AI Assistant Widget

The AI Assistant Widget is a floating AI chat at the bottom edge of your website. Visitors can open it, type or speak questions, and get answers based solely on the public content of your website. The assistant also links to relevant pages, guides visitors to forms, can actively navigate them through the website — and with Lead Flows capture complete enquiries in conversation.

⚠️ Don’t confuse them: The AI Assistant Widget is the AI chat for your website visitors. The AI Assistant (without “Widget”) is the AI chat for you as an editor in the WaaS backend – two separate features with different purposes. Whenever “the assistant” is mentioned here, it always means the widget.

This page describes how to enable the widget, what your visitors experience with it, and how you can set up targeted AI help on individual modules.

What it’s about

Your website often has more content than visitors can find at first glance. Anyone who doesn’t have time to search or doesn’t know which page holds the answer will bounce. The AI Assistant Widget closes that gap: a short question in the chat, an immediate answer with links to the right pages – and, when there’s contact intent, a direct path to the right form.

The widget doesn’t replace good navigation or well-written pages. It’s the additional self-service layer for visitors who want to reach their goal faster.

What the assistant does for your visitors

Answering questions about your content

The assistant knows the complete public content of your website (all pages and blog posts, in every activated language) and answers concisely and factually. It doesn’t invent anything – if the answer isn’t on your website, it says so honestly and points to your contact option. Off-topic questions (politics, weather, programming help) are politely declined.

Linking to relevant pages

Below every answer, up to two link cards appear pointing to the most relevant pages of your website. All links lead exclusively to your own domain – external links are systematically excluded.

Guiding visitors to forms

If the assistant detects concrete contact, quote, or booking intent (“I’d like a quote”, “I need a consultation”), it suggests a form button that leads directly to the matching form page.

On explicit request (“Take me to the contact page”, “Open the pricing page”), the assistant navigates the visitor directly to the target page. The chat is preserved and opens again automatically on the target page – the assistant actively guides the visitor through the website.

Voice input

A single click on the microphone icon is enough: visitors can speak their question. The transcript appears in the input field for review and is only sent after confirmation. This works in all activated website languages. In browsers without built-in speech recognition (e.g. Firefox), the microphone button hides automatically.

Conversation across page changes

The conversation history is preserved as visitors click through the website – as long as they stay in the same browser tab. If they click a page suggested by the assistant, the chat is immediately there again. When the tab is closed, everything is deleted automatically.

Multilingual support

If your website is multilingual, the assistant always answers in the language of the current page and uses the translated content of the respective language version. Currently supported: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian.

Configuration in the WaaS backend

Enabling and disabling the widget is something we take care of – this includes setting up the AI provider, abuse protection, and switching it on in the backend. If you want the widget turned on or off, get in touch with us.

Once the widget is active for your instance, you can maintain the welcome message under “Global Settings” in the WaaS backend:

Welcome message

A custom opening line the chat greets visitors with when opened (e.g. “Hi, I’m here to help with questions about our services”). For multilingual sites, you maintain the welcome message per language. If you leave the field empty, a neutral default text is shown.

💡 Tip for the welcome message: Include one or two example questions that typical visitors have (“Ask me about pricing, appointments, or our return guarantee.”). This lowers the barrier and gives you better questions.

Setting up AI Help on individual modules (optional)

In addition to the global activation, you can add targeted AI help on individual PageBuilder modules. This is particularly useful for complex forms, multi-step processes, or offers that need explanation.

Three settings are available per module:

AI Help (toggle)

Activates the proactive speech bubble: as soon as the visitor scrolls the module into view and lingers there briefly, a subtle speech bubble appears above the widget (“I’d be happy to help you fill out the application”). One click opens the chat, and the speech bubble becomes the starting message.

The speech bubble appears at most once per session per module and can be dismissed by the visitor. No popup effect, no repetitions.

AI Help Message

The text that appears as the speech bubble and starts the chat. Keep it short, friendly, and specific. Examples:

On a job application form: “Questions about the application process? I’m here to help.”
On a configurator: “Not sure which option fits? Ask me.”
On an FAQ section: “Your question isn’t listed? Type it in here.”

If you leave the field empty, a neutral default text is used.

