Your website should say hello first

Hosted by Mrs. NetShow.

Walk into a good shop and someone looks up and says hello. Open most websites and nothing happens. The page waits. The visitor has to decide where to look and what to ask.

A NetShow agent changes that first moment. Your agent can greet the people who visit your own website, with its face and its voice, and it can speak first. This post is about why that matters and what a visitor actually meets.

The silent page and the first hello

A silent page asks the visitor to do all the work. They have to find the answer, find the contact page, or decide which part of the site to read first. A clear first hello gives them a place to begin and one question to answer.

When your agent speaks first on your site, the page stops waiting. A face appears, a greeting is already there, and the visitor has someone to answer. That is the whole idea: the first move is yours, not theirs.

Our voice guide describes the first hello plainly: your agent says hello first, tells every visitor it is an AI and speaks with the voice you choose. Start with that introduction. Tell people who is helping them, then ask the one question that makes sense for your page.

What a visitor meets on your site

Here is what happens on your website once your agent is set to speak first, step by step, as our guide walks it.

A face in the corner. A panel docks at the bottom right with your agent's face, and the greeting appears as a caption straight away. Nobody has to find a button to learn that someone is there.

The greeting, out loud, from the first tap. Browsers keep a page silent until the visitor taps or presses a key, so the greeting is spoken out loud from their first tap. Nothing blares at someone who has not touched the page yet. The words are on screen from the start; the voice arrives the moment they engage.

Your agent's own voice. Open Look and voice in the Studio and choose from the Voice shelf when it is enabled. Press Use this voice, then read Speaking now to check the voice your agent speaks with right now. If a paid pick is not ready, your agent keeps the NetShow voice and the shelf says why.

The microphone only when they say yes. The browser asks the visitor's permission before the agent can hear them, and it listens only if they allow it. A visitor who would rather not speak does not have to.

Typing is always there. The panel's Menu holds Chat for typing instead, Mute replies and Stop listening. The × in the corner closes the panel and returns your agent to the corner. Nobody is forced into a conversation they did not want.

You choose the first words

The greeting is not ours. It is yours.

In the agent editor, under Personality, there is a Welcome Message. Turn on Enable Welcome Message, write the line, and press Save. Give the visitor your agent's name, say it is an AI, and ask one easy question.

A good first line is short, says who is talking and asks one easy question. Our guide gives this example:

Hi, I'm Maya, the AI assistant for Riverside Dental. Are you booking a visit or asking about one?

Try one or two sentences for your first draft. Read them aloud and check that the question is easy to answer. Leave the longer explanation for after the visitor replies.

Speaking first is a switch, not a default

Speaking first is something you turn on for each website, and you can turn it off again.

With it off, visitors see your agent in the corner of the page and the agent waits for them to open it. With it on, they meet the face and the greeting described above. Once your site's address is verified on the embed page, a switch appears beside it: Speak first on this site. Press it to turn it on; press it again to turn it off. If you do not see the switch, speaking first is not switched on for your account yet, and your agent is still available.

Two conditions come first, and both protect you. Your agent has to be public: if it is not, the switch tells you "Make your agent public so it can speak." And your site has to be verified as yours. Until it is, your agent on your site tells visitors the door is closed instead of replying.

Why start with a greeting

Your live agent speaks every reply live, never a recording. Its voice goes through NetShow's own voice connection, never the browser's built-in voice. Mrs. NetShow speaks with Marin and Mr. NetShow with Cedar. The voice guide also says a visitor is always asked for the microphone first, and one who says no can still type.

A greeting does three jobs at once. It tells the visitor someone is there. It tells them what kind of help is on offer. And it asks one question they can answer without thinking. None of that needs a sales script; it needs a face, a voice and one good sentence.

FAQ

Will my agent start talking the moment someone lands on my page?

No. The greeting appears as a caption straight away, but browsers keep a page silent until the visitor taps or presses a key. The greeting is spoken out loud from their first tap.

Does my agent listen to visitors without asking?

No. The browser asks the visitor's permission before the agent can hear them, and it listens only if they allow it. The panel's Menu also has Stop listening.

Can visitors type instead of talking?

Yes. The panel's Menu holds Chat for typing instead. The × in the corner closes the panel and returns your agent to the corner.

Can I change what it says first?

Yes. Write the line under Welcome Message in the agent editor's Personality tab and press Save. Turn on Enable Welcome Message there to use that first line.

Can I turn speaking first off again?

Yes. On the embed page, press Speak first on this site again to turn it off. With it off, visitors see your agent and the agent waits for them to open it.

Put your agent on your website

Everything above happens on a website you own once three things are done: your agent is published, one tag is pasted into your site, and your site is verified as yours. Our step-by-step guide walks the embed page that hands you both the tag and the proof, then shows where the Speak first on this site switch appears and how to take the agent off your site again. It takes about five minutes to read, and nothing breaks if you paste the tag before you verify.