Overview
This article covers everything you need to set up your video widget yourself: finding your agent, understanding every setting, recording your welcome video, setting up your avatar, choosing how visitors start a chat, adding languages, customizing individual pages, and installing the widget on your website. Read it top to bottom once and you'll know exactly what every control does.
Why a video widget is worth setting up
A visitor who lands on your website doesn't know you yet. A plain text bubble or a stock photo doesn't change that. A short video of you or someone from your firm talking does. Seeing a real face and hearing a real voice builds trust faster than any amount of text, and it makes your firm feel more approachable.
Step 1: Find your agent
From your dashboard, click Agents in the left-hand navigation.
Find your agent in the list and click Configure.
Open the Chat widget tab. Every setting in this article lives here.
Step 2: Understand how the settings are laid out
The Chat Widget page has two panels you can open and close:
Widget preview: opens a working copy of your widget so you can try it right there. It shows your edits before you save, so use it after every change.
Chat widget: all the settings. Everything below lives in here.
Inside the Chat widget panel, Accent color sits at the top on its own, because it applies everywhere.
Below it, the settings split into two tabs:
Before conversation: what a visitor sees and clicks before the chat starts. This holds the launcher button, the first message, the welcome video, the languages, the per-page settings, and the contact form.
During conversation: what the visitor sees once the chat window is open.
Step 3: The settings that apply to every widget
Start here, before you touch the video. These settings apply whether or not you use a welcome video.
Accent color
At the top of the Chat widget panel, Accent color takes a hex color code (for example #0000FF). Use your brand color. It colors buttons and highlights on every part of the widget.
Launcher button
Open the Launcher button card on the Before conversation tab.
Launcher type: choose Text button (a pill with your button text) or Avatar (a round photo or video loop with a message bubble). Each option shows a small preview so you can see the difference. Step 5 covers the Avatar option in full.
Corner of the page: which bottom corner the launcher sits in on your website.
Button text: only appears if you chose Text button. This is the wording on the closed button, for example "Get Legal Help Now."
First message text
Open the First message text card. This is the first thing the AI says when the chat window opens, on both the floating widget and the embedded chat. Leave it empty and visitors see the standard Lexidesk greeting instead.
How this behaves with a welcome video is covered in Step 6, since it depends on how visitors start the chat.
Contact form
Open the Contact form card. Turn on Require a phone number on the contact form if you want visitors to give a valid phone number before a conversation starts. It's off by default, which keeps the phone number optional. Requiring it gets you a reachable number every time, but some visitors will drop off rather than give one.
During conversation
Click the During conversation tab. These three settings shape the open chat window:
Logo: your firm logo in the widget header. A small square image works best (around 32x32 pixels).
Header text: the title at the top of the chat window. Most firms use the firm name.
Sub header text: the smaller line under the header, for example a short promise like "Instant Support."
Step 4: Turn on the welcome video and add your video
Turn it on
Back on the Before conversation tab, open the Welcome video card and check Start the chat with a full video. The widget will now open with your video, and visitors start the chat from it.
Record or select your video
Under 1. The video, find the Add a video box.
You have two buttons:
Select file: pick a video file you already have.
Record: record a new one right there with your webcam.
If you click Record, a recording window opens:
Allow camera and microphone access when your browser asks.
Click Record. You get a 3 second countdown, then recording starts.
Click Stop when you're done.
Watch the playback. Click Record again to redo it, or Use this video to keep it.
Set the language and add it
Your file now shows in the Add a video box in place of "No file selected." Set the Language dropdown to the language you recorded in, for example English (en), then click Add video.
The video appears in your Video library marked Not saved. It uploads when you save the agent. After saving, it shows Processing with a percentage while Lexidesk prepares it, then Ready.
Important: only videos marked Ready play on your website. If one shows Failed, click Retry on it.
Note: one video is all you need. It plays for every visitor. Add more only if you want a different video per language (Step 7) or a different video on specific pages (Step 8).
Step 5: Download your video and use it as your avatar
Your avatar is the round launcher visitors see before they open the widget. It uses its own uploaded file, separate from the welcome video, so you'll reuse the same video here by downloading it and uploading it again.