AI Help Context (invisible extra knowledge)

Background knowledge the assistant knows for all answers about this module, but which isn’t visible anywhere on the page. Useful for:

Detail information only hinted at in the teaser (“The price includes delivery within Germany, outside + €15”)
Internal process info that’s relevant to visitors (“Response within 24 hours on business days”)
Clarifications for common misunderstandings

⚠️ Important: Everything in the “AI Help Context” field is quasi-public – the assistant can pass on any information mentioned there to visitors. Do not enter internal information there (purchase prices, internal notes, credentials, names of contacts who aren’t public). Precise, factual sentences work best – ambiguous phrasing gets repeated verbatim by the assistant.

AI Lead Flow

Links the module to a Lead Flow (see next section): clicking the speech bubble then starts conversational data capture instead of the regular help chat. The “AI Help Message” becomes the opening line in the bubble. Requires the “AI Help” toggle to be enabled.

Lead Flows: capturing enquiries in conversation (optional)

With Lead Flows, the assistant turns from an answerer into an active conversation partner: instead of filling out a form, your visitor answers the questions directly in the chat – for example “Configure your kitchen”, a needs assessment, or an initial enquiry. Technically, every flow is based on a regular Smart Lead Magnet form: you maintain the fields in one place, and the assistant asks them in conversation.

The enquiry ends up exactly like a form submission in your CRM, triggers the same email notifications, uses the same dynamic result pages (quiz evaluation), and counts as the same conversion. A Lead Flow isn’t a second system — it’s a third way of delivering your form, alongside the form page and the click funnel.

What your visitors experience

The approach: The speech bubble appears at the linked module (“Looking for a new kitchen?”) – or the flow starts via a button link (see below).
Transparency first: Before the first question, the assistant explains what data is collected and why, and obtains privacy consent via a real checkbox – no “just type yes”.
Questions in conversation: Choice questions are answered with tappable answer chips; name and email are typed freely – both in one sentence works too (“I’m Anna, anna@example.com”), the assistant sorts the details itself.
Side questions anytime: Mid-flow, the visitor can ask something (“What’s the difference between the styles?”) – the assistant answers from your website content and then returns to the flow. No classic form can do that. During the flow, the assistant deliberately shows no link cards or form buttons – nothing leads away from the conversation before the enquiry is submitted.
Control before sending: At the end, the assistant shows a summary of all details with change links. Only clicking “Submit” sends the enquiry – the assistant can never submit on its own.
The result: After submitting, your success message or the matching quiz result with call-to-action appears – just like the Smart Lead Magnet.

If the visitor drops off or changes pages, the state of the conversation is preserved in the tab – they can continue seamlessly.

How to set up a flow

Prepare the form: Create the form in the Smart Lead Magnet or use an existing one. Keep it short (ideally 3–6 fields) – a chat doesn’t forgive field deserts.
Create the flow: In the WaaS backend under “AI Lead Flows”, create an entry: name, the linked form, the opening line (speech bubble text and conversation opener), and the introduction (the transparency text before consent). Optionally: a custom completion message.
Choose the trigger – both can be combined:
- At a module: Enable “AI Help” in the module settings and select the flow in the “AI Lead Flow” field – the speech bubble appears when the visitor sees the module.
- Via link: Any button or campaign link can start the flow directly (we’ll set up the link for you – e.g. for newsletters or ads).

⚠️ Field type limitation: The chat can’t yet ask for file upload and appointment booking fields. If your form contains such fields as required fields, the flow won’t start – use a variant of the form without those fields or make them optional.

💡 Check your result buttons: The call-to-action of your result page also appears in the chat after submitting. Don’t link back to the form page there – the enquiry has just been made in the conversation. Choose a sensible next destination instead, e.g. a services or reference page.

Sensitive mode (e.g. for job applications)

For flows with sensitive details there’s a sensitive mode: your visitors’ answers are then taken verbatim and not routed through the AI model – the AI only asks the questions and answers side questions from your website content. In this mode, personal details never reach the AI provider at all. Combined with our EU default provider, this is the most data-minimal variant of conversational capture.

Trust & privacy with Lead Flows

Privacy consent is documented as consent in the CRM (timestamp + source), just like with the form.
Spam protection runs invisibly in the background (FriendlyCaptcha, same as the form).
As always: no cookies, no server-side storage of the conversation – only the submitted enquiry is stored, exactly like a form submission.

