WhatsApp and live chat buttons on Shopify with Vitals: features, pricing and setup

Yes, Vitals adds WhatsApp and live chat buttons to Shopify. The Live Chat Channels app (listed in this help center as All-In-One Chat) is part of Vitals: Reviews, Bundles & 40+ on the Shopify App Store. It puts a chat bubble on your store that lets shoppers contact you on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, Instagram, email, phone and other channels, each with its own agent name and role, shown during that agent's opening hours. The conversation opens in the shopper's own app and you reply from yours.

Live Chat Channels at a glance

When Live Chat Channels is not the right fit

• You need a shared support inbox inside the app. Vitals does not host the conversations. Replies happen in your own messaging apps.
• You want automated or AI replies, or WhatsApp broadcast messages. The app links shoppers to your channels and does not send or automate messages.

Being in touch with your visitors and letting them know you're always just one message away is highly important in building trust and offering them a great experience in your store. Use the Live Chat Channels app to allow your visitors to communicate with you through familiar channels like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, plus much more!

What's more, you can customize each channel with their own unique agent name and role, providing an authentic experience to your visitors when they are talking with your team.

You can also customize how the chat bubble looks & feels, choosing the shape, background color, and animation that works best for your store. You can also show a welcome message to your visitors and customize it.

How to create a channel/agent

Each contact option that you can use on your store is called a channel. The Live Chat Channels app can support multiple channels.

If there are no channels created yet, you can create your first one by clicking the "Create Agent" button:

From there, you can now start creating your channel. You can see the following settings that you can modify:

Status

• • By default, it is set to Active, which means that it will appear on the store right away once the changes are saved. But you can change this to Inactive if you would like to create the channel but don't want it to be live on the store yet.

Agent Settings

Select Platform

• • This is where you choose the platform of the channel you're creating. You can choose among 12 platforms, from WhatsApp, Email and SMS to LinkedIn, Telegram or Apple.
  • For the specific requirements of each channel, kindly refer to the table on our Frequently Asked Questions section below.

Name

• • Your desired agent name of the selected platform.

Agent Role

• • The role/title of the agent.

Schedule

You can also set the schedule of your created channel. You can specify when this channel will appear on your Live Chat Channels app using the given 7-day interface.

If you want this channel to operate 24/7, you can enable the option "Agent is always available online"

Once you're satisfied with your settings, click on the Save button and it will be added automatically to your list of agents.

Modifying the Live Chat Channels app's appearance settings

You can make different appearance modifications of the Live Chat Channels app via the Settings tab:

Below are some of the settings that you can modify:

Placement on mobile/desktop

In Placement on mobile and Placement on desktop, tick Show on mobile and Show on desktop to choose where the chat bubble appears, and pick Left or Right for each. Show on mobile is off by default, so turn it on if you want the bubble on phones.

Greeting message

You can set a greeting message that automatically appears after X seconds after a visitor visits the store for the first time. This is useful to notify your visitors about your available channels of support.

Appearance

In this section, you can modify the app's overall appearance like its shape, its colors, and its animation.

Single channel

Enable Show a single channel as the chat button to show that channel’s own button when you have only one available channel. It opens the channel in one click without showing a greeting message. If you have two or more available channels, shoppers will still see the chat bubble.

WhatsApp message

You can add a prefilled WhatsApp message for shoppers and choose to start the message with the link to the page they are viewing. Use {{ page_title }} to include the page title or {{ page_url }} to include the page link. If your message already includes {{ page_url }}, enabling the page-link option will not add the link again.

Agent settings and Welcome header

Here you can change what the chat does when all agents are offline, and the Welcome header (the message that appears on top of your channels). Hide the chat bubble when all agents are offline is on by default, and new agents start with a Monday-Friday 09:00-17:00 schedule, so outside those hours the bubble is hidden. Tick Agent is always available online on an agent if the bubble should show at all times.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does Vitals have a WhatsApp chat button for Shopify?

Yes. Live Chat Channels adds a chat bubble that opens a WhatsApp chat with your number, and can also offer Facebook Messenger, SMS, Instagram, email, phone and six more channels in the same widget.

How much does Live Chat Channels cost?

It is included in the Vitals All-in-One plan at $29.99/month, with a 7-day free trial. Check the Shopify App Store listing for current pricing.

Where do I answer the messages?

In your own apps. The widget opens the channel the shopper picks, such as WhatsApp or Messenger, and the conversation happens there. Vitals does not host a shared inbox.

I chose X channel but I don't know what resource to insert. Where can I get that?

Depending on the channel chosen, it will ask for a different type of username to continue. Refer to the table below for each available channel.