Download your video from the library
In your Video library, click the video's thumbnail. The full player opens below it.
In the player's controls, open the menu (the three dots) and choose Download.
Upload it as your avatar
Open the Launcher button card and set Launcher type to Avatar.
In Avatar media (video, image, or gif), click Choose file and pick the video you just downloaded. Keep it under 10 MB.
Note: if you don't upload an avatar file, the widget shows your firm logo instead.
The two settings next to it
Popup message next to avatar: the small text bubble beside your avatar that invites people to click, for example "Talk to Us Now." Leave it empty and the widget shows "Chat with Us Now."
Still image while the video loads: only appears when your avatar file is a video. It's the frame shown until the video starts playing, and on slow connections. You can leave this blank. It's a small polish detail, not a requirement.
Step 6: The settings on the video
Open the Welcome video card and find 2. On the video. These settings control what visitors see on top of your video and how they get from watching it into an actual conversation.
Text bubble over the video
This is the caption over the lower part of your video, for example "Click below to chat with us about your case." Use it to tell visitors what to do next. Leave it empty and the widget shows "Click below to talk to us now."
How the visitor starts the chat
Pick one of three. They exclude each other, so you're choosing the single action shown under your video.
A start button with your text: one button that opens the chat. When you pick this, a Start button text field appears for the wording, for example "Get Help Now." Leave it empty and the button reads "Get Help Now." Best when you want one clear action and no decisions.
Quick choices: a short list of buttons you write, for example "Divorce" and "Child Custody." Best when you handle a few distinct case types and want to know which one the visitor needs before the conversation starts.
A free-text input: visitors type their own question straight away. Best when your cases vary too much to list.
If you pick Quick choices, a Choices shown to visitors list appears. Click + Add choice for each one. Keep them short and write them the way a client would describe their problem, not the way your practice areas are named.
How your choice affects the first message
This is the part worth understanding, because it changes who speaks first:
With a start button, the visitor clicks it and the AI speaks first with your First message text from Step 3.
With quick choices, the choice the visitor clicks becomes their own first message. The chat opens with what they picked, so the AI replies to it directly instead of using your First message text.
With a free-text input, whatever the visitor types becomes their first message, exactly the same way.
So your First message text is what the AI opens with when the visitor hasn't told you anything yet. Quick choices and free text skip it, because the visitor has already said what they need.
Step 7: Languages
Open 3. Languages inside the Welcome video card.
How the widget picks a language
The widget reads the visitor's browser language and starts in that language automatically. Nobody has to choose anything.
The language switcher your visitors see
Once two or more languages are available, a small language button appears in the controls on your welcome video, so visitors can switch to the language they prefer. It shows short language codes like EN and ES.
Note: this switcher lives on the welcome video, so visitors only see it when your welcome video is on.
Language order
Language order sets which languages appear first in that switcher.
To add one, pick it from Select a language and click + Add language. Use the up and down arrows to reorder, and the trash icon to remove one.
Example: for a firm serving English and Spanish speakers, add English and Spanish, with English first. Visitors whose browser is set to Spanish get Spanish automatically, and anyone can switch with the button on the video.
Adding a video per language
Your videos are matched to languages by the Language dropdown you set when adding them. A Spanish-speaking visitor gets the video you tagged Spanish; an English-speaking visitor gets the English one.
To add a Spanish video, go back to Add a video in 1. The video, record or select the Spanish version, set Language to Spanish (es), and click Add video.
Note: this per-language approach fits firms whose website serves every visitor at the same web addresses. If your Spanish content lives in its own section, like /es, use the per-page settings in Step 8 instead.
Important: if there's no ready video in the visitor's language, the widget falls back to your agent's default language video. If there's none of those either, visitors see the normal chat with no video at all rather than a video in the wrong language.
Custom text overrides
Lexidesk translates your widget text automatically, so you don't need to write anything twice. Custom text overrides is only for when you want to control the exact wording in one language rather than accept the automatic translation.
To add one, pick a language and click Add override.
You can then write your own Avatar popup, Text over the video, Start button text, and quick choices for that language. Any field you leave empty keeps the automatic translation.
Most firms never need this. If you haven't added any, the card just says "Automatic translation is on."
