Web chat
Voco Web Chat: your AI receptionist on your website
Voco Web Chat puts the same AI receptionist that answers your phone into a chat on your website. Voco Web Chat answers visitors' questions about your services, hours and prices, takes their name and number, and can book them in, at any time of day. Every chat reaches you as an enquiry, just like a call. Web chat plans start at £19 a month, and every Voco phone plan includes free conversations each month.
Or use the chat button in the corner of this page.
What you get
Six things Voco Web Chat does
- The same receptionist as your phone
- Voco Web Chat is built from the same setup as your phone line, so it already knows your services, opening hours, prices and rules. Update your business details once and the chat uses them too.
- Every chat becomes an enquiry
- When a visitor leaves their details, the enquiry lands in your Voco dashboard with the full conversation, and you get an email alert. Emergencies can reach you by text as well.
- Books appointments
- If you take bookings through Voco, Voco Web Chat can offer times and book visitors into your connected calendar, just as it does on a call.
- Matches your website
- Choose a pill, rounded square or circle button, your own accent colour, which corner it sits in and the wording on the button.
- Helpful, never pushy
- The chat never pops open by itself. When a visitor has spent a while reading a page, a short note appears beside the button, and the greeting mentions the page they are on.
- Hand over to a person
- On a web chat plan, you can let visitors ask for a person. You get an urgent alert and can join the conversation from your dashboard.
Setting it up
How does Voco Web Chat work?
Voco Web Chat is set up from your Voco dashboard in three steps, and it doesn't need a developer.
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1
Switch it on and choose how it looks. Pick the button shape, colour, position and wording, then check it on the preview page before it goes anywhere near your site.
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2
Paste one line of code into your website. Copy the snippet from your dashboard and add it to your site, or send it to whoever manages your website. List the web addresses it is allowed to run on.
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3
Visitors chat, you get the enquiry. Voco Web Chat answers visitors straight away. When someone leaves a name and number, the enquiry reaches you the same way a call enquiry does.
Turning Voco Web Chat off in your dashboard makes the snippet do nothing, and the chat button disappears from your site.
What happens when a visitor opens the chat?
The Voco receptionist answers the visitor's question first, then asks for a name and a phone number or email so you can follow up. If the visitor has already typed their details into the chat's form, the receptionist doesn't ask for them again. Any link the receptionist shares, such as a booking link, is written straight into the chat window.
Each Voco Web Chat conversation is saved in your dashboard as a full transcript, so you can read exactly what was said before you call back. If the same person has also phoned you and left the same number, their calls and chats appear together in one history.
Pricing
How much does Voco Web Chat cost?
Voco Web Chat costs from £19 a month on its own, and every phone plan includes free conversations. A conversation counts when the receptionist sends its first reply. A visitor who opens the chat and leaves without typing costs nothing.
Web chat plans (no phone line)
| Plan | Per month | Conversations included | Works out at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat Starter | £19 | 55 | 35p each |
| Chat Professional | £49 | 165 | 30p each |
| Chat Business | £109 | 435 | 25p each |
Pay annually and save 10%.
Free conversations included with phone plans
| Phone plan | Free web chat conversations each month |
|---|---|
| Starter | 5 |
| Professional | 10 |
| Business | 20 |
On Voco pay as you go there are no free web chat conversations. You can let Voco Web Chat use your call credit at 35p a conversation, which is a separate tick box in your dashboard. Without the tick, the chat keeps taking names and numbers at no cost. Chat stops using credit when your balance reaches £10, so it can never leave your phone line without credit.
What happens when your conversations run out?
Voco Web Chat has no overage charges: when your included conversations run out, the chat stays on your site and keeps taking names and numbers, so you can get back to every visitor.
Web chat, phone line or both?
| Feature | Phone plan | Web chat plan | Both |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers your phone 24/7 | Yes | No | Yes |
| Answers the chat on your website | 5 to 20 free conversations a month | 55 to 435 conversations a month | Yes |
| UK phone number included | Yes | No | Yes |
| Visitors can ask for a person in chat | No | Yes, when you switch it on | Yes, when you switch it on |
| From | £49 a month | £19 a month | Both plans together |
Many businesses start with a Voco phone plan, try web chat with the free conversations, and add a web chat plan once they see how many enquiries come through their website.
Can someone copy my chat onto another website?
Voco Web Chat only answers on the websites you list, so anyone copying the code onto their own site cannot use up your conversations. The list starts with the website on your Voco account; with no website listed and none on your account, the chat answers anywhere, so add yours before you go live. Voco also limits how many messages one website and one visitor can send each minute, so a bot cannot flood your chat.
Frequently asked questions
Voco Web Chat is the same AI receptionist as your Voco phone line, built from the same setup, so it knows the same services, hours, prices and rules. It is adjusted for typing: it won't read your phone number back to you digit by digit, and it writes links into the chat instead of texting them.
You do not need a Voco phone plan to use Voco Web Chat, because web chat plans work on their own and start at £19 a month. Web chat plans don't include a phone number, because a business that only wants chat doesn't need one. If you want both later, you can add a phone plan at any time.
One Voco Web Chat conversation starts when the receptionist sends its first reply to a visitor, and ends after 30 minutes with no messages. It stays the same conversation while the visitor keeps chatting. Opening the chat without typing anything never counts.
Visitors can ask for a person in Voco Web Chat on any web chat plan, once the business switches the option on in its dashboard. You get an urgent alert and can join the chat from your dashboard. The receptionist keeps answering while they wait, and never promises that someone is coming.
Voco Web Chat works on any website where you, or whoever manages your site, can add one line of code. You can test it on a private preview page in your dashboard before it goes live.
You can try Voco Web Chat now without paying, because the chat on this page is Voco Web Chat answering questions about Voco. Every Voco phone plan also includes free web chat conversations each month, so phone customers can try it on their own site at no extra cost. You can also test it on a private preview page in your dashboard before it goes near your website.
Put your receptionist on your website
Answer visitors at any hour, and get every enquiry the way you get your calls.
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