A 24/7 customer support chatbot is not a promise that someone is awake at 3 AM. It is a promise that nobody who writes at 3 AM hits a wall: they get a correct answer from your content, or they leave their details and know who will get back to them. This guide shows how to set up after-hours customer support for a service business, what the visitor sees when nobody is online, what changes when you are, and how to answer a chat the next morning after the visitor has already closed the tab.
What is a 24/7 customer support chatbot?
A 24/7 customer support chatbot is an AI chat on your website that answers customer questions at any hour from your own content, collects contact details when a question needs a person, and hands the conversation to your team when someone is available. It does not replace your team; it stops the empty hours from costing you customers.
Ultimo Bots is an AI agent that answers your website visitors around the clock from your website, files and Q&A pairs, passes requests to your team as leads when nobody is online, and lets you take over the same chat when you are. The same agent can also answer on Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, with the same knowledge.
Most after-hours questions to a clinic, studio or cleaning company are the same few: prices, opening times, first visits, cancellations, insurance. Your pages already answer those. The rest need you, and round-the-clock support catches them cleanly until you are back.
What happens when nobody is online?
Your website chat is always in one of three states, and a good setup has a clear answer for each. Here is what Ultimo Bots does in each one, as of October 2026.
People hate chatbots that trap them, and they are right to. Ultimo Bots avoids that by design: when nobody on your team has switched themselves online in the portal, the "Talk to a human" button is hidden and the AI agent is not even given the handover option. It keeps answering, and when a visitor needs a person, the built-in Lead Generation skill asks for their name and email, reads them back and sends the request to your team.
One night at Harbor Physio, hour by hour
Harbor Physio is an example practice on Wix with three therapists and a practice manager, Dana. Nobody answers the website after 6 PM. Its knowledge base holds the website, a PDF with first-visit information and a handful of Q&A pairs about referrals and insurance.
- 11:20 PM Nobody online. Maya: "Do you treat runner's knee? And do I need a referral?" The agent: "Yes, Harbor Physio treats running injuries, including runner's knee. You don't need a referral for a first visit. Some insurance plans ask for one before they pay, and the team checks your coverage before your first appointment."
- 11:21 PM Maya: "Can someone check if my insurance works with you?" The agent: "Of course. I can pass your request to the team so they get back to you. What are your name and email address?" She types Maya Chen, maya.chen@example.com.
- 11:22 PM The agent: "Thanks, Maya. To confirm: Maya Chen, maya.chen@example.com, asking the team to check whether your insurance covers treatment at Harbor Physio. Shall I send this?"
- 11:23 PM Maya: "Yes please." The agent: "Your request has been sent to the team." Maya closes the tab. Her request is now a lead under Activity > Leads, and the new-lead email with the whole conversation is in Dana's inbox; both alerts are on by default.
- 8:05 AM Dana replies in the Inbox, hours later.
The referral rule and the coverage check come from Dana's Q&A pairs, and the agent only read back details Maya typed herself.
Can you reply after the visitor has left?
Yes, on the website. This is the part most round-the-clock setups miss. In Ultimo Bots you open the conversation under Activity > Inbox and write your reply in the box under it. The portal tells you how long that works: "The visitor sees your reply if they come back to the website by" a date 30 days after their last visit.
When Maya comes back to the website, the reply is waiting. The widget shows it like any message from your team, with an unread badge and a pop-up next to the launcher while the chat is closed. In the Inbox, Dana sees her reply marked as sent and waiting, and later "Shown to the visitor on" with the date. If Maya answers, the AI agent replies and the team gets a new-message alert.
The reply reaches the visitor in the same browser they chatted in, within those 30 days, unless they visited again before you replied; if they are on the site right now, the Inbox sends you to Live chat instead. It works even when the visitor left no email address, and your own replies cost no AI credits.
Live chat handover: when you are online
During the day the same chat works differently, and you decide when. Your online status is a switch: on the Live Chat > Live page you flip your Offline pill to Online, and the "Talk to a human" button appears in the widget and on your chat link from the next page load. When a visitor asks for a person in words, the AI agent hands over right away; when it runs out of answers, it offers a person and hands over if the visitor says yes.
The visitor sees "You requested a live agent. Please wait" with a Cancel link, and you get a "Live agent requested" alert in the portal and by email (Slack and Telegram if you turn them on). Your teammate Lena clicks Join, replaces the default name "Support Agent" with her own, and the AI stops replying; the visitor sees "Lena has joined the chat." Lena works in the same window with the full history. When she leaves, the AI agent takes over again. For the details of a clean handover, read our guide to human handoff.
Waiting is the moment people give up, so the widget gives them something to do. Next to the waiting notice it offers "Nothing to do? Play a Game": a Memory Game or Whack-a-Mole inside the chat window, with a leaderboard for your website and generated player names such as "Swift Otter". When your teammate joins, the game closes and the conversation is back.
Give the agent the answers your night visitors need
24/7 AI customer service is only as good as what the agent can read. Ultimo Bots answers from your content: your website, PDF and Word files, Q&A pairs, Google Drive, OneDrive, Notion and, on Wix, your CMS collections. When the answer is not there, it is told to say so honestly rather than guess, and a visitor who wants to be contacted can leave their details. More on sources in the knowledge base overview.
- Prices and packages, written as they appear on your price list, with what is included.