What the assistant deliberately does NOT do

So your visitors know what they can rely on:

It doesn’t invent prices, terms, or commitments. If a piece of information isn’t on your website, it says so openly and refers to your contact option.
It doesn’t announce legal transactions. It doesn’t take bookings, cancellations, or contract changes – it points to the appropriate form or your contact channel.
It doesn’t link to external websites. All links in the chat and in the link cards lead exclusively to your own domain.
It doesn’t answer off-topic questions. Political, ideological, medical, or general knowledge questions are politely declined.

Privacy

The widget is built so you don’t need an additional cookie banner:

No cookies, no tracking, no server-side storage of conversations.
The chat history lives exclusively in the memory of the browser tab (sessionStorage) and is deleted automatically when the tab is closed.
The assistant doesn’t receive any personal data from us – it only processes what the visitor types or speaks into the chat.
For voice input, the browser uses its built-in speech recognition. Depending on the browser, this may send audio data to the browser vendor – we point this out transparently to your visitors right at the microphone button.

AI provider (EU by default)

For processing chat requests, we use an AI provider with processing exclusively in the EU as the default – no third-country transfer, no detour via the US. On request, a high-quality AI provider with US processing (Standard Contractual Clauses under EU law) is available as an alternative – with the same quality and identical latency. Talk to us about it when enabling the widget if you need a specific variant.

Update your privacy policy

As soon as you enable the widget, a short section belongs in your privacy policy: purpose (answering visitor questions), the AI provider in use, note on the absence of storage, note on browser speech recognition. We’re happy to provide you with a ready-made text snippet matching your enabled provider – just get in touch.

Activation: Who does what

Step	You as the customer	Blackpattern
Enable or disable the widget for your instance	✓ (request)	✓ (implement)
Choose AI provider (default EU, US on request)	✓ (request)	✓ (set up)
Configure rate limits and abuse protection	–	✓
Maintain welcome message(s)	✓	–
Set up AI Help per module (message + context)	✓	–
Create Lead Flows and link them to modules	✓	–
Set up flow start links for buttons/campaigns	✓ (request)	✓ (provide link)
Update the privacy policy	✓ (with our text snippet)	–
Test example questions and fine-tune	✓	–

Frequently asked questions

What does the widget cost? Operation is a standard part of your WaaS package. Costs per chat request are in the fraction-of-a-cent range and are safeguarded by rate limits. If usage is significantly above average, we’ll reach out to you in time – there won’t be any surprises.

How quickly does the assistant get new content? Changes to website content are visible to the assistant within an hour at the latest – immediately after a new deployment. You don’t need to update anything manually.

Can I see what questions visitors are asking? Not at the moment – we deliberately don’t store conversations (a privacy benefit). Anonymized, aggregated analysis (“which topics come up most often?”) is on our roadmap – give us a quick heads-up if you’re interested.

Does the widget work on mobile too? Yes, fully. The chat opens fitted to the screen size, and voice and text input run on iPhone and Android just as they do on desktop.

Can I show the widget only on certain pages? Currently the widget is globally on or globally off. Finer control (only on X, not on Y) is possible as an extension – get in touch if you need it.

What happens if the AI provider goes down? For the default provider, there’s an automatic fallback to a second model from the same provider – in almost all cases, visitors don’t notice an outage. If both go down at the same time, the widget hides itself and the website remains completely usable. We get a notification in that case and take care of it.

Can I style the widget myself (colors, icons)? The widget automatically picks up the color scheme of your website. Bigger design customizations (custom icons, specific positioning) are custom setup – let’s talk briefly.

Does a Lead Flow replace my form? No. The Lead Flow is a third way of delivering the same Smart Lead Magnet form – the form page stays in place, and both paths produce identical enquiries in your CRM. Visitors simply pick whichever way suits them.

Can the AI accidentally submit wrong data in a Lead Flow? No. The AI only sorts what the visitor types – the only thing submitted is what’s shown in the summary, and only after the visitor clicks “Submit”. Every value can be corrected there beforehand.

How does the AI Assistant Widget differ from the AI Assistant? The AI Assistant is the AI chat for you as an editor in the WaaS backend – it helps you create, translate, and evaluate content. The AI Assistant Widget is the AI chat for your website visitors – it helps them find their way around your website. Both are standalone features and complement each other.

Need help?

Do you want to enable the widget, need the text snippet for the privacy policy, or want to use the EU provider variant? Get in touch: help@website-as-a-service.io.