What a visitor sees in the first ten seconds

Hosted by Mrs. NetShow.

A visitor decides very quickly whether a website is worth their time. Our own guide says it about the first line an agent speaks: a visitor decides in seconds whether to answer.

So it is worth slowing those seconds down. This post walks what a stranger sees and hears when they land on a website that has a NetShow agent set to speak first. One moment at a time, in the order it happens.

The page opens: a face in the corner

The page loads the way it always did: your words, your pictures, your layout.

Then a panel docks at the bottom right with your agent's face. It is not a small bubble waiting to be noticed. It is a face, and it is plainly there to help.

On our live avatars page, eight looks share one voice, and the line under them explains what a visitor on a phone gets: "Your phone picks the fastest look it can run." The visitor does not choose a setting.

The greeting is already on screen

At the same moment, the greeting appears as a caption straight away. Our live avatars page says it in one line: "It speaks first: the hello is there before your visitor types a word."

That caption is the first thing your business says. You write it yourself under Welcome Message in the agent editor. A good first line is short, says who is talking and asks one easy question:

Hi, I'm Maya from Riverside Dental. Are you booking a visit or asking about one?

One or two sentences. A long opening gets talked over.

Why it waits for a tap before it speaks

Here is a detail that surprises people. The greeting does not blare out the moment the page opens.

Browsers keep a page silent until the visitor taps or presses a key. So the greeting is spoken out loud from their first tap. A visitor reading on a train is not startled. A visitor who taps hears the agent say the words they have already read.

The voice they hear is the one you picked under Realtime Voice in the agent editor. Our live avatars page is plain about the voices, too: "Never a robotic browser voice for your brand."

The browser asks before the microphone opens

Now the visitor wants to answer. This is the moment trust is won or lost, so it is worth being exact.

The browser asks the visitor's permission before the agent can hear them. It listens only if they allow it. Our live avatars page puts the rule in one line: "the microphone opens only when a visitor presses Talk."

Nothing about this is hidden. The panel's Menu holds Stop listening, so a visitor who started talking can stop at any time. It also holds Mute replies for someone who would rather read.

A visitor who would rather type

Not everyone wants to talk out loud, and nobody has to. The same Menu holds Chat, for typing instead.

And a visitor who wants the page to themselves can close the panel. The × in the corner closes the panel and brings the chat bubble back. The agent is still there if they change their mind.

What the agent remembers

A visitor's first seconds are also when they wonder what happens to what they say. Our live avatars page answers that directly: "It remembers a visitor only after they say yes, and forgets when they ask."

Ten seconds, counted

Put together, the first ten seconds look like this:

1. The page loads, unchanged.
2. A panel docks at the bottom right with your agent's face.
3. The greeting appears as a caption straight away.
4. The visitor taps, and the greeting is spoken out loud.
5. They choose: talk, after the browser asks, or type in Chat.

No form to fill in. No phone tree. A face, a sentence and a choice.

FAQ

Does the agent start talking the moment the page opens?

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.

Is the microphone on when a visitor arrives?

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 holds Stop listening.

Can I change the greeting a visitor reads?

Yes. Write it under Welcome Message in the agent editor's Personality tab and press Save.

What if a visitor just wants the panel gone?

The × in the corner closes the panel and brings the chat bubble back. The visitor can open it again whenever they like.

Give your visitors those ten seconds

Every moment 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. It then shows where the Speak first on this site switch appears, and how to turn it off again. Pasting the tag before you verify breaks nothing. Your next visitor gets a face and a greeting in the time it takes to read this line.