Live chat greeting examples and routing rules for a small team
Live chat greeting examples for six pages, with when to show each one, after-hours and busy messages, and a one-page routing table: who answers which chat, how fast, and what the AI agent hands over. With a filled example, a Word template and an Excel response-time log.
Made by Anatolii Ulitovskyi 
Fact-checked by RH Fardin Updated 1. Live chat greeting examples for sales pages
Start hereThese live chat greeting examples fit the page and the visitor's likely job. The first sentence says an AI assistant answers, then what it can do and who takes over. Show a small teaser after a delay, once per visit1.
1.1Home page: "What do you offer?"
Likely jobFind out what you sell and whether it fits them.
Show the teaserAfter 20 seconds, once per visit.
GreetingHi, I'm bot name, the AI assistant for business. I can tell you what we offer, what it costs and whether we cover your area. Name from our team answers chats days and hours, time zone. What brings you here today?
1.2Pricing page: "Which plan, at what cost?"
Likely jobPick a plan or check the full cost.
Show the teaserAfter 20 seconds, once per visit.
Suggested repliesWhich plan fits me?, Extra costs, Talk to sales
GreetingHi, I'm bot name, business's AI assistant. I can compare plans, explain what each one includes and check the total for you. For large or custom orders, name from our team takes over. Which plan are you looking at?
1.3Product page: "One detail before I buy"
Likely jobCheck size, ingredients, compatibility or delivery.
Show the teaserAfter 20 seconds, once per visit.
GreetingHi, I'm bot name, an AI assistant. Questions about product? I can answer from our product details, such as detail 1 or delivery. For allergy, sizing or custom questions, I pass you to name.
One greeting for all three pages (one widget)Hi, I'm bot name, business's AI assistant. I can compare plans, explain what is in each product and check your area. For large or custom orders, name takes over. What would you like to know?
Why the disclosure comes firstPeople write more directly when they know they are talking to a bot2. In the EU, from 2 August 2026, people must be told they are interacting with an AI system at the latest at the first interaction, unless that is obvious34.
Never
- Never write "We're online now!" in a greeting that also shows at night.
- Never open the full chat window by itself; a small teaser is enough.
2. Greetings for the checkout, help center and contact pages
On support pages, the visitor already has a problem. Get them to an answer or the right person fast. On checkout, stay quiet until they ask1.
2.1Checkout: "My payment won't go through"
Likely jobFinish paying, or fix a payment error.
Show the teaserNever. No teaser, no chat that opens by itself, only a small link: "Problem paying? Chat with us."
Greeting, when they open the chatHi, I'm bot name, an AI assistant. Having trouble with checkout? Tell me what you see, for example the error message, and I'll help or bring in name. Please don't type card numbers here.
2.2Help center: "Something is wrong with my order"
Likely jobFix a problem with an order or an account.
Show the teaserAfter 10 seconds, once per visit.
GreetingHi, I'm bot name, business's AI assistant. I can answer from our help center, check delivery days or explain billing. For missing or damaged orders, I pass you straight to name. What's going on?
2.3Contact page: "I want to reach a person"
Likely jobReach a person, or find out how long a reply takes.
Show the teaserAfter 10 seconds, once per visit.
GreetingHi, I'm bot name, an AI assistant for business. I can answer right now or pass you to a person. Our team replies in chat days and hours, time zone, usually within minutes. Who would you like to reach?
If your tool has one greeting per chat widgetUse one widget for the sales pages, one for the help center and contact pages, and none on checkout.
Never
- Never pop up a chat on checkout pages.
- Never ask for card numbers in a chat.
3. After-hours and busy messages that set honest expectations
No false promisesSay when your team answers chats, and give a real reply time instead of "soon" or a place in a queue2.
After-hours greetingHi, I'm bot name, the AI assistant for business. I can answer questions about topics right now. Our team is back day at time, time zone. Anything I can't answer goes to name, who replies by time by email.
Handover after hoursOur team is offline until day at time, time zone. I've passed your question to name, who will reply by time by email or in this chat. If it's about urgent topic, call phone.
Busy message (a person sends it)Thanks for waiting, first name. We're answering more chats than usual. I've read your message and will reply within minutes. If you need to go, I'll answer by email.
Sale day, launch or holidayHi, I'm bot name, an AI assistant. Today is our sale day, or: Our team is off until date, so name replies within about time. I can answer questions about topics right away.
Test it firstTest a handover once during your hours and once after them. If the AI agent cannot tell the time, put your hours into every handover line.
