New to HelpCrunch? Use this guide as a checklist for the essential setup. It introduces the main HelpCrunch features and points you to detailed instructions for each one, so you can build the right support workflow for your team.
We've broken the setup into the following sections:
Step 1: Install the HelpCrunch widget
The HelpCrunch chat widget lets customers start conversations with your team directly from your website or web app. Installing it also enables other HelpCrunch features on your website, including proactive messages, chatbots, AI Agents, popups, and Knowledge Base search.
Choose the installation method that matches your website and the way you identify customers.
Install the widget directly
Use direct installation to add the widget code to your website or web app. You can install HelpCrunch for anonymous visitors, identify logged-in users to keep their data and conversation history connected.
Install the widget on a CMS or e-commerce platform
If your website runs on a CMS or e-commerce platform, use the platform-specific instructions collected in one section. You will find guides for WordPress, Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Squarespace, and other supported platforms, as well as installation through Google Tag Manager.
Customize the chat widget
Once the widget is installed, adapt it to your brand and support workflow. You can change its appearance, greetings, forms, availability settings, and other customer-facing elements. If you support an international audience, you can also add and customize widget localizations.
💡 Want to learn more? Browse all customization options for the web widget.
Step 2: Connect your communication channels
HelpCrunch brings customer conversations from different channels into one shared inbox. Your team can handle chat, email, and messenger requests in the same workspace without switching between separate tools or losing conversation context.
Set up email ticketing
Email ticketing lets customers contact you through your existing support email address while your team receives and answers those messages from the HelpCrunch Inbox. You can forward incoming support emails to HelpCrunch and configure a custom domain so outgoing replies use your company's address.
Connect messengers and social channels
Connect the messenger and social accounts your customers already use. HelpCrunch supports WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, Facebook, and Instagram, allowing your team to receive and answer messages from these channels in the HelpCrunch Inbox.
Step 3: Add and configure your team
Invite everyone who will communicate with customers or manage your HelpCrunch account. Roles and permissions let you control what each person can access, while departments help route conversations to the right group, such as Support, Sales, or Billing.
You can also specify operating hours so HelpCrunch knows when your team is available and can apply the appropriate online or offline behavior.
Add team members and organize the workspace
Step 4: Set up automations
HelpCrunch automations reduce the manual work involved in organizing incoming requests. Assignment rules can route new conversations to a particular team member or department based on customer data or message details.
Within departments, chat assignment settings determine how requests are distributed. You can assign conversations manually, send them to the last assigned teammate, or use round robin to balance new chats across the team.
Automate chat routing and assignment
Step 5: Build your knowledge base
The HelpCrunch Knowledge Base gives customers a self-service resource where they can find answers before contacting your team. Articles can also appear inside the chat widget and serve as a source of reliable information for HelpCrunch AI Agents.
Create and organize your help content
Structure your Knowledge Base with categories and sections, then add articles covering common questions, instructions, and troubleshooting topics. A clear structure makes content easier for customers, support agents, and AI Agents to find and use.
Configure your knowledge base
Customize the Knowledge Base to match your brand and audience. You can change its appearance, publish content in multiple languages, and connect a custom domain for a consistent customer experience.
💡 Want to learn more? Browse all Knowledge Base guides.
Step 6: Configure a HelpCrunch AI Agent in chat
HelpCrunch AI Agents answer customer questions using the content you provide and can transfer a conversation to your team when human assistance is needed. Each AI Agent can use selected knowledge sources and follow its own instructions, language rules, and communication style.
Prepare the AI Agent's data sources
Data sources define what your AI Agent knows. You can connect all or part of your HelpCrunch Knowledge Base and add Custom Answers for specific questions that require a precise response.
Create and launch your AI Agent
After preparing the content, create the AI Agent, choose its data sources, and configure its instructions. To make it available to customers in chat, add the AI Agent to a chatbot flow and test the complete conversation before launching it.
💡 Want to Learn more? Browse all AI Agent guides and cookbooks.
Step 7: Send outbound messages to your customers (optional)
HelpCrunch lets you contact customers proactively instead of waiting for them to start a conversation. You can send automated messages based on customer data or behavior, or create a one-time manual campaign for a selected audience.
Set up auto messages
Auto messages are sent when a customer matches the audience and delivery conditions you define. Use them to welcome visitors, support onboarding, share relevant updates, collect feedback, or re-engage customers through chat and email.
Send manual messages
Manual messages are useful for one-time announcements, product updates, special offers... They can be delivered through chat or email to a selected customer segment.
Step 8: Engage website visitors with popups (optional)
Engage website visitors at the right moment, capture leads, promote special offers, and direct people to relevant pages. You can customize their appearance, add form fields, choose the audience, and control when and where each popup appears using page, behavior, and customer-based display rules.
Popups work through the HelpCrunch widget installed on your website. For more advanced use cases, you can also trigger a popup with the JavaScript API when a customer performs a specific action in your product or reaches a particular stage of their journey. Use them wisely, the general guideline is to avoid excessive use.
What's next?
Once the essential setup is complete, organize your shared inbox around the way your team works. Each teammate can customize how conversations appear, while custom inboxes make it easier to prioritize and monitor particular types of requests.
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Tweak your HelpCrunch inbox to choose how conversations and customer details appear to you.
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Create custom inboxes to organize and prioritize conversations for your workflow.
Need help? Sign in to your HelpCrunch account and send us a message using the chat in the bottom-right corner of your dashboard.
Our support team will be happy to answer your questions and assist you with the setup 🙂
