WebChat — User Guide
# WebChat — User Guide
Live chat on your website, connected to your Sopro CRM. Engage prospects in real time, capture leads, and track every conversation.
Feature Owners
| Role | Owners |
|---|---|
| Product manager | Martina Tuco |
| IT project manager | Martin Davitkov |
| Lead developer | Milos Pesic |
| Stakeholders | Julie, Kristijan Todorov |
Table of Contents
- What is WebChat?
- How It Works (Simple Overview)
- Getting Started
- WebChat Settings Page
- Managing WebChat Users (Agents)
- The Live Chat Agent Interface
- WebChat Reports
- Website Widget & Personalisation
- How Prospects See WebChat
- How WebChat Leads Work
- Lead Processing & CRM
- Mobile App
- WebChat & Outbase / Web Intent
- Out of Hours & Form-Only Mode
- Notifications & Alerts
- Best Practices
- FAQ
- Troubleshooting
- Glossary
What is WebChat?
WebChat (also called SoproChat) is Sopro's live chat widget that sits on your website. When a prospect visits your site, the widget can:
- Identify them — if they're a known Sopro prospect, the chat shows their name, company, and outreach history to your sales agents
- Start conversations — prospects can chat with your team in real time
- Capture leads — even anonymous visitors can leave their details via chat forms
- Sync to CRM — all chat conversations are linked to prospects and companies in Sopro
Think of it as a website receptionist that knows who's visiting and connects them to the right sales person.
How It Works (Simple Overview)
The Three Key Pieces
| Piece | What It Does | Where It Lives |
|---|---|---|
| Outbase Widget | Tracks visitors, identifies prospects, shows the chat bubble | Your website (via a JavaScript snippet) |
| Chat Platform | Powers the actual chat conversations (messages, file sharing, forms) | Cloud service (chat.sopro.io) |
| Sopro Portal | Where your agents manage chats, view reports, and configure settings | Your Sopro account |
Getting Started
Before You Begin
To use WebChat, you need:
- ✅ An active Sopro account with WebChat enabled
- ✅ The Outbase widget installed on your website
- ✅ At least one sales agent assigned as a WebChat user
- ✅ A WebChat lead campaign configured (tells Sopro which campaign to assign chat leads to)
Enabling WebChat for Your Account
WebChat is enabled by the Sopro operations team. Once enabled:
- Log into the Sopro Portal
- Navigate to WebChat in the left sidebar
- On first visit, the system will automatically create your chat account — this takes a few seconds
- Once created, you'll see the WebChat dashboard
Note: If you see a "Getting Started" page instead, WebChat hasn't been initialized yet. Contact your Sopro account manager.
Quick Setup Checklist
- WebChat account created (automatic on first visit)
- Sales agents added as WebChat users
- Website URL configured in WebChat settings
- Outbase widget installed with WebChat enabled
- WebChat lead campaign assigned
- Test: visit your website and verify the chat bubble appears
WebChat Settings Page
Path: Portal → WebChat → Settings
The Settings page configures how WebChat behaves for your account.
📐 View Mockup — WebChat Settings
Key Settings
| Setting | What It Does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Website URL | The domain where the chat widget appears. Must match your Outbase widget domain. | Your company website |
| Chat Widget Script | Unique identifier for your chat widget. Auto-generated. Don't change unless instructed. | Auto-generated |
| Personalisation | When ON, the chat shows prospect details (name, company, outreach history) to agents. | ON |
| Full Personalisation | When ON, enriches prospect data with full activity timeline, email stages, and LinkedIn status. | OFF |
Configuration Lifecycle
Managing WebChat Users (Agents)
Path: Portal → WebChat → Users
WebChat users are your sales agents who respond to chat conversations. Each user has:
- A role (Admin or Agent)
- An online/offline status (agents can go offline when unavailable)
- A link to their Sopro user account
Adding a User
- Go to WebChat → Users
- Click Add User
- Select the Sopro user from the dropdown
- Choose their role: Admin (full access) or Agent (chat only)
- Click Save — the user is added to the chat platform automatically
User Roles
| Role | Can Do |
|---|---|
| Admin | Manage settings, add/remove users, view all conversations, access reports |
| Agent | Respond to chats, view their assigned conversations, set online/offline status |
Online / Offline Status
Agents can toggle their availability:
- Online 🟢 — Available to receive new chat conversations
- Offline 🔴 — Not receiving new chats. Existing conversations remain assigned
Tip: Agents should go offline when away from their desk to avoid missing chat conversations. The system tracks response times.
