Customising your assistant: name, voice, and colour

Out of the box the Sales Assistant works with sensible defaults, but a few simple settings let you make it feel like part of your store — the name it goes by, the first thing shoppers read, the colour it wears, and the way it talks about what you sell. They all live in one place: Stores → Configuration → Services → Sales Assistant.

None of these are required. Set the ones that matter to you and leave the rest blank to keep the defaults.

This applies to the Sales Assistant extension. If you haven't installed it yet, see Installing the Sales Assistant.

Appearance

Header colour

By default the chat wears a dark theme. Header colour lets you match it to your brand: enter a hex colour (for example #2563eb for a blue, or #1a1a2e for the default dark) and it's applied to the three main pieces of the widget together —

• the chat header bar,
• the "Chat" launcher button shoppers tap to open it, and
• the Send button.

The text on each automatically switches between black and white so it stays easy to read whatever colour you pick — a light colour gets dark text, a dark colour gets white. Leave it blank for the default dark look.

Tip: paste the same hex you use for buttons elsewhere on your storefront so the assistant blends in rather than stands out.

Voice

Assistant name

Assistant name is what the assistant calls itself if a shopper asks who they're talking to (for example, "Max"). It's cosmetic — a friendlier touch than "the assistant." Leave it blank to use the default.

Welcome message

Welcome message is the greeting a shopper sees the moment they open the chat, before they've typed anything. A good greeting sets expectations — tell shoppers what you can help with. For example:

Hi! I'm Max. Ask me about our products, sizing, or shipping — how can I help?

Keep it to plain text (no emoji). Leave it blank to use the default greeting.

Waiting message

Waiting message (from version 1.2.14) appears in the reply bubble the moment a shopper sends a question, and stays until the answer starts to appear — so the shopper sees right away that the assistant is working. Make it fit your store, for example:

Looking that up for you…

Keep it short and plain text. Leave it blank to use the default, "Searching our catalogue…".

What your store offers

What your store offers is a few sentences describing what you sell and how the assistant should help. It shapes how the assistant introduces itself and frames its answers — so a service isn't described as if it were a product catalogue, and a boutique doesn't sound like a warehouse. For example:

We sell outdoor gear and clothing. Help shoppers find the right kit for their trip
and answer questions about sizing, materials and care.

Keep it to things that are true in every conversation. Specific products, prices and stock come from your catalogue, and policies come from your knowledge content (see Feeding your Assistant) — not from here. The safety rules are always on regardless of what you write: the assistant only answers from your own catalogue and content, and never invents products or facts.

Call to action

Call to action is where to send a shopper who's ready to take the next step — for example "Browse our collection: https://www.example.com/shop" or "Contact us at [email protected]". When it fits the conversation, the assistant offers this as the next step. Leave it blank to omit it.

Search and indexing

The same screen has two settings that matter most if you have a large catalogue:

• Catalogue search → Meaning search for products (default No). With No, shoppers find products by keyword — the assistant first turns their question into search terms and filters — and your catalogue uses none of your embedding allowance. With Yes, products are also matched by meaning. Under the setting you'll see your own catalogue's estimated cost against your allowance. See How it finds products before switching it on.
• Indexing performance (default 25). The share of the time a full index build may work. It pauses the rest on purpose, so your store isn't slowed while it builds. Raise it to finish a big first index sooner on a quiet store, or set 100 to turn the pauses off. See Indexing never slows your store.

What shoppers see

Once you've set these, the shopper sees your colour and greeting the instant they open the chat, and the assistant refers to itself by your chosen name and talks in the framing you gave it. To change any of it later, edit the same settings and refresh your store's cache — no re-index is needed for appearance or voice changes.