Chapter 01

Start conversations your team can actually use.

Stand is most useful when it turns a quiet page into a live thread: a visitor asks what they really need to know, your stand-in keeps the thread moving, and the right person can join before the moment goes cold.

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Stand Guidebook

Chapter 01 of 09

Field guide

What to learn in this chapter

Do not treat website chat as a passive support box. Treat it as a lightweight conversation system for pages where a good question can become a lead, a product signal, or a better explanation of what you sell.

Use this chapter if you are deciding where Stand belongs on your site, what kind of visitor should start a chat, and how to judge the first week of traffic.

Start on one page where visitor questions already have value.

Install Stand on that page and verify the widget before judging anything else.

Make the greeting specific enough to invite a real question.

Let AI cover the first response when a rep cannot answer live.

Where to start

01

Pick a page where silence is expensive.

A chat widget on every page can be useful later. For the first run, choose one page where a visitor question has clear value: pricing, services, docs, integrations, comparison pages, founder-led product pages, or a high-intent landing page.

The page should already create questions. Stand then gives those questions a place to go, instead of forcing the visitor into a form, a calendar link, or a tab they will close before asking.

Example

Pricing page for a new SaaS product

Situation
Visitors understand the category but hesitate on pricing, plan fit, or whether your product replaces a familiar tool.
Move
Use a greeting that invites the comparison: "Trying to decide whether this fits your workflow? Ask me what you are comparing it with."
Insight
If visitors keep asking the same comparison question, the page is probably missing a decision criterion, not just a chat answer.

Example

Docs page for a developer tool

Situation
A developer is not looking for every API detail. They want to know whether your product can solve the thing blocking their implementation.
Move
Let the stand-in answer the docs question, then ask what they were trying to ship when they got stuck.
Insight
The implementation context is often more valuable than the question itself.

Setup

02

Install Stand on one real page.

The front page can say setup is simple. A guidebook should still show the path. Start in Sites, add the domain for the page you chose, then prove the full loop works before you spend time polishing prompts or adding more pages.

Keep the first install boring. Use the real page, the real domain, and the real publishing path your visitors will use. A local-only test can tell you the snippet loads, but it cannot tell you whether production cache, tag publishing, or domain matching is correct.

App link

Open Sites in Stand.

Use the Sites page to Add Site, Show install snippet, Copy the snippet, set I chat here, and confirm Installed status.

Open Sites
Stand Sites screen showing an installed elythen.com site, install snippet, copy button, and advanced options.
Figure 1-1. The Sites screen should show the real domain, Installed status, the snippet, I chat here, and the advanced display options you expect before traffic arrives.

First install checklist

  • Add your domain in the Sites page and click Add Site.
  • Open Show install snippet and click Copy.
  • Paste the embed snippet into your website HTML just before the closing </body> tag.
  • Deploy the change to your website rather than only previewing a draft.
  • Visit your website and wait for the site row to show a green light and Installed status.
  • Check I chat here and turn yourself available so visitors can reach you.
  • Send one test chat and confirm it reaches the right stand-in or rep view.

Example embed snippet

<script defer src="https://cdn.stand.chat/widget/stand.js" data-stand-id="060fcbe8-ac11-49fd-aa53-daec6594665f"></script>

Use the snippet generated for your own site. The data-stand-id value is site-specific.

Advanced optionWait until the visitor scrolls
Use it whenThe top of the page needs uninterrupted reading time.
What it changesKeeps the chat button hidden while the visitor is still reading the top of the page.
Advanced optionDo not show greetings
Use it whenThe page already carries the invitation or you want a quieter widget.
What it changesSuppresses the opening greeting bubble and greeting message, even when a rep has one set.
Advanced optionStart at half size
Use it whenThe avatar feels too prominent on first load.
What it changesShows a smaller avatar until hover or chat open, then returns it to normal size.
Advanced optionStep aside after reveal
Use it whenYou want Stand visible briefly without sitting over page content.
What it changesMoves the avatar to the screen edge after it has been visible briefly.
Advanced optionReveal delay
Use it whenYou want Stand to wait after page load or first scroll.
What it changesWaits the number of seconds you choose before showing Stand.

Troubleshooting

If the widget does not show up

Pending installation
The embed snippet has not been detected yet. Visit the published page after deploy and refresh the Sites page.
Domain mismatch
The snippet belongs to a different site or the page is loading on a preview domain.
Snippet not published
The code was pasted into a draft, inactive layout, or page variant that visitors do not receive.
Tag manager delay
The tag was added but the container was not published, or it is firing only on the wrong pages.
Cache or CDN
The old page is still being served. Purge cache or wait for the published version to propagate.
Availability
The site can be Installed but still quiet for visitors if you are unavailable or I chat here is not checked.
Advanced options
Wait until the visitor scrolls or Reveal delay can make the widget appear later than expected during testing.

The opening

03

Write a greeting that narrows the invitation.

Generic greetings produce generic chats. A good Stand greeting should tell the visitor what kind of help is available and give them permission to ask a specific question.

The best greetings sound like a person standing at the booth, not a helpdesk queue. They are short, specific, and connected to the page.

Good first greetings

  • Pricing page: "Wondering which plan fits? Tell me what you are trying to do."
  • Consulting site: "Need to know whether this fits your situation? Ask me before booking a call."
  • Docs page: "Stuck on an implementation detail? Tell me what you are trying to build."
  • Comparison page: "Comparing options? Tell me what you need the new tool to do better."

The first week

04

Judge the experiment by conversation quality.

A small site may not need many chats to learn something. Fifteen good conversations can tell you which pages create intent, which claims confuse people, and whether visitors are willing to share contact details once helped.

Count the boring metrics, but read the actual threads. The early win is not volume. The early win is finding language and objections your page did not surface before.

Practice

Try this next

  1. 01Choose one high-intent page and keep the install there.
  2. 02Create one stand-in with a clear role and greeting.
  3. 03Let it run through the Base quota or one full week.
  4. 04Read every closed conversation.
  5. 05Rewrite one page section, greeting, or agent instruction based on what visitors actually asked.

Questions

Common reader notes

Should Stand go on every page right away?

Not necessarily. Start where visitor questions are already valuable, then expand after you understand which pages create useful conversations.

Is Stand mainly for support?

No. Stand can answer support-like questions, but it is strongest where conversations create sales, product, or expert-learning signal.

Continue the guide

Build Stand as a learning loop, one chapter at a time.

Next chapter 02

Train Your AI Stand-In

Give your stand-in the right briefing and sources.

Try the guide on one real page.

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