The Live Chat Agent Interface
Path: Portal → Live Chat
This is where your sales agents actually talk to prospects. The Live Chat interface shows:
Conversation List
Shows all chat conversations for your account:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Visitor | Prospect's name (or "Anonymous" if not identified) |
| Company | Prospect's company (if resolved) |
| Status | Active 🟢 / Waiting ⏳ / Resolved ✅ |
| Assigned To | Which agent is handling the conversation |
| Started | When the conversation began |
| Last Message | Preview of the most recent message |
Chat Window
The main chat area where agents can:
- Send text messages to prospects
- Share files and images
- Use quick replies (predefined responses)
- Add internal notes (visible only to your team, not the prospect)
- Transfer conversations to another agent
Prospect Info Panel
When a known prospect chats, the side panel shows:
- Prospect name and job title
- Company name and industry
- Email address (if captured)
- Outreach history — which emails they've received, opened, clicked
- LinkedIn activity — connection status, messages
- Link to Sopro prospect profile — opens full CRM record
For anonymous visitors, the panel shows whatever information was resolved (company from IP, location, page they're visiting).
📐 View Mockup — Live Chat Interface
WebChat Reports
Path: Portal → WebChat → Reports
Track your team's chat performance:
| Metric | What It Measures |
|---|---|
| Total Conversations | Number of chats started |
| Conversations Answered | Chats where an agent responded |
| Missed Conversations | Chats with no agent response |
| Average Response Time | How quickly agents reply |
| Leads Generated | Conversations that became CRM leads |
| Conversations by Agent | Workload distribution across your team |
| Conversations by Hour/Day | When prospects are most active |
Reports can be filtered by date range and exported.
📐 View Mockup — WebChat Reports
Website Widget & Personalisation
How the Widget Appears on Your Site
The Outbase widget controls whether the chat bubble appears. Here's what visitors experience:
What Prospects See
When identified (known prospect):
- Chat bubble may show a personalised message referencing their company
- Agent sees full prospect profile before responding
When anonymous:
- Chat bubble shows a generic greeting
- Prospect may be asked for their name/email
- Company resolved from IP address if possible
WebChat & Personalisation Features
| Feature | What Happens | How to Enable |
|---|---|---|
| Basic WebChat | Chat bubble appears, anonymous visitors can chat | WebChat enabled on account |
| Prospect Personalisation | Known prospects' details shown to agents | WebChat Settings → Personalisation ON |
| Full Personalisation | Complete activity timeline, email stages, LinkedIn status | WebChat Settings → Full Personalisation ON |
| Form-Only Mode | Only a contact form (no live chat) — captures leads 24/7 | Configured in chat platform settings |
| Out of Hours | Chat shows offline message or form outside business hours | Automatic based on account timezone |
How Prospects See WebChat
The Prospect's Journey
Data Passed to the Chat Widget
When a known prospect visits (identified via the _obid URL parameter), the following data is passed to the chat widget:
| Data | Description |
|---|---|
| Prospect Name | First name of the prospect |
| Prospect Email | Email address (if known) |
| Company Name | Full company name |
| Company Domain | Company website domain |
| Email Outreach Response | How the prospect responded to outreach emails |
| LinkedIn Outreach Response | How the prospect responded on LinkedIn |
| SDR Log | Sales Development Rep activity notes |
| Web Goal | Whether the prospect completed a web goal |
| Gift Redeemed | Whether the prospect redeemed a gift |
| Email Stage | Current stage in the email sequence |
| Last Activity | Most recent prospect activity |
| Prospect Portal URL | Direct link to the prospect's CRM profile |
How WebChat Leads Work
When a prospect chats with you, Sopro doesn't just log the conversation — it qualifies, processes, and protects each lead automatically.