- First visit: what to bring, how long it takes, where to park.
- Rules that cause emails: cancellation and rescheduling terms, deposits, referrals, insurance.
- Opening hours and holidays, including the dates you close this year.
- The questions you answered by email last week, each as a Q&A pair in your own words.
Keep it current: a wrong price at 2 AM is worse than no answer. You can re-read your website by hand on every plan; on Boost it can re-read your site monthly, on Ultimo up to daily, once you switch that on.
How much does a 24/7 customer support chatbot cost?
Ultimo Bots is priced per agent in AI credits, and your teammates cost nothing extra. As of October 2026, Smart is $29 a month ($19 billed yearly) with 500 AI credits, Boost is $59 a month ($39 billed yearly) with 2,000 AI credits and Ultimo is $149 a month ($99 billed yearly) with 10,000 AI credits. A standard answer uses 1 AI credit, so Smart covers up to 500 standard answers a month, day or night. Every plan includes live chat, all channels and the Lead Generation skill (pricing).
If you install through Wix, billing runs through the Wix App Market, and the listing shows the price for your site in its currency; on October 24, 2026 it showed euro prices and a free plan. Every new agent can start on Free with a small one-time allowance of AI credits to try your night questions before you choose a plan. Messages you or your teammates type in the live chat, and replies to ended chats, use no AI credits.
For comparison, help desk suites charge per person. On October 24, 2026, the Intercom pricing page listed its Essential seat at $19 per seat a month billed annually for new customers (regularly $29) and its Fin AI agent at $0.99 per outcome (Intercom pricing). The Zendesk pricing page listed Suite Team at $55 per agent a month billed annually ($69 monthly), with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month included and more at $1.50 to $2.00 each (Zendesk pricing). Those suites fit large support teams; for a practice of four, per-seat pricing mostly charges for people who are asleep. Our guide to AI agent cost does the math.
Set up round-the-clock support on Wix
- 1
Install our Wix app
Add it from the Wix App Market. The setup reads your site, finds Wix Bookings, Stores and Contacts and sets up matching skills, takes your colors and icon, and drafts a welcome message and two starter questions from your site. One agent per Wix site. More on the app: Wix.
- 2
Check the agent's name
In the AI Studio, open Classic overview at the top right and make sure the name there is your business name. The agent introduces itself with it.
- 3
Fill the gaps in its knowledge
Under Knowledge Base, add your price list or first-visit PDF under Documents and your common questions under FAQs. Ask the agent your five most frequent questions and add a Q&A pair for every weak answer.
- 4
Decide what a night lead should contain
The Lead Generation skill asks for name and email. If you prefer to call back, add a phone field in the AI Studio.
- 5
Choose where alerts go
Under Notifications, new leads and "Live agent requested" go to the portal and your email by default. Add Slack or Telegram if that is where you look first.
- 6
Run the night test
Switch yourself offline first, open your site in a private window and ask something your content does not cover. You should see no "Talk to a human" button, be asked for your details, and get the new-lead email. Then go online and ask for a person to see the handover. Test chats on your site use AI credits like any visitor answer.
Not on Wix? The same agent installs as a WordPress plugin, a Webflow app (no replies to ended chats yet) or a three-line snippet. For AI at the front desk, see our AI receptionist guide; for support beyond chat, automated customer service and AI customer service software.
Before tonight: the three-email test
Find the last three emails a customer sent you outside opening hours. Ask your chat those three questions in a private window, exactly as the customer wrote them. Every wrong or missing answer becomes one Q&A pair, and every question that truly needs you should end in a request sent to the team. When all three do, your site is ready for its first night.
Questions and answers
Can a 24/7 chatbot answer customer questions at 3 AM?
Yes. An AI agent such as Ultimo Bots answers from your website, files and Q&A pairs at any hour. When a question needs a person, it asks for the visitor's name and email, confirms them and sends the request to your team, so you find the lead with the full conversation in the morning.
What happens when nobody from my team is online?
The "Talk to a human" button is hidden, so nobody waits for a person who is not there. The AI agent keeps answering and takes contact details through the Lead Generation skill. You get a new-lead alert in the portal and by email by default, with the whole conversation.
Can I reply to a website chat after the visitor has left?
Yes, on the website (not yet in the Webflow app). Open the conversation under Activity > Inbox and write your reply there. The visitor sees it with an unread badge when they come back in the same browser within 30 days, unless they visited again before your reply. The Inbox shows when the reply was shown.
Does the visitor know they are talking to an AI?
On the website widget and the chat link, yes: the notice "You are chatting with an AI assistant" appears before the first message and cannot be switched off. When a teammate joins, the notice is hidden, the visitor sees their name, and the AI stops replying until the teammate leaves.
How much does a 24/7 customer support chatbot cost?
With Ultimo Bots, as of October 2026: Smart $29 a month ($19 billed yearly) with 500 AI credits, Boost $59 ($39 yearly) with 2,000 and Ultimo $149 ($99 yearly) with 10,000. A standard answer uses 1 AI credit. Teammates cost nothing extra, and on Wix billing runs through the Wix App Market.
Does it work on Wix?
Yes. Install our app from the Wix App Market; the listing is called AI Chatbot & Live Chat Agent. The setup reads your site, sets up skills for Wix Bookings, Stores and Contacts and drafts a welcome message. Paid plans are billed through your Wix account.