Never
- Never say "right away" or "shortly" when nobody is working.
- Never let a visitor wait in silence: send the busy message as soon as you know you will miss the target.
4. Chat routing rules: one table for a small team
Fill in firstThese chat routing rules fit on one page. Each row says who answers a topic, who covers, how fast the first reply comes in and out of hours, and who steps in when time runs out.
Your routing table (fill in)
| Topic and urgency | Owner; backup; escalation | First reply: in hours / after |
|---|---|---|
| Large or custom orders (pricing, contact): High | sales name; backup founder; after 20 min: founder | 10 min / 9:00 next working day |
| Checkout and payment problems: High | support name; backup backup; after 15 min: founder | 5 min / 9:00 next working day |
| Missing or damaged order (help center): Urgent | support name; backup backup; after 15 min: founder | 5 min / 9:00 next working day |
| Billing, refunds, cancellations: Normal | support name; backup founder; after 60 min: founder | 30 min / 9:00 next working day |
| Partnerships and press (contact): Low | founder; backup sales name; no escalation | 4 hours / 12:00 next working day |
How the team uses it
- The owner answersThe owner takes the chat and replies within the target.
- The backup coversWhen the owner is off or busy, the backup takes it.
- Escalation steps inWhen the target passes with no reply, the escalation person answers, even with a holding line. In a team of three, this is often the backup.
Sales chats are leadsTreat a sales chat like any web lead: in a 2011 study of 1.25 million leads, firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as firms that tried even an hour later5.
5. What the AI agent answers itself and what it hands over
Give the AI agent the routing table too. It answers what your sources cover and hands over the rest, naming the owner and the reply time.
Answer or hand over (fill in)
| Topic | AI answers itself | AI hands over when |
|---|---|---|
| Prices and plans | Prices, what each plan includes | They ask for a discount or an unlisted plan. |
| Large or custom orders | Order limits, service area | The order is over limit, or needs an invoice. |
| Product details | Facts from the product page | Any health or safety question, such as allergies. |
| Checkout and payment | Payment methods, promo codes | A payment fails twice, or a double charge. |
| Orders and delivery | Delivery days, order tracking | An order is missing, late or damaged. |
| Billing and cancellations | Billing date, skip, pause, cancel | Any refund, credit or charge dispute. |
Routing block for the AI agent's instructionsROUTING
Answer only from these instructions and the knowledge base.
Hand over to a person for: topics from the table, and whenever the visitor asks for a person.
When you hand over, name the person and the reply time: topic 1: name, within minutes. Topic 2: name, within minutes.
Our team answers chats days and hours, time zone. Outside those hours, say when the team is back and that name replies by time.
Never promise a refund, a credit, a discount or a delivery date.
Never
- Never let the AI agent guess the answer to a safety question.
- Never leave a topic out of the table: no row means no owner.
6. The handover line: who replies, where and by when
Name and timeThe handover line is the last thing the visitor reads before they wait: the person, the place and the time from your routing table. When to hand over at all is in the human handover playbook.
In hoursI'm passing this to name, who handles topic. Name can see this chat and replies here within minutes, by time. If you need to leave, name answers by email.
The owner is busy: the backup takes itOwner name is helping another customer, so backup name is taking your chat and replies here within minutes.
Escalation: the target has passed (a person sends it)Sorry for the wait, first name. I'm name, role. I've read your messages and I'm on it now. Answer or next step, with a time.
Handover record: 5 fields
| Field | What to write |
|---|---|
| Source | The bot or channel, and the page |
| Urgency | Urgent, High, Normal or Low, from the table |
| Owner | Who took the chat; the backup if the owner was busy |
| First-reply deadline | Handover time plus the target, or the out-of-hours time |
| Escalation | Who steps in, and at what time |
Where the clock startsCount from the moment the chat starts waiting for a person, not from the visitor's first message.
7. Moving a chat to a call, email or WhatsApp with consent
When the visitor wants to continue by phone, email or WhatsApp, ask first, pass on the history, name who takes over and confirm when it happens.
7.1Original channel
Write downWebsite chat, WhatsApp, Instagram or email.
7.2Consent
RuleA yes to the new channel, the number or address and the time.
AskIs it OK if name continues this by phone call, email or WhatsApp at number or email? Name will have this chat, so you won't need to repeat anything.
7.3History summary
RuleTwo or three lines: who, what they want, what was answered or agreed.
Summary for the person taking overFirst name, company: wants request. Already answered: what you told them. Next step: call or email at time.
