Redesigns quietly delete chat
The chat snippet lives in the site template — exactly the file a redesign replaces. Nobody decides to remove chat; it simply is not in the new layout, and the team discovers it weeks later as an unexplained quiet spell. Treat chat as a first-class item on the redesign checklist, not something to re-notice after launch.
Before launch: the carry-over list
- The snippet goes into the new base template on day one of the build — before-</body>, same as the original install — so every staging review happens WITH the widget present. A layout reviewed without the launcher will collide with it later.
- Remap page-based triggers. Proactive invitations and routing rules keyed to URLs break silently when /pricing becomes /plans. Export your trigger list, walk it against the new URL map, and fix each rule as part of the redirect work you are already doing.
- Refresh the widget's look deliberately. A redesign changes your palette; the launcher configured three years ago may now clash or vanish against the new ground. Re-pick launcher color and label with the new design system — keeping contrast and placement rules intact.
Staging: test the widget like a feature
On the staging site, run the full loop once per key template: launcher visible and tappable at 375px, panel opens and fits, pre-chat form submits, offline state renders. The widget reports the URL it loads from, so staging traffic is distinguishable from production in your visitor log — test freely.
Launch week: chat is your error console
Whatever the redesign broke, visitors will report it in chat before your analytics flag it: the missing page, the button that does nothing on Safari, the form that eats input. Staff launch week like a product launch — spike-window coverage, tag-everything, escalate patterns same-day. The redesign retro should cite transcripts, not hunches.
After: re-audit the knowledge base
Help articles are full of "click the menu, then Settings" instructions that the redesign just falsified. Sweep the knowledge base for navigation references and screenshots of the old design — every stale one is now actively misleading, and an AI assistant trained on stale articles gives confidently stale answers. Retrain the AI after the sweep, not before.