How to stop losing leads when you miss calls or chats.

Where the leads actually go

A missed lead is rarely a dramatic loss. It's quiet. Someone calls while you're on a job, gets voicemail, doesn't leave a message, and calls the next company. Someone opens your website chat, waits two minutes for a reply, and closes the tab. Someone fills out a form on Friday night and books with a competitor on Saturday morning.

The pattern is the same each time: the customer had a question, couldn't get an answer quickly, and had other options. So the fix has two parts. Answer what can be answered immediately, and for everything else, capture enough detail that you can call back with confidence.

Step 1: Give missed callers somewhere to go

ChatBouncer doesn't answer phone calls; it works in the chat box on your website. But you can still use it to rescue some missed calls. Update your voicemail greeting to say that common questions, like hours, prices and service area, are answered any time at your website. Put the same line in your Google Business Profile and in your auto-reply email. Callers who want a quick answer can get it in chat, and the chat box will collect their details if they need you.

Step 2: Answer chats instantly, not eventually

Live chat staffed by people is only as good as its response time, and response time falls apart when you're busy, which is exactly when leads arrive. An AI chat box answers the moment the question is asked, 24/7, from the hours, prices, services and FAQs you save. If you already use live chat, you can keep the human part: with ChatBouncer, anyone on your team can take over a conversation, and the AI pauses while they do.

Step 3: Capture contact details every time

The most important rule is that a conversation should never end with just "sorry, I don't know." When ChatBouncer can't answer, it tells the customer the business will confirm and asks for their contact details. You get an email with the question and those details right away, and the conversation appears in your Handoff inbox. That turns an unanswered question into a lead with a name, a number and context.

The same thing happens when a customer simply asks for a person, and when a free trial reaches its message limit: the chat box asks visitors to leave contact details instead of going silent.

Step 4: Follow up fast

Every ChatBouncer plan uses the same handoff. When the chat box can't answer from your saved info, or the customer asks for a person, it says the business will confirm and asks for the customer's contact details. You get an email with the question and those details, and the conversation lands in your Handoff inbox.

You can answer two ways: type a reply in the dashboard and click Send reply, or simply reply to the notification email. The customer sees your reply in the chat window.

If you want to take over a live chat yourself, just reply. The visitor sees "A person from your business has joined the chat," and the AI pauses in that conversation for 30 minutes. Click Resume AI when you're done, or it picks up again on its own after 30 minutes. On Pro and Business you can also send new-lead and handoff alerts to Slack, or to Zapier and other tools through an outgoing webhook.

Speed matters more than polish. A short reply within the hour beats a perfect reply tomorrow. If your team works from Slack, send handoff alerts there on Pro or Business so they don't sit in someone's inbox. Give teammates their own seat (Starter has 1, Pro 3, Business 10) with the Agent role so they can answer handoffs without touching settings.

Step 5: Set it up

1. Create your account. Sign up at chatbouncer.com/signup. Building and previewing your chat box is free and doesn't need a card.
2. Give it your website address. ChatBouncer reads your public pages and pulls in your hours, prices, services and FAQs. No website? Enter your business name and fill the info in yourself.
3. Check every tab in Business info & preview. Business info, Hours, Menu / services, FAQ, Booking & payments and Personality. Fix anything that's wrong. The Knowledge score on your dashboard lists what's still missing.
4. Test it in Preview chat. Ask the questions your customers really ask, including awkward ones. Preview chats don't count toward your messages.
5. Start the 14-day free trial. Pick a plan on the Billing page. A card is required, but you aren't charged until the trial ends. Compare plans on the pricing page.
6. Install it and press Go live. Add your website domains on the Widget & embed tab, copy the one-line code and paste it just above </body>, or use the free WordPress plugin. Guides for every platform are on the install page.

Step 6: Keep the junk out of your lead list

A lead list full of spam is almost as bad as an empty one, because people stop checking it. ChatBouncer filters spam, abuse, off-topic messages and prompt tricks like "ignore your instructions," limits messages per visitor and per IP address, and only runs on the domains you allow. Your handoff inbox stays mostly real customers.

What it can't do

• It doesn't answer, record or transcribe phone calls, and it doesn't send text messages.
• It can't follow up for you. It captures the lead and alerts you; a person still has to reply.
• It won't promise times, prices or availability you haven't saved.
• Visitors who leave without typing anything aren't captured. Chat only helps people who start a conversation.
• If a subscription payment fails, the chat box pauses until you update your card (visitors can still leave their email).

What it costs

Starter is $29 a month (USD) for one website and 1,500 customer messages. Pro is $59 for up to 3 websites, 5,000 messages shared, 3 seats and Slack and Zapier alerts. Business is $119 for up to 10 websites, 15,000 messages shared and 10 seats. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.

Want to see it on your own site first? Type your website address into the free preview on the homepage. It builds a temporary chat box from your public pages, no signup needed. When you're ready, start the 14-day free trial; plans are $29, $59 and $119 a month (USD) on the pricing page.