Take over a website chat yourself

You can jump into any website chat from your Inbox and reply as yourself. The moment you send your first reply, the AI steps back and the conversation is yours.

Before you begin

• Anyone on your team can take over a chat. No special role is needed.
• Once you join, the AI won't rejoin that chat. There is no switch to hand it back, so be ready to see the conversation through.

Steps

1. Open your Inbox. Website chats are marked Web Chat. To see only chats, use the Web Chat filter.
2. Open the chat you want to join. You'll see everything the visitor and the AI have said so far.
3. Type your reply in the box at the bottom, the one that says Reply to the visitor….
4. Press Enter or click the arrow button to send.

Want a head start? Click Write answer with AI. It drafts a reply from your business knowledge, and you can edit it before sending. The draft is not sent until you send it.

What happens next

• The AI stands down in that chat for good. From now on it's you and your team talking with the visitor.
• Your name shows next to your replies, so the visitor sees a real person joined.
• Your replies are free and unlimited. They never count against your plan's AI chat messages. Only replies the AI writes on its own count.
• Below the reply box, RankLadder shows how the visitor asked to hear back: in their browser thread, by email, or by text. If they chose text, they get a text with a secure link back to the conversation, so they'll see your reply even after leaving your site.

If it does not work

• If your reply won't send, check your internet connection and try again. The chat stays open, so nothing is lost.
• If you don't see any chats in the Inbox, the AI may be handling them quietly. A chat only appears when the visitor asks for a human or leaves contact info.

Related guides

• Add AI chat to your website
• Your Inbox explained