Switch Between Contact And Ask AI
In a widget that offers both, visitors move between a Contact tab and an Ask AI tab. See what switching keeps, what it resets, and when the Contact the team button appears.
When a widget has both Contact channels and a live assistant, visitors see two tabs and can move between them at any point. This page covers how the tabs behave, what is kept when a visitor switches, the Contact the team button, and what shows up in your analytics.
How The Two Tabs Behave
- The tabs are named Contact and Ask AI, with Contact first. The panel opens on Contact the first time a visitor opens it on a page.
- Selecting a tab swaps what the panel shows. Keyboard users can move between the tabs with the arrow keys. Home selects Contact and End selects Ask AI.
- On the Ask AI tab the header shows your Widget Title. On the Contact tab it shows the Widget Title above the channel list, and the heading of a channel, with a back arrow, once the visitor opens one that has its own screen, such as a form.
The order of the tabs and the tab the panel opens on are fixed. Tabs appear only when both sides are live. A widget with one side live shows that side on its own, as described in How The Shared Widget Shell Works.
What Switching Keeps And What It Resets
| Visitor Action | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Switches from Ask AI to Contact and back | The conversation is still there. The Contact view they had open is still there too. |
| Closes the panel and opens it again on the same page | It reopens on the tab they used last. Contact reopens at the channel list. |
| Loads another page or refreshes | The widget starts fresh: Contact first, and a new Ask AI conversation. |
Nothing is passed from one tab to the other. A question typed in Ask AI is not carried into WhatsApp, a form or any other channel, so the visitor starts that channel as they normally would. Flidu does not offer live chat: nobody joins the Ask AI conversation.
The Contact The Team Button
Besides the tabs, Ask AI can show a Contact the team button that takes the visitor to the Contact tab. It appears when all of these are true:
- Ask AI could not respond at all, so the visitor is shown the fixed message “This feature is temporarily unavailable.” This happens, for example, when the month’s AI messages are used up.
- Fallback Capture is switched on for the assistant, on AI Chatbot Starter or above.
- The same widget has Contact channels to switch to.
After a reply the AI wrote, including one that says your sources do not cover the question, and on AI Chatbot Free, the Contact tab beside Ask AI is the visitor’s route to you. Fallback When AI Cannot Answer explains the two kinds of reply.
Turn On The Button
- Open AI Chatbots and select your assistant.
- Open the Settings tab and find the Visitor Capture section.
- Switch on Fallback Capture.
- Choose Save changes.
The same switch adds a short contact form under the unavailable message. Capture Questions AI Cannot Answer explains the form and where the details arrive.
What You See In Analytics
- From Website Widgets Starter, Analytics shows widget opens, Contact tab opens and channel clicks. See Website Widgets Analytics.
- From AI Chatbot Starter, the assistant’s Analytics tab has a Contact Actions after Ask AI tile. It counts presses on a Contact channel by visitors who had already asked Ask AI a question on that page. See AI Chatbot Analytics.
Each figure belongs to its own product line. Switching tabs does not use an AI message. Only a question does.
If Visitors Cannot Switch
- No tabs, Contact only: Ask AI is not running on that widget. Check that the assistant is connected and published. See The Ask AI Tab Is Missing From My Widget.
- No tabs, Ask AI only: the widget has no Contact channel to show on that page. Publish a channel, or check whether a visibility rule hides Contact there. See Show Widgets By Page Or Device.
- No Contact the team button: check the three conditions above. The tabs work without it.