LiveChat

Overview

LiveChat is a real-time customer support chat platform used by support teams to communicate with website visitors. Its widget provides a persistent chat interface that follows visitors across pages, giving agents context about the visitor's browsing journey.

What This Script Does

LiveChat's JavaScript snippet loads the chat widget (typically a floating bubble in the bottom-right corner) and performs the following:

• Chat widget rendering: Injects an iframe-based chat interface into the page. The widget handles message composition, file attachments, and agent availability indicators.
• Session persistence: Sets cookies (__lc_cid, __lc_cst) to maintain chat session state across page navigations and browser refreshes. This ensures ongoing conversations are not lost when visitors move between pages.
• Visitor tracking: Records the visitor's page view sequence and current page URL. This browsing history is displayed to agents in the LiveChat dashboard to provide context during support conversations.
• Pre-chat data collection: May display a pre-chat form collecting visitor name and email before starting a conversation.
• Proactive chat triggers: Can automatically open the chat window based on rules (time on page, number of pages visited, specific URL patterns) configured in the LiveChat dashboard.
• Sneak peek: Optionally shows agents what the visitor is typing before they send the message.

The script communicates with cdn.livechatinc.com for static assets and secure.livechatinc.com for WebSocket messaging.

Consent & Compliance

Consent Category: Functional

LiveChat's primary purpose is enabling customer support communication. Key considerations:

• Session cookies: The cookies for maintaining chat state across pages are necessary for the chat feature to function. These can be classified as strictly necessary if chat is a core part of your customer support offering.
• Visitor tracking: The page history tracking that provides agents with browsing context goes beyond strictly necessary session management. Under a strict interpretation of ePrivacy, this behavioral tracking within the chat context may require consent.
• Pre-chat forms: If LiveChat collects personal data (name, email) via pre-chat forms, this collection requires its own consent basis under GDPR.
• Data storage: Chat transcripts are stored on LiveChat's servers and linked to visitor profiles. LiveChat acts as a data processor.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Conditional. The core chat functionality (widget display, session persistence) can be classified as functional and may not require consent if live chat is an integral part of your customer support. However, the visitor page tracking, proactive engagement rules, and pre-chat data collection extend beyond strictly necessary functionality. If you want to be conservative under GDPR/ePrivacy, load the widget only after functional consent is granted. If you classify chat as essential to your service, ensure your privacy policy discloses the data processing and that LiveChat is listed as a data processor.