The Welcome Screen is an alternative opening layout for the chat widget. When enabled, visitors who open the chat for the first time see a large welcome message at the top of the window and a centered white card with the suggested questions stacked as buttons. As soon as the visitor sends their first message - by typing or by clicking a suggested question - the widget smoothly transitions to the standard chat view.
When the Welcome Screen is disabled (the default), the chat opens directly in the standard layout, with suggested questions in the bottom bar above the message input.
Where to find the Welcome Screen settings
Select your chatbot, click the Settings tab, then choose Appearance in the left sidebar. Scroll down to the Welcome Screen section.
Enable the Welcome Screen
Turn on Special Welcome Screen to switch the widget into welcome screen mode. The setting is off by default.
When the toggle is on, an additional field appears:
- Suggested questions intro - a short label displayed above the suggested questions on the welcome card. By default the card shows "Select option or type a message"; type your own text to replace it, or clear the field to hide the label. This option requires suggested questions to be configured in Settings > Chat Conversation to be enabled.
Changes are saved automatically - a short "Saving..." indicator followed by "Saved" appears at the top of the settings page.
How the Welcome Screen looks to visitors
The Welcome Screen has three variants depending on how the bot is configured.
With suggested questions
This is the default Welcome Screen view. The white card lists the suggested questions configured in Settings > Chat Conversation as stacked, full-width buttons. The visitor can click a question to send it, or type a custom message in the input at the bottom.
With lead collection
When Lead Collection is set to require the form at conversation start (Settings > Lead Collection), the white card holds the lead form instead of the suggested questions. The form shows the fields you enabled in Lead Collection settings (name, email, phone, and the optional Privacy Policy checkbox). The visitor must submit the form before the conversation can begin.
For details on configuring the form fields and labels, see Lead collection.
With Privacy Policy consent
When the bot requires Privacy Policy consent before a new conversation (Settings > Consent & Privacy) and no lead form is required, the white card shows the consent description, the consent checkbox with a link to your policy, and an OK button. The button becomes active once the visitor ticks the checkbox.
If both a lead form and consent are required, the lead form is displayed and the Privacy Policy checkbox doubles as the consent acceptance.
For details on configuring consent, see Setting up ChatLab for GDPR compliance.
After the first message
When the visitor sends their first message - whether by clicking a suggested question, submitting the lead form, accepting consent, or typing into the input - the welcome header rolls up, the white card transitions away, and the widget settles into the standard chat layout for the rest of the conversation.
The Welcome Screen only appears at the start of a new session. It does not reappear while a conversation is in progress, and it does not show again when the visitor reopens the chat with existing conversation history.
Related articles
- Appearance settings - all chat widget appearance options
- Conversation settings - configure welcome messages and suggested questions
- Lead collection - capture visitor contact details
- Setting up ChatLab for GDPR compliance - require Privacy Policy consent