This is the complete guide to installing SmartWidget on Astro. Step-by-step from signup to first answered visitor, including the exact paste location for the snippet in layout component before closing body tag, customisation options, and GDPR cookie integration. From £19/mo.
For Astro site owners, an AI chat widget is the fastest conversion improvement you can ship this week. While the rest of your site converts maybe 1 to 2 percent of visitors passively, the widget engages every visitor the moment they arrive, answers their questions instantly, and either books them in or captures their contact details. SmartWidget on Astro installs in five minutes via a single JavaScript snippet pasted into layout component before closing body tag.
The full install end-to-end. Five steps, about five minutes from signup to the first answered visitor.
The exact panel and field to paste the snippet on every supported platform. Astro is highlighted first.
The dashboard reviews and refines what the AI learned from your Astro site. Every Q&A pair the AI generated is shown with a confidence score. High-confidence answers are auto-approved; lower-confidence ones are flagged for review. You can override any answer, add your own Q&A pairs, and define edge-case rules. The dashboard is structured so a non-technical Astro site owner can confidently approve the AI's understanding of their business in ten to fifteen minutes.
Astro sites converted around 1 to 2 percent of visitors in the contact-form era. The benchmark in the AI chat widget era is closer to 3 to 5 percent. The difference is captured by the widget — visitors arriving at 9pm, on a phone, with a specific question, who would have left without engaging. SmartWidget reads your Astro site and goes live in five minutes from layout component before closing body tag.
The dashboard you'll spend most of your time in is the messaging inbox. It shows every conversation the AI has on your Astro site, lets you jump into any live one with one click, and keeps a searchable archive of every conversation the widget has ever had. Visitor contact details from every qualified conversation are captured automatically. Most Astro businesses check this inbox once a day and the AI handles the rest 24/7.
No. The widget loads asynchronously after the page has rendered. The bundle is under 30KB. There is no impact on Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, or First Input Delay. Lighthouse audit before and after the install on a Astro site typically shows zero score change.
Yes. The dashboard supports WhatsApp Business API integration for escalations. When the AI flags a high-intent enquiry on your Astro site, it can send you a WhatsApp message with the visitor's details and the conversation context. The integration runs on top of the standard email and SMS escalation options.
The install on Astro takes about five minutes end-to-end. You sign up at smartwidget.co.uk, paste your Astro site URL so the AI can read it, review the auto-generated answers, copy the JavaScript snippet, paste it into layout component before closing body tag, and save. The widget is live and answering visitors the moment the page saves.
No. The Astro install is one line of JavaScript pasted into layout component before closing body tag. If you can navigate your Astro admin dashboard, you can complete the install. The walkthrough on the SmartWidget dashboard shows the exact menu path for Astro with screenshots.
No. SmartWidget loads asynchronously and isolates its CSS inside a Shadow DOM, so it cannot affect your Astro theme's styling, animations, or layout. It also does not block page rendering. Lighthouse and PageSpeed scores are unaffected.
Yes for any Astro plan that lets you paste a script tag or custom JavaScript into layout component before closing body tag. On a small number of Astro entry-level tiers the custom code feature is restricted; in that case upgrading to the next plan unlocks it. Most Astro Business or Pro tiers and above support SmartWidget directly.
No. There is no plugin for Astro. SmartWidget installs via a single line of JavaScript pasted directly into layout component before closing body tag. Avoiding the plugin route means fewer dependencies, zero conflicts with your other Astro extensions, and no plugin marketplace approval process.
A single script tag with your unique widget key. Around 200 characters total. You copy it from the SmartWidget dashboard after signup, paste it into layout component before closing body tag, and save. The script tag loads our widget client asynchronously when a visitor lands on your page.
No. The widget loads asynchronously after the page has rendered, so it does not block any of your Astro site's critical rendering path. PageSpeed and Lighthouse scores are unaffected. The widget bundle is under 30 KB and lazy-loads its UI when the visitor first interacts with the chat bubble.
SmartWidget is UK GDPR compliant by design. Conversation transcripts are encrypted at rest in UK-based data centres. The widget includes a configurable consent notice that integrates with most Astro cookie banner solutions, and the dashboard exposes the controls needed for data-subject access and deletion requests.
Yes. The widget appearance is fully customisable from the SmartWidget dashboard — primary colour, accent colour, chat bubble position (bottom-left, bottom-right), avatar, welcome message, and trigger behaviour. The customisation is centralised, so changing it once updates the widget on your Astro site immediately.
Remove the single line of JavaScript from layout component before closing body tag and save. The widget disappears immediately. There is nothing else to uninstall from Astro — no database tables, no orphaned files, no leftover configuration.
Yes. Multi-site is built in from the Growth tier. One SmartWidget subscription can run widgets across multiple Astro sites, each with its own AI personality, knowledge base and unified inbox. Particularly useful for agencies running client Astro sites or operators with multiple brand sites.
Yes. The widget is responsive by default and works on every Astro mobile breakpoint. The chat bubble sits in the bottom corner on every screen size and the chat interface adapts to mobile-optimised layout when a visitor opens it on a phone.
4.9 out of 5 from 199 reviews. A selection of install-experience reviews from real UK businesses.
Our firm uses a Drupal site that an agency built nine years ago. I expected the install to be painful. The agency added the script tag in eleven minutes and the widget went live the same afternoon.
Our firm runs a heavily customised Webflow site. SmartWidget installs into the End of body tag custom code field — exactly where Webflow places all scripts. Zero animation conflicts.
My Framer site is mostly animation and the widget had to coexist with three other custom code blocks. SmartWidget installed cleanly without breaking any of the existing animations or transitions.
My Format portfolio is built around lots of high-resolution images and very minimal text. SmartWidget did not slow the gallery load at all — it loads async and the widget bubble only renders once images are done.
My WordPress site uses a heavily customised theme. I worried the SmartWidget snippet might conflict. The Insert Headers and Footers plugin route kept everything isolated and the theme has not been touched.
We migrated to a new accounting firm site last spring. SmartWidget was the only chat tool that installed cleanly without breaking the theme. Five minutes from signup to live.
SmartWidget installs cleanly on every major platform in this category. Explore install guides for related platforms.
Sign up, paste the snippet, save. From £19 a month. No card to start.