7.4Receiving owner
RuleOne named person, with a task and a deadline.
7.5Confirmation
RuleTell the customer who, where and when.
Confirm in the chatDone. Name will call you at number at time. I've emailed you a short summary of this chat.
WhatsApp: let the customer write firstTo continue on WhatsApp, tap our WhatsApp button and send "Hi". Name replies there with this chat in front of them.
Why WhatsApp needs a yesWhatsApp's business messaging policy lets a business contact people only if they gave their number and opted in to receive messages6. When a person messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens; after it closes, only pre-approved template messages can be sent7.
Never
- Never switch channels without a yes.
- Never move a customer to a personal phone or account.
8. Weekly check of missed and slow chats in 20 minutes
Every MondayOnce a week, find the chats that waited too long or got no reply, answer anyone still waiting and fix one cause. The Excel log does the counting.
The 20-minute check
- Answer anyone still waiting (5 min)Open every chat still waiting for a person and reply now, with an apology.
- Log last week's handovers (5 min)Handover time, first reply time, topic, who answered. The log marks On time, Late or No reply.
- Read the late and missed chats (5 min)Note why: owner busy, alert missed, out of hours, wrong owner, or the AI agent kept the chat too long.
- Fix one cause (5 min)Change a backup, a target, a greeting, an alert or a knowledge base answer. Write down what changed.
Late reply, sent by email the next working dayHi first name, this is name from business. Sorry we didn't reply to your chat on day. Answer to their question. If you still need help, reply to this email or call phone.
What to count
| Measure | Target | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Handovers on time | 90% or more | Check alerts and the backup for that topic. |
| Chats with no reply | 0 | Answer today; give the topic a backup. |
For small sales and support teams
A bot for each page group. An owner for each chat.
In CRMsoftware.pro, each bot has its own First Message, Welcome Toast Timing, Instructions and alert email. Handed-over chats wait in Live Support as Awaiting agent until a teammate clicks Claim. Who claims which chat is your routing table: the app does not assign chats by itself.
- Several bots, each with its own greeting and alert email
- Claim and Resolve in Live Support, Conversation Tags for topics
- Human handover from Launch, $19 a month billed yearly for 8 users
Free plan: 3 users, AI chat, no credit card.
Filled example
A pricing-page chat routed to sales, then to a phone call
How the greetings and the routing table work in one chat. Pebblebrook Meal Kits, a fictional company in Portland, Oregon, has three people and two bots: Pebblebrook Sales on the home, pricing and product pages, with one greeting for all three, and Pebblebrook Help on the help center and contact pages. On Thursday 8 October 2026, Jordan asked about office lunches.
The routing row used
| Topic | Office and bulk orders |
| Source | Pebblebrook Sales bot, pricing page |
| Urgency | High |
| Owner / backup | Theo / Nadia |
| First reply target | 10 minutes in hours, else 9:00 next working day |
| Escalation | No reply in 20 minutes: Nadia |
Response log entry
| Handed over | First reply | On time? |
|---|---|---|
| 11:52 | 11:56, 4 minutes | On time |
Channel switch: chat to phone
| Original channel | Website chat |
| Consent | Jordan said yes to a call at 14:30 |
| History summary | In the lead notes and emailed to Jordan |
| Receiving owner | Nadia, founder |
| Confirmation | Number and time repeated in the chat |
What lands in the CRM
| Lead | Fieldnote Architects, office lunches for 24, $228 a week; Source: Live Chat; Assigned To: Nadia |
| Task | Call Jordan Ellis at 14:30; Assignee: Nadia |
| Conversation tag | Office orders |
Why it matters
Why greeting timing and reply deadlines matter
Speed decides whether a sales question turns into a customer. When researchers audited 2,241 US companies, only 37% answered a web test lead within an hour, 23% never answered, and the average response among those that replied within 30 days was 42 hours. In a separate study of 1.25 million leads, firms that tried to contact a lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify it as firms that tried even an hour later5. The data is from 2011 and covers web leads; a sales chat that leaves an email is a web lead too.
Greetings can cost you too. In Baymard Institute's e-commerce usability testing, a minority of users saw chats that the site starts as "pushy salespeople". Baymard recommends letting users start the chat, and otherwise adding a time delay, showing it rarely and keeping pages such as checkout off-limits1.
Nielsen Norman Group's chat guidelines, from a usability study with 8 participants, include stating the hours when live chat is not always available, giving a real time estimate instead of a place in a queue, and being upfront when a bot answers2. The lines in tabs 3 and 6 follow all three.