From Chat to Lead — The Qualification Process
Business Email Detection
Not every chat becomes a lead. Sopro checks whether the prospect provided a real business email or a personal one:
- ✅ Business emails (e.g.
john@acmecorp.com) — qualified as leads, added to campaign - ❌ Personal emails (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) — the conversation is still logged, but the person is not added as a CRM prospect
- 📝 No email — conversation is logged for reference, but no prospect is created
Why? Sopro focuses on B2B outreach. Personal email addresses can't be verified as belonging to a specific company, and emailing them could harm your sending reputation.
Auto-Exclusion Rules — No Duplicate Leads
To protect your prospects from being contacted too often, Sopro automatically applies temporary exclusions after a WebChat lead is created:
| Rule | What It Means | How Long |
|---|---|---|
| Same person | If the exact same email address appears in another chat, they won't become a lead again | 360 days (1 year) |
| Same company domain | If someone else from the same company chats, they WON'T be blocked — unless the company has fewer than 500 employees | 180 days (6 months) for small/medium companies; no block for large enterprises |
What this means for you: If a prospect from a small company becomes a WebChat lead, other people from that same company won't generate new leads for 6 months. This prevents your team from accidentally contacting multiple people at the same small company in quick succession. For large enterprises, only the individual is excluded — other employees can still become leads.
Daily Prospect Limits
Your email campaign has a setting called "Max Prospects Per Day Per Company" which controls how many new prospects from the same company can enter your email sequence each day. This applies to WebChat leads too:
- If your campaign is set to 5 prospects per company per day, and 3 people from Acme Corp already entered the sequence today, only 2 more WebChat leads from Acme can be added today
- The remaining leads are held and processed the next day — they aren't lost, just paced out
- This protects your email sending reputation by ensuring you never blast too many people at one company at once
Typical setting: Most campaigns use 2–5 prospects per company per day. Your Ops team configures this based on your campaign strategy.
How Campaign Assignment Works
WebChat leads need to go into the right campaign. The system decides which campaign to use in this order:
- WebChat Lead Campaign — if your account has a dedicated
WebchatLeadCampaignIdset, all chat leads go there - Existing Prospect's Campaign — if the person chatting is already a known prospect in a campaign, they stay in that campaign
- Sales Agent's Campaign — if the responding agent is linked to a single campaign, leads go there
- Location-Based Campaign — if the agent has a campaign matching the prospect's location, it's used
- Single Campaign — if the client only has one active campaign, it's the default
Response Time Tracking
Sopro tracks how quickly your agents respond to chat messages:
- ⏱️ First response time: Time between the prospect's first text message and your agent's first text reply
- 📊 Reported per agent in WebChat Reports
- 🎯 Benchmark: Aim for under 60 seconds for the best prospect experience
Conversation Resolution
Every chat conversation is automatically resolved by AI into one of these categories:
| Resolution | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Lead 💼 | Prospect provided contact details and is interested — added to campaign |
| Support 🛠️ | Prospect has a support question, not a sales enquiry — support team notified |
| Opt-out 🚫 | Prospect asked not to be contacted — automatically excluded |
| Invalid ❌ | No usable contact details provided — logged for reference only |
What Happens to the Prospect Record
When a WebChat lead is created, the prospect's CRM record is updated:
- Lead Status →
SQL(Sales Qualified Lead) — because they actively engaged via chat - Last Activity →
Webchat lead— visible on the prospect's timeline - WebChat Lead Date → timestamp of when the lead was generated
- CRM Sync → if you have a CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho), the lead is pushed automatically
- Company Intent → the company's intent level is updated to
Leadif it wasn't already
Lead Processing & CRM
When a chat conversation happens, Sopro automatically processes it:
What Gets Synced to CRM
- ✅ Prospect name, email, phone (if captured in chat)
- ✅ Company name and domain
- ✅ Conversation summary
- ✅ Chat transcript
- ✅ Lead source: "WebChat"
- ✅ Assigned campaign
WebChat Lead Campaign
Every WebChat conversation that results in a lead is assigned to a dedicated WebChat lead campaign. This campaign:
- Is configured per client (
WebchatLeadCampaignId) - Keeps chat leads separate from email outreach leads
- Has its own email sequence (if the prospect provides their email)
Mobile App
Sopro provides a WebChat mobile app for iOS so agents can respond to chats on the go.
