Launch a chatbot using Start a Chat button action

The Start a Chat Step Action is helpful when you already have an existing chat tool you wish to direct website visitors to, from a ReelFlow Player button e.g. Hubspot Chatflows or Intercom.

When clicked by a website visitor, the button will launch the chat experience and hide the ReelFlow Eye-catcher, clearing the way for the visitor's conversation.

Start a Chat currently connects to:

• Hubspot Chatflows

• Chatbase

• Zapier chatbots

• Intercom

However, if we don't already natively support a chatbot you wish to use yet, you can create and configure your own Custom chatbot integration using our Player API to achieve the same effect. Please reach out if you need assistance.

How to use

1. Open the Flow from your dashboard, and choose Edit to open the Flow Builder

2. Create or select an Action Button from a Step, the Step Settings flyover menu will open

3. From Actions, choose Start a Chat, and select the correct Chat Service from the list.

If you are looking to use the Custom chatbot connection and build your own, you should read more about how do this in our Player API documentation, or you can reach out to our support team.

Requirements and other things to note

• The third-party chat service you select from the list must already be live and working on the page you intend to use the Flow on for this action for this to work.
• The ReelFlow Flow must already be previewable on the page.
• The action button will automatically connect and integrate with the selected chatbot if everything is setup correctly. You can check for any errors by opening the Console in your web browser, we add status messages there.
• When using Overlay Flows, you have the options to set the ReelFlow Player to hide when the chat starts, and show again once the chat finishes (options can be found in Step settings).
• You will need to configure the third-party chatbot "launcher" to be hidden on the page to take advantage of this feature (as it will reveal it to the visitor it at the correct moment, on button click). This is often a setting inside the third-party chat tool configuration, rather than something we control.