A chat agent for your website that answers in writing, instantly

A chat agent answers in writing, in a window on your website, for people who would rather type than call. You build it just like a voice agent, with its instructions, your knowledge base, which is the set of business documents it checks before answering, your functions and your calendar.

A function is what the agent asks or requests from your software mid-conversation, such as the status of an order. When the conversation closes, it appears in the history with its summary and its analysis.

Picture an online shop. A customer writes “hi, I ordered some trainers on Monday and they haven’t arrived”. The agent asks for the order number, looks it up in your software and replies that it left the warehouse yesterday and arrives tomorrow morning. If they then ask what happens if they don’t fit, it tells them they have 30 days to exchange them and leaves the link to Returns and exchanges, ready to click.

In Agents, click Create agent and choose Chat agent. Pick single prompt or conversation flow and set it up like any other agent. For now a chat agent starts from scratch, without templates, and you will not see the settings that only make sense on the phone, like the voice or voicemail.

In Chat settings you choose when an idle conversation closes on its own, between 2 minutes and 72 hours, one hour if you leave it, and the message the person reads when it closes. The welcome message is the first one in the chat and comes pre-filled, saying that a virtual assistant is answering. You can change it.

Click Test on the agent’s page and write to it as a customer would. During a test, functions return a sample response and do not touch your software. When you like how it answers, publish it, because the website always talks to the published version.

It is the same button as the voice agent’s, with the same public key. In Settings, API Keys, open the Public Keys tab and create a key with your website’s addresses, or use the one you already have.

On the key’s card, under “What it handles”, choose Chat, or Call and chat if you also have a voice agent, and the agent that answers. Click “Copy code” and paste it into your website, or send it to whoever runs your site.

With both, visitors choose between calling and writing from the same button. They are two separate agents, one for voice and one for chat, although they can share the same knowledge base.

A card in a corner with the question “Need help?” and a “Message us” button. Pressing it opens the chat with the welcome message, the first time after a short notice they accept once.

If they reload the page, the conversation carries on where it was. They can hide the chat without ending it and, from the chat’s own history, see their earlier conversations in that browser or start a new one.

If the agent gives them a link to your own website, it opens in the same tab and the chat reopens on its own on the new page, with the same conversation.

Without any setup, links to your website, the one on the key, and to the web pages in your knowledge base can be clicked. Links to any other domain show as plain text. That way nobody can get your agent to show a customer a misleading link.

If you need others, such as a separate booking site, add them in Chat settings, under Clickable links. And if you tick “Show links as a card”, a card with each link appears under the message.

The agent only gives addresses written out in full in its instructions, its knowledge base or a function’s response. If it writes one that is in none of those places, it is removed before it reaches the customer, so it cannot invent a page on your website that does not exist.

The chat does not hand over to a person, because there is no call to pass on. If you want your team to know, create a function that alerts your software, your CRM or an email inbox, and tell the agent when to use it.

It can also answer from your own software, through the API, the door that lets your programs talk to Lera without going through the panel. Your software opens the conversation, sends the messages and receives what the agent replies.

Each reply from the agent counts, according to the model you choose. The customer’s messages and the welcome message do not count. Text tests in the panel also count, like a message from the agent.

During the free trial you can use everything. If you then choose a plan, chat comes with the Essential plan and above, with its own monthly messages included on top of the minutes. Connecting the agent to your software, as in the order example, comes with the Professional plan, and the API with the Advanced plan.

Is it a different agent from the voice one? Yes, it is a separate agent, although you build it the same way and it can use the same knowledge base. With both on the same button on your website, visitors choose between calling and writing.

How is usage counted? Per message from the agent, according to the model. The person’s messages and the welcome message do not count, and the cost is deducted when each conversation closes.

Can it hand over to a person? There is no call to pass on in a chat. What you do is create a function that alerts your software, your CRM or an email inbox, and tell the agent when to use it.

Can it book appointments? Yes. Connect your Cal.com under Tools, just as on a voice agent, and the agent checks the free slots and books without leaving the chat.

What if it does not show up on my website? Check that the agent is published and that your website’s address is written the same way on the key, with or without www. Maite, the panel’s copilot, can check it for you if you ask.

How much does it cost to try? €20 free credit, no card needed, and the chat draws on that same trial. You can create your chat agent, test it and put it on your website before you decide anything.