, or "Setting up chat for your shop. This finishes within the hour." the first time you switch it on. Switching **Live chat** off hides the bubble straight away. Your past conversations stay in the Inbox. While chat is on, the Live chat app can't be removed from **Apps**. ## Step 2: Choose where it shows Under **Where it shows**: - **Your Shoprocket shop**: your hosted shop, on its own web address. - **Your website**: every page where you've added Shoprocket to your own site. - **Position**: **Bottom right** or **Bottom left**. - **Height**: how far above the bottom edge the bubble sits. Raise it to clear a cookie banner or a bar along the bottom of your pages. On phones it rises at most 120px. Switch off either place to keep the chat off it. A new position reaches your shop within the hour. ## Step 3: Set its look and greeting Under **Look**: - **Colour**: by default the bubble matches your shop, following your brand colour in **Settings > Branding**. Pick a colour to use your own instead, and click **Match my shop** to go back. - **Greeting**: what shoppers read when they open the chat, for example `Hi! Ask us anything about our coffee.` Leave it empty for the standard greeting. Under **Replies**, choose how your team's names show when you reply: **First name** (like "Sam"), **Full name** (like "Sam Rivera") or **Store name**. ## Step 4: Set your support hours Under **Support hours**, switch on **Set support hours**, choose your **Timezone**, then open each day you answer chats and set its times. **Use Mon-Fri, 09:00 to 17:00** fills in a normal working week in one click. During these hours the chat shows shoppers "Online now". Outside them it tells shoppers when you are back, in their own time. Without support hours, the chat never says whether you are online or when you will be back. A closing time earlier than the opening time runs past midnight. The same time for both means open all day. ## Step 5: Turn on the AI assistant (Business and Plus) The AI assistant answers shoppers from your shop's own pages while your team is away. It can check live stock, tell signed-in shoppers where their order is, and hands the chat to you when it can't help. 1. Under **AI assistant**, switch it on. 2. Give it a name under **Its name**. Shoppers see it on its replies. 3. Under **What the AI assistant knows**, check what it learned from your shop. Add anything your pages don't say under **Your notes**, for example your delivery cut-off, and add common questions under **Questions and answers** with **Add a question**. 4. Click **Save settings**. After you change your shop's pages, click **Read my shop again** so it learns the new content. It takes a few minutes. With support hours set, the assistant only promises a quick reply from your team during those hours. Outside them it tells shoppers the team is offline, says when it is back, and asks for their email address so you can reply there. You can take over any chat from the Inbox, and hand it back. If the assistant uses up the month's AI allowance, your team answers every chat until it starts again; **Settings > Chat** shows how much has been used. On the Starter and Growth plans, the AI assistant section shows what it does and the plan it needs. ## Step 6: Get told when shoppers write Under **Response alerts**: - **New chat messages** emails your team when a shopper writes, once per conversation until someone replies. - **Email the team about unanswered messages** emails once when a shopper has waited a set time with no reply. Choose 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes under **Alert when a message goes unanswered for**. Chat emails go to the same people as your new order emails. Click **Manage who gets them** to change that. Click **Save settings**. ## What your shoppers see - **A chat bubble** in the corner you chose, in your colour. If your floating cart button shares that corner, it moves up to sit above the bubble. - **Your greeting** when they open it, and whether you are online now or when you are back. - **Your replies** under the name you chose, or the AI assistant's replies under its name. - **No chat during checkout.** The bubble hides while the cart is open and on every checkout step, so nothing gets in the way of paying. - **Signed-in shoppers are recognised.** If a shopper is signed in to their customer account, you see their name, email and orders beside the chat, marked **Verified**. If you reply after they have left, they are emailed "your store replied to your message" with a link back to the chat. ## Questions **Does chat slow down checkout?** No. The chat is hidden on the cart and every checkout step, and a page that opens in checkout doesn't load the chat until the shopper leaves it. **Does chat show in my dashboard's previews?** No. Embed previews in your dashboard never show the chat, so you can't start a chat with yourself by accident. **Can I keep chat on my shop but off my own website?** Yes. Switch off **Your website** under **Where it shows** and keep **Your Shoprocket shop** on, or the other way round. ## Related - [Answer customer chats and messages](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/message-customers.md) - [Your hosted shop](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/your-hosted-shop.md) - [Embed Shoprocket on any website](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/embed-on-any-website.md) - [Customer accounts](https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/customer-accounts.md) [Open Chat settings in your dashboard](https://app-v3.shoprocket.io/go/settings/chat) --- - HTML version: https://v3.shoprocket.io/help/live-chat-on-your-shop - Language: English (en) - Also in: [العربية](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ar/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [Deutsch](https://v3.shoprocket.io/de/hilfe/live-chat-zu-deinem-shop-hinzufuegen.md), [Ελληνικά](https://v3.shoprocket.io/el/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [Español](https://v3.shoprocket.io/es/ayuda/anade-chat-en-vivo-a-tu-tienda.md), [Français](https://v3.shoprocket.io/fr/aide/ajouter-le-chat-en-direct-a-votre-boutique.md), [עברית](https://v3.shoprocket.io/he/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [हिन्दी](https://v3.shoprocket.io/hi/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [Bahasa Indonesia](https://v3.shoprocket.io/id/bantuan/tambahkan-obrolan-langsung-ke-toko-anda.md), [Italiano](https://v3.shoprocket.io/it/aiuto/aggiungere-la-chat-dal-vivo-al-tuo-negozio.md), [日本語](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ja/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [Lietuvių](https://v3.shoprocket.io/lt/pagalba/pridekite-tiesiogini-pokalbi-i-parduotuve.md), [Norsk](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nb/hjelp/legg-til-live-chat-i-nettbutikken-din.md), [Nederlands](https://v3.shoprocket.io/nl/hulp/livechat-aan-je-winkel-toevoegen.md), [Polski](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pl/pomoc/dodaj-czat-na-zywo-do-sklepu.md), [Português](https://v3.shoprocket.io/pt/ajuda/adicionar-chat-ao-vivo-a-sua-loja.md), [Română](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ro/ajutor/adauga-chat-live-in-magazinul-tau.md), [Русский](https://v3.shoprocket.io/ru/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [ไทย](https://v3.shoprocket.io/th/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md), [Türkçe](https://v3.shoprocket.io/tr/yardim/magazaniza-canli-sohbet-ekleyin.md), [中文](https://v3.shoprocket.io/zh/help/live-chat-on-your-shop.md)