The chat widget that turns visitors into text threads
Install GHL’s chat widget so website visitors start a conversation that continues over SMS, which means you keep the lead even after they close the tab.
- 1
Choose SMS-first chat
In Sites, then Chat Widget, pick the SMS chat style: the visitor leaves name, number, and question, and the reply arrives as a text. Live-chat style only works if someone truly staffs it.
- 2
Write the prompt copy
The widget headline does the selling: "Questions? Text us and a real human replies in minutes" beats "How can we help?". Set the away message honestly.
- 3
Install it
On GHL-hosted sites, enable it per site. Elsewhere, copy the widget script and paste it before the closing body tag (or via your CMS’s custom code slot).
- 4
Wire the follow-up
New widget conversations should trigger an instant acknowledgment SMS, an internal notification, and a src-webchat tag. The Web Chat Responder prompt in the library builds this.
- 5
Test as a stranger
Submit a question from your phone in an incognito browser. Confirm the contact is created, the auto-reply lands as a text, and the team got pinged.
Do it with Claude
Claude treats webchat threads like any conversation: ask for unanswered widget chats or for the most common questions visitors ask, which is your next FAQ and funnel copy.
Watch out for
- Live-chat mode with nobody watching it, which reads as an ignored customer.
- No phone capture, so the thread dies the moment the visitor leaves the site.