Webchat widget
Add Enscale live chat to your Shopify storefront with the theme app extension.
The webchat widget puts a chat bubble on your storefront. Conversations land in the same inbox as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook.
It's the fastest channel to set up — no Meta account, no approvals, no 24-hour window.
Install
Open widget installation
In Enscale, go to Widget installation. It walks you into your theme editor.
Enable the app embed
In the Shopify theme editor, open App embeds and turn on the Enscale embed.
Enscale writes your webchat URL to a shop metafield on install, and the theme extension reads it — so there's no script tag to paste and nothing to update when your settings change.
Save and preview
Save the theme and load your storefront. The chat bubble should appear.
Send a test message
Start a chat from your storefront and confirm it reaches your inbox. Reply and check it appears in the widget.
Enabling the app embed affects your live theme. To test first, duplicate your theme, enable the embed on the copy, and preview it before publishing.
Widget settings
Configure appearance and behaviour in Settings → Widget.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Accent colour | The bubble and header colour. |
| Position | Which corner the bubble sits in. |
| Show on pages | Which storefront pages display it. |
How webchat differs from Meta channels
| Webchat | WhatsApp / Instagram / Facebook | |
|---|---|---|
| 24-hour service window | No | Yes |
| Approved templates needed | No | For WhatsApp outbound |
| Customer identity | Anonymous until they share details | Phone or social account |
| Reachable after they leave | Only while the session is open | Yes, subject to the window |
The important difference is reachability. A webchat visitor who closes the tab is gone unless they gave you a phone number or email.
That makes webchat a good place to capture contact details — an AI agent or a workflow can ask for a phone number and record WhatsApp consent, converting an anonymous visitor into a contact you can follow up with.
Webchat and AI agents
Webchat is where AI agents earn their keep. Storefront visitors ask the same pre-sale questions repeatedly — sizing, shipping times, stock, returns — and an agent with your knowledge base can answer without a person involved.
See AI agents and Knowledge base.
Review widgets
The same theme extension also serves your storefront review widgets — product review lists, star ratings on collection cards, and the write-a-review form. Configure them in Settings → Widget.
See Reviews.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Bubble doesn't appear | Is the app embed enabled on your published theme, and does "Show on pages" include this page? |
| Appears in preview but not live | You enabled the embed on a draft theme. Enable it on the live one. |
| Messages don't reach the inbox | Check the browser console for errors and confirm the channel is Active in Enscale. |
| Widget looks wrong | A theme style conflict. Adjust the accent colour and position, or contact support with your theme name. |
| Chat disappears on navigation | Expected — a new page load starts a new session unless the visitor identified themselves. |