Step 8: Per page settings
Open the Per page settings card. This is where you give one section of your website its own video, text, or choices, while the rest of your site keeps your main setup.
This is the right tool when your Spanish content has its own web addresses, for example an English site at https://yourfirm.com/ and a Spanish section at https://yourfirm.com/es/.
It's equally useful for practice-area sections, like showing different quick choices on /personal-injury.
Add a page
Click Add page.
In Page path, type the section of your site you want to customize, for example
/es.
The overrides apply to that page and every page underneath it, so /es also covers /es/practice-areas. If you add several entries and a visitor's page matches more than one, the most specific (longest) path wins, and only that one applies.
What you can override
Each field you leave empty keeps whatever you set for all pages.
Which fields appear depends on what you've turned on elsewhere:
Text near the avatar: the bubble next to your closed avatar button on these pages. Appears when your launcher type is Avatar.
Text on the video: the caption over the welcome video on these pages.
Quick choices: a different set of choice buttons on these pages. This one only appears if you picked Quick choices as how visitors start the chat in Step 6. If you're using a start button or free-text input, there are no choices to override.
Videos: a different welcome video on these pages. It works exactly like the main video library, with the same Select file, Record, Language, and Add video controls.
Texts per language: your own wording for one language on these pages, instead of the automatic translation.
The Spanish section example, start to finish
For a firm with an English site and a Spanish section at /es:
Set up your English video and settings normally, as covered in Steps 4 through 6. These serve your whole site.
In Per page settings, click Add page and set Page path to
/es.Under Videos in that card, record or select your Spanish video, set Language to Spanish (es), and click Add video.
Optionally set Text on the video and Quick choices in Spanish for that section.
Save the agent and wait for the video to show Ready.
Now visitors on https://yourfirm.com/ get your English video, and visitors on https://yourfirm.com/es/ get the Spanish one.
Important: the videos you add to a page entry replace your whole main video list on those pages, rather than adding to it. So if your /es entry has only a Spanish video, an English-speaking visitor who lands on an /es page won't get an English video there. If you need both on that section, add both to that page entry.
Step 9: Add your widget to the website
Open Deploy
At the top of the widget editor, click Deploy.
Choose how the widget should appear
Website widget: a floating bubble visitors can open from any page.
Website iframe: an inline block fixed in one spot on a page, for example inside a landing page section.
Most firms want Website widget, since it follows visitors across every page.
Copy the code
Click Copy.
Add it to your website
For Website widget, paste the snippet just before the closing
</body>tag of your site.For Website iframe, paste it wherever on the page you want the widget to appear.
If you manage your site through a platform like Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress, look for a section called "Custom code," "Embed," or "HTML." Every platform names this differently, so search that platform's help docs for "add custom HTML" if you don't see it.
Note: there's no separate publish step. Once the snippet is on your site, the widget is live. Changes you make and save in your settings after that appear automatically, without touching the code again.
No developer? Email the instructions instead
Click Email instructions, enter your web developer's email address, and Lexidesk sends them the code and setup steps directly.
FAQs
Can I download the video I recorded for my widget?
Yes. In your Video library, click the video's thumbnail to open the player, then use the player's three-dot menu and choose Download.
Why isn't my video showing on my website?
Check that the video is marked Ready in your Video library, not Processing or Failed. Only ready videos play. Also confirm Start the chat with a full video is checked and that you saved the agent.
Do I need to write my own Spanish translations?
No. Lexidesk translates your widget text automatically once a visitor is in another language. Custom text overrides are optional, for when you want to control the exact wording yourself.
How does the widget know which language to use?
The widget reads the visitor's browser language and starts in that language. If you've added two or more languages, visitors can also switch languages with the button on your welcome video.
Can I show a different video on my Spanish pages?
Yes. Use Per page settings, add a page with the path /es, and add your Spanish video under Videos in that card.
Can I show different quick-choice buttons on different pages?
Yes, as long as Quick choices is how visitors start the chat. Add a page in Per page settings and set your choices for that path.
What if my avatar video is too big to upload?
Avatar files are capped at 10 MB. Trim the clip or re-record at a lower resolution, then upload it again.
Still stuck? Email [email protected] with your firm name and a screenshot of what you're seeing.