What a customer sees in your website chat: the greeting and quick replies, the Book Now and Inventory buttons, browsing cars, booking a visit, service requests, moving between sales and service, check-ins when they go quiet, a rep replying, a customer on Approve first, and picking up a chat later.
AutoBook adds a chat bubble to the bottom-right corner of your website. When a customer opens it, they meet AutoBook Agent. It greets them, answers questions, pulls up matching vehicles from your inventory, and captures the lead so a rep can follow up. This article walks through exactly what a customer sees, so you know what your store is putting in front of customers.
One of several channels
Website chat is one of the channels AutoBook Agent answers customers on, alongside text, email and phone, wherever your store has turned them on. A service request captured in chat goes where your store's Service requests routing says: the service email, your service team in the app, or both.
What the customer sees first: the chat bubble and greeting
The bubble sits in the corner of every page where your team installed the script. If a customer hasn't opened it after about 20 seconds, a small notification badge appears on the bubble to draw their eye. If your store turned on message sounds, a short sound also plays when a new message arrives while the chat is minimized. You can also show a short teaser bubble next to it (the default is "Chat with us"), set on Settings → Website.
When the customer clicks the bubble, AutoBook Agent opens with a friendly, time-aware greeting: "Good morning, welcome to [your dealership]. What can I help you with today, a vehicle you're looking at, a visit, or a question?", using your dealership's name. If your store set a custom greeting, that's shown instead. The greeting comes with four quick-reply buttons so customers can start with one tap instead of typing:
- Book a Test Drive
- Browse Inventory
- Request Information
- Service Appointment
The chat header: Book Now and Inventory buttons
At the top of the chat window the customer always sees your dealership name, an Online status, and a Book Now button. An Inventory button appears next to it once AutoBook Agent has pulled up any vehicles in the conversation. A rep can answer in the chat from the Inbox while AutoBook Agent keeps going; the customer simply sees the reply. When the customer is on Approve first, they see a short holding line while a person approves AutoBook Agent's reply; if nobody does within 2 minutes, the reply sends by itself.
Book Now
Opens your full booking page right inside the chat window, the same flow as the standalone booking page. The customer never leaves your site. They can tap back to return to the conversation.
Inventory
Re-opens the side panel of vehicles AutoBook Agent has already surfaced, so a customer can scroll the cards again without re-asking.
Browsing inventory in chat
When a customer asks about a vehicle ("do you have a 2022 RAV4?"), AutoBook Agent searches your live inventory and slides open a vehicle panel beside the chat. Each result is a card the customer can act on:
| What the customer sees | What it does |
|---|
Vehicle cards with price and details | Pulled from your real inventory feed. AutoBook Agent shows them, then keeps chatting |
More Details | Asks AutoBook Agent about that exact car, and it answers in the chat |
Book Test Drive | Starts booking a test drive of that specific car |
How a customer books a visit inside the chat
The customer doesn't have to leave for the booking page: AutoBook Agent can book right in the conversation. It offers real open times, collects the visit type, day, time, name and a phone or email, confirms the details back in the chat, then books it. The customer gets a confirmation by text or email. If that time is no longer open, it offers other times instead. Book Now in the header opens the full booking page inside the chat if they prefer to pick a time themselves.
Every booked visit lands in your Sales pipeline
A booked sales visit creates the appointment and the customer's deal automatically; there is no "add a lead" step. The rep sees it on Appointments, To do and the Sales pipeline straight away.
When a customer asks for service in the chat
If a customer taps Service Appointment or describes a service need, AutoBook Agent takes their name, contact details and what the car needs, and opens a service request for your Service desk. Where your store's setup lets it offer real service times, it can book the visit too; otherwise it tells the customer the service team will follow up. The request goes where your Service requests row on Settings → Routing says: the service email, your service team in AutoBook, or both. A service chat never becomes a sales lead.
When a chat moves between sales and service
A new chat is not Sales or Service yet. It is filed with the right desk at the customer's first real topic: a greeting, a thank-you or a question for no department (such as your hours) does not decide it. A booking decides it by the visit's type. Until then your Inbox lists it on both desks.
Once decided, the chat stays with its desk. If the customer then asks about the other desk's work (a service question in a sales chat, say), AutoBook Agent handles it right there, and the other desk opens its own conversation. AutoBook Agent tells the customer once which number that desk will text them from, and that they can keep replying in the chat. The customer keeps one chat window throughout.
No number is named when the service number isn't ready yet, or when a text wouldn't reach them (they opted out, gave no consent, or the number isn't confirmed).
When a customer goes quiet in the chat
AutoBook Agent gently re-engages a customer who goes quiet so leads don't slip away:
1
~60 seconds idle
A short, friendly check-in about what they were discussing, such as offering to help explore vehicles or set up a visit.
2
~120 seconds idle
One last short, low-pressure check-in. It never repeats a question already asked, and AutoBook Agent asks for contact details at most twice in a chat.
Follow-ups are smart, not spammy
AutoBook Agent won't interrupt if the customer just typed or it just replied, won't check in after a booking or service request is done, and spaces messages out. If the customer shared contact details and then left, AutoBook still files the lead so your team can follow up.
Contact details, privacy and coming back to a chat later
Once a customer shares a name plus a phone or email, AutoBook records the lead and the chat transcript so your rep has full context. The chat footer shows Powered by AutoBook and a link to the Privacy Policy. A conversation stays open for about an hour on the customer's browser, so they can move between pages without losing their place.
If they come back later on the same browser (up to 30 days), the chat asks Welcome back. Pick up where you left off? with two buttons: Continue carries on the earlier chat, and Start fresh clears it from that browser. Your store's record of the conversation is kept either way.
Turning the website chat on
Each dealership turns its own chat on. The on/off is the Chat row on Settings → AutoBook Agent Autonomy: On and AutoBook Agent answers; Off and the widget still opens but nobody answers in it. AutoBook Agent must also not be paused at that dealership (Pause AutoBook Agent / Resume AutoBook Agent on the same page).