Shoppers ask Bolt questions in their own words, tap product cards, track an order and rate answers, all in a small chat window on your store.
What shoppers see
A chat button sits in a bottom corner of every storefront page. Opening it shows your chat name, a greeting, a Suggested list of questions, a Track package shortcut and the message box. On Shopify the chat starts closed. On WooCommerce and Ecwid it opens on its own until a shopper closes it.
Bolt answers from your own products, pages and policies, and from the answers you add in Knowledge. Bolt picks the policy that fits the question. A question about delivery is answered from your Shipping policy, not your Privacy policy. If you have no Shipping policy, publish one or add a Knowledge entry. Shoppers can ask about the product they are viewing, such as what it is made of, and get shopping know-how: help choosing, sizing, care, compatibility and fixing a problem with a product. Bolt replies in the languages your store sells in.
What Bolt politely declines
Bolt stays a shopping assistant. It does not do sums, homework, coding, news or sports scores, or give personal health advice. For those it replies I'm here to help you shop at your store's name, and offers up to three of your categories to tap. These replies are free: they don't count as a completed answer.
Product cards
When Bolt recommends products, it shows up to four cards with a photo, name, price and, when your store has one, a short description. Tapping the name opens the product page.
When a shopper asks to browse a category, Bolt shows up to 20 cards and says how many it found, for example Found 34 products in Jackets. Showing 20 available products.
Price questions are answered from your catalogue, not guessed. "Is A cheaper than B?" gets a yes or no with both prices. "What's your cheapest product?" (or most expensive, or "cheapest backpack") ranks only products that are in stock and have a price above zero, so a free sample or a placeholder listing never wins. On WooCommerce, a product the store does not sell (not purchasable, or priced at 0) is called a demonstration listing that is not for sale, and Bolt never quotes it as free or in stock.
When a shopper asks for something your catalogue does not have ("Do you sell iPhones?"), Bolt says so ("We don’t sell iPhones here") and shows up to three related products you do carry, or the category to browse. It only does this when nothing in your catalogue, pages or answers covers the question, so a question about gift cards, gift wrapping or a size guide is still answered from your store information.
Questions about a product's options are answered from the options you publish, in any language your store publishes them: "Do you have it in red?" gets "Not offered in red" with the colours you do list, "Do the chinos come in a 34?" gets a yes with the size list, and a compatibility option such as "Audi 4-button Type B" is confirmed from the shopper's words. On WooCommerce with Polylang or WPML, Bolt syncs one catalogue with each product's translations instead of a copy per language, so the same product is one product in every language (this needs the current plugin).
If a product has a finished audio highlight, its card also shows a small player titled Hear the highlights. The shopper presses play and listens without leaving the chat. It plays in the language the shopper is chatting in. See Create your first audio highlight. On WooCommerce, this needs the current plugin.
Add to cart works like this:
Shopify and WooCommerce: adds one item if the product has nothing to choose, such as a size or color, and is in stock. Otherwise it opens the product page.
Ecwid: asks your store to add one item, and shows Added only when your store confirms it. A product with a required choice, such as a size, shows Choose options, which opens the product page.
Suggestions, tracking and ratings
The Suggested questions are the Preset questions you write in Widget → Content. The Preset questions card has a switch. When it is off, shoppers see no Suggested list, and your saved questions are kept for when you switch it on. Saving another widget setting, such as a color or your brand name, does not switch it off. If shoppers do not see the list, see Suggested questions are missing. After an answer, Bolt may add quick-reply buttons for likely follow-up questions.
Track package is on the welcome screen and in the three-dot menu in the chat header. The shopper confirms their email with a one-time code before any order is shown. See How order tracking works for your shoppers.
Under the latest answer, a shopper can tap thumbs up or thumbs down. Each answer can be rated once.
The three-dot menu also has Clear conversation, which empties the shopper's window. You still see that chat in Chats. If your store sells in more than one language, the menu has a Language switcher too.
When Bolt does not know
Bolt says so instead of guessing and offers help with something else.
While Bolt is still reading your store for the first time, shoppers see a note to try again in a few minutes. Order tracking still works.
If your store has used all its storefront conversations, the chat shows "Chat is temporarily unavailable". See Read your usage meters and limits.
There is no microphone in the storefront chat. Shoppers type.
Related
Still stuck? Open Get help in GoBolt, or email [email protected].