- Receive push notifications for new conversations
- Respond to prospects from your phone
- Set online/offline status
- View prospect details
WebChat & Outbase / Web Intent
WebChat doesn't work alone — it's part of Sopro's website engagement suite alongside Outbase (the tracking widget) and Web Intent (IP-based company identification).
How They Work Together
| Feature | What It Does | How It Helps WebChat |
|---|---|---|
| Outbase Widget | Tracks all website visitors, identifies known prospects via email click tracking | Tells WebChat WHO is visiting so agents see the prospect's name and CRM history |
| Web Intent | Identifies the COMPANY behind anonymous visitors using their IP address | Tells WebChat WHICH COMPANY is visiting so the chat shows company context even for unknown visitors |
| WebChat | Provides the live chat interface for real-time conversations | Turns the identified visitor/company into a conversation and potentially a CRM lead |
In short: Outbase answers "who is this person?", Web Intent answers "what company are they from?", and WebChat lets you talk to them. All three share the same Outbase widget on your website.
Out of Hours & Form-Only Mode
Out of Hours Behaviour
When all your agents are offline (or it's outside business hours), WebChat doesn't leave prospects hanging:
- 🕐 Chat bubble still appears — visitors can still click to open the chat window
- 📝 Offline form is shown — instead of a live chat box, they see a contact form
- ✉️ Messages are captured — the prospect's name, email, company, and message are saved
- 📋 Logged as a lead — when they provide a business email, the form submission is processed as a lead (same as a live chat lead)
- 🔔 Agent gets notified — when agents come back online, they see pending offline messages
Tip: Out of Hours forms are a great way to capture leads 24/7 — even when your team is asleep!
Out of Hours Detection
Sopro automatically detects when a conversation happens outside working hours:
- The
ConversationOutOfWorkingHoursflag is set on the conversation record - A special "Out of Working Hours Lead" notification email is sent to the sales team
- The lead is still qualified and added to the campaign — it's just tagged for context
Form-Only Mode
Some clients prefer not to offer live chat at all — just a contact form. This is called Form-Only Mode:
| Aspect | Live Chat | Form-Only Mode |
|---|---|---|
| What visitors see | Chat bubble → live conversation | Chat bubble → contact form |
| Agent involvement | Real-time agent responds | No agent needed |
| Lead capture | During or after conversation | Via form submission |
| Availability | Only when agents are online | 24/7 |
| CRM sync | Full conversation + lead | Form fields + lead |
| Best for | Sales teams wanting real-time engagement | Always-on lead capture without staffing |
Form-Only mode is configured in the WotNot chat platform settings — contact your Sopro account manager to enable it.
