How Visitors End a Chat & Start Fresh

There's a small but important difference between hiding a chat and ending it. This guide explains what your visitors see when they close the widget, so you know exactly what's happening on their end — and so you can answer their questions about it.

Minimize vs. end: the key difference

There are two ways a visitor can close the chat window, and they do very different things.

Minimize (the X button) — keeps everything.

The X in the top corner of the chat simply tucks the widget away into its little bubble. Nothing is lost.

The conversation is still there.
When the visitor clicks the bubble again, they pick up right where they left off — same messages, same history.
Think of it like closing a chat app on your phone: the conversation waits for you.

End & start new — clears everything and starts over.

To find this, the visitor taps the three-dots menu (⋮) in the top corner and chooses End & start new.

This truly ends the current conversation and clears it.
The next time they open the widget, they get a fresh, blank chat — a clean slate.

Why two options? Most people just want to peek away and come back, so the obvious X keeps their history safe. "End & start new" is tucked into the menu on purpose — it's the deliberate "I'm done, wipe it and let me start over" choice, so nobody clears a conversation by accident.

What the visitor sees when they end a chat

When a visitor chooses to end and start new, they'll see a short confirmation along the lines of: "This will end your current chat and close the widget. A new conversation will start next time you open it."

After confirming, the widget closes. When they reopen it, they're greeted with your welcome message and a brand-new conversation — no trace of the old one.

The rating that appears when a chat is resolved (CSAT)

When a conversation is marked resolved (either the visitor wraps up or your team closes it out), the visitor sees a short satisfaction survey. This is called CSAT — short for Customer Satisfaction.

Here's what happens:

The chat shows a friendly 5-star rating prompt.
The visitor taps a star from 1 (poor) to 5 (great).
There's an optional comment box where they can add a note about their experience.
After they submit, they can start a new conversation whenever they like.

Why this matters to you: those star ratings and comments flow into your chatbot analytics, so you can see how happy people are with your bot and your team over time. It's the simplest, most honest feedback you'll get — pay attention to the low scores especially.

Good to know: the rating only appears once a chat is resolved. If a visitor just minimizes an ongoing chat, they won't be asked to rate anything — they're not done yet.

Quick recap

X = minimize. History is safe; comes back on reopen.
⋮ → End & start new = truly end. Fresh chat next time.
Resolved chat = a 5-star rating (CSAT) appears, then the option to start a new conversation.