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Use the Pre-chat form to ask visitors for their details before the chat opens. Agents then see the visitor’s real name in Live Chat instead of a placeholder like Customer 1234. The form only shows to anonymous visitors. Customers who are logged in to your store skip it.

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Prerequisites

  • You can open bitChat > Chat Widget.
  • Your widget uses an on-site chat style. The pre-chat form isn’t available for the Redirect style.

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Step 1: Open Pre-chat form

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Step 2: Turn on Pre-chat form

  • Turn on the Pre-chat form switch.
  • The field list appears. By default, Full Name and Email Address are Required, and Phone Number is Off.
Pre-chat form card turned on, with Full Name and Email set to Required and Phone Number set to Optional

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Step 3: Choose which fields to ask for

For each field, choose one option:
  • Required — visitors must fill it in to start chatting.
  • Optional — the field shows, but visitors can leave it empty.
  • Off — the field isn’t shown.
Available fields:
  • Full Name
  • Email Address
  • Phone Number
⚠️ At least one field must be Required or Optional. If all fields are Off, you can’t save. ⚠️ If no field is Required, visitors can start chatting without giving any details. You’ll see a warning, but you can still save.

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Step 4: Reorder the fields (optional)

  • Drag a field by its handle to change the order it appears in the form.

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Step 5: Save your changes

  • Check the live preview to see the form as visitors will.
  • Save the widget settings.
Pre-chat form shown in the chat widget, asking for name, email, and phone before the chat starts

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What visitors see

When an anonymous visitor opens the widget, they see a Before we start form with the fields you turned on. After they click Start chat, the chat opens and their details are saved to the customer profile. Returning visitors on the same browser session aren’t asked again.