What to put in a chat widget's welcome message, with 10 examples

The four jobs of a welcome message

Keep it under about 25 words. The welcome message sits above the box where the visitor types; if it is long, it pushes the box down on a phone.

What to leave out

• Promises you cannot keep. "Instant replies, 24/7" is a promise your team will break the first Friday night.
• Prices in the greeting. Prices change; your published price list is the place for them, and an old greeting quoting last month's price causes arguments.
• Medical, legal or financial claims. A clinic's greeting invites questions; it does not give advice.
• A wall of emoji or exclamation marks. One friendly line beats three excited ones.

Ten examples you can copy

Clinics

1. "Hello, this is the clinic reception. Ask about appointments, opening hours or which doctor to see. We answer 9:00 to 21:00, Saturday to Thursday."
2. "Need a booking or a price for a visit? Our team replies here within a few minutes in working hours. Please don't share medical details in chat."

Salons

1. "Hi! Book a slot, ask about a treatment or check today's availability. Our team answers between 10:00 and 22:00."
2. "Looking for a price or a stylist? Tap a question below or type yours, and we'll reply here."

Car rental

1. "Renting a car? Tell us your dates and pick-up area and we'll confirm availability. Our desk answers 8:00 to 22:00, every day."
2. "Questions about deposits, insurance or airport delivery? Ask here and a person from our desk will reply."

Online shops

1. "Questions about an order, sizes or delivery? Our team answers here, Sunday to Thursday 9:00 to 18:00."
2. "Tracking an order? Have your order number ready and we'll check it for you."

Arabic versions (for the Arabic welcome field)

1. "أهلاً بك، فريق الاستقبال يرد هنا. اسأل عن المواعيد أو الأسعار أو أوقات العمل."
2. "مرحباً! هل لديك سؤال عن طلبك أو التوصيل؟ اكتب سؤالك وسيرد عليك أحد من فريقنا هنا."

Change the hours, days and services to match yours. If your working week is Monday to Friday, say so; customers know weekends differ between businesses and will believe what you write. For Arabic wording that reads as Arabic, see Arabic and English customers in one inbox.

Starter questions: let visitors tap instead of type

Starter questions are the three or four buttons shown under the greeting. They work because a visitor recognises their own question faster than they can type it. Good starter questions are the ones your team answers most:

• Clinic: "Book an appointment", "Opening hours", "Do you accept my insurance?"
• Salon: "Today's availability", "Price list", "Where are you?"
• Car rental: "Is a car available on my dates?", "What deposit do I pay?", "Do you deliver to the airport?"
• Online shop: "Where is my order?", "How do returns work?", "Delivery times"

Then make sure each of those has a written, published answer, so whoever is on shift gives the same reply; write the 20 answers customers ask shows how.

Setting it up in StayReplied

The website chat widget is available now. In the widget's settings you write a welcome message in English and one in Arabic, choose the default language and list up to six starter questions, one per line. You can also ask for a name and e-mail before the chat starts and let visitors ask for a person. The widget has no business-hours setting today, so your reply hours belong in the welcome message itself; out-of-hours chat messages covers what to send to the chats that arrive overnight. When it reads well, you publish the widget and paste the loader snippet into your site, as the docs and how to add live chat to your website describe. The widget shows right-to-left text correctly in Arabic, and every plan includes it (pricing).

A quick test before you publish

• Read the greeting on your phone: is the type box still visible without scrolling?
• Tap each starter question: does your team have a ready answer for it?
• Switch to Arabic: does the Arabic greeting read as natural Arabic, not a word-for-word translation?
• Open the chat outside working hours: does what the visitor sees say when you will reply?

When this is not for you

If nobody on your team can answer chats during the hours you write in the greeting, change the hours before you change the words: a polite greeting followed by silence does more harm than no chat at all. And if most of your customers write on WhatsApp, the widget covers your website; WhatsApp in StayReplied is marked "Coming soon". Who StayReplied is for sets out the teams it fits today.