The short version
Every live chat product on the market installs the same way underneath: a small JavaScript snippet on your pages loads the widget. That means adding chat to a website is a two-minute job on any platform that lets you edit HTML — and a plugin-store install on the platforms that do not.
Method 1: the script tag (works on any website)
- Get your snippet. Create a free account and copy the embed code from the deployment page — it is a single
<script> tag tied to your account.
- Paste it before
</body> on every page where chat should appear. If your site uses a shared template, footer include, or layout file, paste it once there and every page inherits it.
- Reload your site. The chat button appears immediately. No DNS changes, no server configuration.
Placement matters less than people expect: the snippet is asynchronous, so it does not block your page load either way, but end-of-body keeps it out of the critical path entirely.
Method 2: platform plugins
If your site runs on a platform with an app store, a plugin saves you the copy-paste and survives theme changes. MyLiveChat ships plugins for WordPress (and WooCommerce), Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and OpenCart. Website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Webflow take the script tag through their custom-code settings — each linked guide walks through the exact clicks.
Five settings to configure before launch
- Offline behavior. Decide what visitors see when no agent is online: an offline message form is the minimum; a knowledge base or AI assistant keeps answering.
- Pre-chat questions. Asking for a name and question up front qualifies the conversation — but every field you add costs you some chats. Ask for the minimum you will actually use.
- Departments. If sales and support questions should reach different people, set up routing before launch, not after the first misrouted week.
- Proactive invitations. A chat button waits; an invitation on your pricing or checkout page opens the conversation. Start with one high-intent page and measure.
- Agent notifications. A chat nobody answers is worse than no chat. Make sure whoever is on duty gets desktop or mobile notifications before the widget goes live.
How to test it
Open your site in a private browsing window (so you are treated as a visitor, not an agent), start a chat, and answer it from the agent console. Then close the console and confirm the offline experience does what you configured. Total test time: three minutes — and it catches almost every launch-day surprise.