7x
as likely to qualify a lead when firms tried to contact it within an hour, not an hour later
42 hours
average reply to a web test lead among 2,241 US companies audited
23%
of those companies never answered the test lead at all
In the app
Chat routing in CRMsoftware.pro: settings and team rules
CRMsoftware.pro does not route chats by itself: there is no automatic, skills-based, round-robin or business-hours chat routing. You route with the table above, separate bots and a few settings.
| Need | Setting in the app | Rule your team follows |
|---|---|---|
| A greeting per page group | One bot per page group, each with its own First Message and embed code. | Sales pages get the sales bot; help center and contact pages the help bot. |
| When the greeting appears | Welcome Toast Timing: Appear After (1 to 30 seconds), Show For (3 to 60 seconds). Open full chat automatically off. | 20 seconds on sales pages, 10 on support pages, no bot on checkout. |
| Who gets alerted | Connect tab: Send email notifications, one alert email per bot. Live Support: Notification Settings. | The owner and the backup keep alerts on during working hours. |
| Who answers | Live Support: the chat waits as Awaiting agent until someone clicks Claim, then Resolve. | Owner first, backup when the owner is busy, escalation when the target passes. |
| Who works on which bot | Team: Bot access. Connect tab: Assigned users. | Each person gets the bots for the topics they own or back up. |
| Language and hours | Widget Language for the widget's labels; AI replies in 95+ languages. No business-hours switch. | Hours go into First Message and Instructions; change them before a holiday. |
Bots per plan: Free 1, Launch 2, Growth 5, Scale 15. Human handover and Live Support come with Launch; auto-translation in the inbox with Growth8.
Edge cases
Routing edge cases a small team runs into
Agree on these before they happen.
A chat arrives 5 minutes before closing
A chat handed over before closing time is due within the in-hours target. Whoever is still on shift answers it.
If you cannot stayI'm about to go offline, first name, so name will answer by time tomorrow. They have everything you wrote.
A customer asks about an order on the pricing page
Route by what they ask, not by the page. An order problem goes to the support owner, wherever the chat started.
Pass it onThanks, first name. Order problems go to support name, who replies here within minutes.
The owner is on vacation
Swap the owner and the backup in the routing table before the vacation starts, and send that bot's alert email to the backup.
The visitor says it is urgent
Ask one question: is an order, a payment or someone's safety at risk today? If yes, treat it as Urgent. If not, keep the topic's urgency and give the reply time.
If an edge case happens twice in a month, add a row or a rule to the routing table.
Excel tracker
Routing table and response-time log in Excel
Five sheets: Routing table, Response log, Channel switches, Hours and Summary. Auto columns fill in by themselves.
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Routing table: topic, pages or channel, urgency, owner, backup | One row per topic, with drop-down lists. |
| Targets, escalation, AI answers or hands over, tag | Minutes in hours, reply-by time out of hours, escalate after how long and to whom. |
| Status and chats logged Auto | Ready, Incomplete or No backup; logged chats per topic. |
| Response log: handed over, source, topic, answered by, first reply | One row per chat handed to a person. |
| Urgency, owner, in hours, reply deadline, minutes, on time Auto | From the routing table and Hours sheet: On time, Late, No reply after the deadline, or Open. |
| Channel switches Auto | The five fields; Status: Complete, Missing step or No consent. |
| Summary Auto | Totals and on-time rate by topic, owner and week. |
The sample is two weeks of handovers at Pebblebrook Meal Kits: 14 chats, 10 on time, 3 late and 1 with no reply, an on-time rate of 71%. Week 1 had 4 of 7 on time, week 2 had 6 of 7. Jordan's office-order chat on 8 October got its first reply in 4 minutes. Of 4 channel switches, 2 are complete, 1 is missing its summary and 1 customer said no to a call.
How to set up
Set up your greetings and chat routing rules in 5 steps
- 1
List your page groups
Sales pages, support pages and checkout. Write greetings from tabs 1 and 2.
- 2
Fill in the routing table
Each topic gets an owner, a different backup, reply targets and an escalation.
- 3
Brief the AI agent
Paste the routing block from tab 5 into its instructions. Test one question per row.
- 4
Set alerts and hours
Owners turn on alerts. Hours go into the greetings and after-hours lines.
- 5
Check every week
Log handovers in Excel and run the 20-minute check from tab 8.