Notifications & Alerts
WebChat sends real-time email notifications to keep your team informed. There are four types:
Lead Notification 🔔
When: A new WebChat lead is created (business email provided, AI resolves conversation as "Lead") Subject: "Sopro WebChat: Lead" (or "Sopro WebChat: Lead - first to reply to this gets the lead" for specific clients) Who gets it: The sales team associated with the campaign What it includes:
- Visitor name
- Email and phone (if captured)
- Company domain
- Campaign name
- Link to the conversation
Support Enquiry 🛠️
When: AI resolves the conversation as "Support" (not a sales lead) Subject: "Sopro WebChat: Enquiry received" (or "Sopro WebChat: Visitor submitted a form via webchat" for form-only) Who gets it: Support team / campaign owners What it includes: Same fields as lead notification, with support-specific context
Contact Removal Request 🚫
When: AI resolves the conversation as "Removal" (prospect asked to be removed) Subject: "Sopro WebChat: Contact removal request received" Who gets it: Campaign ops team What it includes: Prospect details so they can be removed from the campaign
Out of Working Hours Lead 🌙
When: A lead is created but the conversation happened outside business hours
Subject: Via SendGrid template (OutOfWorkingHoursLeadTemplateId)
Who gets it: Sales team
What it includes: Same as lead notification, plus the out-of-hours flag
Real-Time SignalR Alerts (Agent Browser)
In addition to emails, agents receive instant in-browser notifications via SignalR when:
- A new conversation is assigned to them
- A conversation is transferred away from them
- A visitor sends a new message
These appear as pop-up alerts in the Live Chat interface — no email needed.
Best Practices
For Sales Agents
- 🟢 Stay online during working hours — prospects expect quick responses. The average chat response time should be under 60 seconds
- 👤 Check the prospect info panel before responding — it shows their full outreach history and CRM context
- 📝 Use internal notes for context that other agents need (e.g. "John prefers email follow-up, send pricing PDF")
- 🔄 Transfer conversations when a prospect needs a different specialist — don't leave them waiting
- 📱 Install the iOS app so you never miss a chat when away from your desk
- 🏷️ Resolve conversations promptly — don't leave old chats open; it clutters the conversation list
For Campaign Managers
- 🎯 Set up a dedicated WebChat lead campaign — keeps chat leads separate from email outreach leads for cleaner reporting
- 📊 Review WebChat Reports weekly — look at response times, missed conversations, and lead conversion rates
- ⚙️ Configure Max Prospects Per Day Per Company thoughtfully — 2–5 is typical. Too high risks your sender reputation; too low means leads queue up
- 🔔 Set up instant alerts — configure WebChat notification emails so you know immediately when a lead comes in
- 🧪 Test your widget regularly — visit your own website and verify the chat bubble appears and works correctly
For Operations Teams
- 💰 Monitor Clearbit credits — WebChat relies on the same credit pool as Web Intent. If credits run out, anonymous visitors won't be identified
- 📋 Check the audit log — WebChat → Logs shows every configuration change, user addition, and settings update
- 🔄 Verify CRM sync — spot-check that WebChat leads appear in your CRM with the correct campaign and lead status
FAQ
How quickly should agents respond?
Aim for under 60 seconds. The average response time is tracked in WebChat Reports. Faster responses lead to higher lead conversion rates.
Can I use WebChat without the Outbase widget?
No. The Outbase widget is what identifies prospects and injects the chat bubble. WebChat and Outbase work together.
What happens if multiple prospects from the same company chat?
The first one to provide a business email becomes a lead. Others from the same company domain are temporarily excluded (180 days for companies under 500 employees). See Auto-Exclusion Rules.
Can I transfer a chat to another agent?
Yes. In the Live Chat interface, you can transfer any conversation to another online agent. The prospect won't notice the switch.
What if a prospect provides a fake email?
Sopro checks if the email domain is a known public email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). Personal emails don't generate leads. If the domain looks like a business but doesn't resolve, the AI resolver may flag it as "Invalid".
How do I know if WebChat is working?
Visit your own website — you should see the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. Click it and send a test message. Check Portal → WebChat → Reports to see if the test conversation appears.
What's the difference between a "conversation" and a "lead"?