Set it up in CRMsoftware.pro
- In My Bots, create one bot per page group, for example Sales and Help. On the Basics tab, write the greeting in First Message and paste the routing block into Instructions.
- Set Welcome Toast Timing (Appear After, Show For) and the Widget Language. Keep Open full chat automatically off.
- On the Behavior tab, turn on Quick Replies and add Suggested Replies. Leave Collect User Data off on the sales bot.
- Paste each bot's embed code only on its pages; none on checkout.
- On the Connect tab, turn on Send email notifications with the owner's email and add Assigned users. In Team, set Bot access.
- Add one tag per topic in Settings > Conversation Tags. In Live Support: Claim, reply, tag, Resolve.
AI chat, First Message and Suggested Replies are on the Free plan with 1 bot: 3 users, no credit card. Human handover in Live Support comes with Launch, $19 a month billed yearly for 8 users and 2 bots. Growth, $49 a month billed yearly, gives 5 bots and auto-translation in the inbox.
Ready when
- Every greeting says AI assistant in its first sentence.
- Nothing pops up on checkout pages.
- Every topic has an owner, a backup and a reply target.
- Handover and after-hours lines name a person and a time.
FAQ
Live chat greetings and routing: common questions
What are good live chat greeting examples?
Short greetings that fit the page: on pricing, offer to compare plans; on the help center, offer to fix the problem; on contact, say who answers and how fast. Each says first that an AI assistant answers, if one does, and ends with one question.
What should a live chat welcome message say?
Who is answering, what they can help with and who takes over, then one question. For example: "Hi, I'm Sage, Pebblebrook's AI assistant. I can compare plans and check your ZIP code. For office orders, Theo from our team takes over. What would you like to know?"
When should a proactive chat greeting appear?
After a short delay, once per visit, never on checkout. Baymard Institute recommends a time delay, showing chat rarely and keeping pages such as checkout off-limits1. This template uses 20 seconds on sales pages and 10 on support pages.
Should the greeting say that an AI is answering?
Yes. People write more directly when they know it is a bot2, and in the EU, from 2 August 2026, people must be told they are interacting with an AI system at the latest at the first interaction, unless that is obvious34. This is not legal advice.
What should live chat say after hours?
When the team is back, what the AI agent can answer now and who replies by when. For example: "Our team is back Monday at 8:00 Pacific Time. Mara has your question and replies by 9:00 by email."
What are chat routing rules?
Rules for who answers which chat: topic or page, urgency, owner and backup, first-reply target in and out of hours, and who steps in when the target passes. For a small team they fit in one table, as in tab 4.
How fast should a person reply after a chat handover?
Set a target per topic: this template uses 5 minutes for urgent order and payment problems, 10 for sales and 30 for billing, in working hours. Firms that tried to contact web leads within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify them as firms that tried an hour later5.
How do you move a chat to a call, email or WhatsApp?
Get a yes, pass a short history summary to the person who takes over, name them and confirm the time. On WhatsApp, a business may only contact people who gave their number and opted in6, so let the customer message you first.
Does CRMsoftware.pro route chats automatically?
No. There is no automatic, skills-based, round-robin or business-hours chat routing. You route with a written table and separate bots per page group, channel or language, each with its own First Message and alert email (Free has 1 bot, Launch 2, Growth 5). Teammates take chats with Claim in Live Support, from Launch at $19 a month billed yearly.
Related templates
Free tools
Sources
- Usability testing, 15 October 2019: Baymard Institute, These Three (Popular) Approaches to Implementing 'Live Chat' are Often Highly Disruptive for Users
- Usability study, 8 participants, 13 January 2019: Nielsen Norman Group, The User Experience of Customer-Service Chat: 20 Guidelines
- EU AI Act, Article 50(1) and (5), text as at 27 July 2026: AI Act Service Desk, Article 50: Transparency obligations for providers and deployers of certain AI systems
- EU AI Act, date of application: AI Act Service Desk, Article 113: Entry into force and application
- Audit of 2,241 US companies; study of 1.25 million leads, March 2011: Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington)
- Official policy, last updated 23 September 2026: WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy
- Official developer documentation, customer service windows: Meta for Developers, WhatsApp Business Platform: Service messages
- Plans, prices and bots per plan, checked 12 October 2026: CRMsoftware.pro pricing
Greet by page, route by topic, reply on time.
Start free with 3 users, AI chat and your First Message. Launch, $19 a month billed yearly, adds human handover in Live Support and a second bot. Growth, $49 a month billed yearly, gives 5 bots.