A conversation is any chat that happens. A lead is a conversation where the prospect provided a valid business email and the AI resolved it as sales interest. Not all conversations become leads.
Can I customise what the chat bubble looks like?
The chat widget appearance (colours, greeting message, positioning) is configured in the WotNot platform. Contact your Sopro account manager for customisation requests.
What happens to chats when all agents are offline?
Visitors see an offline contact form instead of live chat. Their message is saved and processed as a lead. Agents are notified when they come back online. See Out of Hours.
Is there an admin/debug mode for testing?
Yes. Add ?outbaseadmin=1 to your website URL. This injects the admin script which shows debugging information including CSS injection and the full script pipeline. Only use this for testing — it's not meant for production visitors.
Troubleshooting
Chat Bubble Not Appearing on Website
| Check | How to Verify |
|---|---|
| WebChat enabled? | Portal → WebChat → Settings. Account must show as "Initialized" |
| Outbase widget installed? | View page source. Look for <script src="...hq.js"> |
| Script name correct? | Portal → WebChat Settings. Script name must match the one in your Outbase configuration |
| Website URL matches? | The domain in WebChat Settings must match where the widget is installed |
Agent Can't See Conversations
| Check | How to Verify |
|---|---|
| Agent added as WebChat user? | Portal → WebChat → Users. Agent must be in the list |
| Agent is online? | Live Chat page. Toggle must show 🟢 Online |
| Correct account selected? | Live Chat page. Check the account dropdown in the top bar |
Conversations Not Appearing in CRM
| Check | How to Verify |
|---|---|
| Lead campaign configured? | Client settings → WebchatLeadCampaignId must be set |
| Queue processing running? | This is a backend service. Contact Sopro support if conversations consistently don't sync |
| Prospect email valid? | Business email addresses sync better than personal ones (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) |
| Prospect-per-company limit? | If your campaign already reached its daily limit for that company, the lead is held until tomorrow |
| Auto-exclusion active? | If someone from the same company/domain already became a lead recently, the exclusion rule may block duplicates |
Too Many Duplicate Prospects
| Check | How to Verify |
|---|---|
| Same person chatting again? | The auto-exclusion rule blocks the same email for 360 days — this is expected behavior |
| Multiple people, same company? | For companies under 500 employees, the domain is blocked for 180 days. Large enterprises (500+) aren't domain-blocked |
| Prospect already in CRM? | Sopro checks if the prospect already exists before creating a duplicate — check the existing prospect's timeline for WebChat activity |
Glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| WebChat / SoproChat | The live chat widget and platform for prospect engagement |
| Outbase | Sopro's website tracking and personalisation widget |
| WotNot | The third-party chat platform that powers WebChat (rebranded as Sopro Chat) |
| Widget / Script | The JavaScript code installed on your website |
| Chat Bubble | The clickable icon prospects see in the corner of your website |
| Conversation | A single chat thread between a prospect and your agents |
| Lead | A prospect who provided contact details via chat |
| WebChat Lead Campaign | The Sopro campaign assigned to chat-generated leads |
| Agent | A sales team member who responds to chats |
| Online / Offline | Agent availability status |
| Personalisation | Showing prospect CRM data alongside the chat |
| Full Personalisation | Enhanced prospect data with complete activity timeline |
| OBID | Outbase ID — a unique identifier for a prospect, passed in the website URL |
| SQL / MQL | Sales Qualified Lead / Marketing Qualified Lead — prospect engagement levels |
| Auto-Exclusion | Automatic rule preventing the same person (or domain) from becoming a lead too frequently |
| Prospect-Per-Company Limit | Maximum number of prospects from one company that can enter a campaign per day |
| Business Email | A work email address (not Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) — required for a chat to become a CRM lead |
| Conversation Resolution | AI-powered categorisation of each chat (Lead, Support, Opt-out, or Invalid) |
User Guide — Updated 2026-07-29. For technical documentation, see the Controller Skill tab or the Mockups tab.