How to Add Live Chat to PrestaShop (Step by Step)

You can add live chat to PrestaShop in about ten minutes with a module: upload a ZIP in the back office, paste a site key and clear the cache. No theme editing is needed, and the widget appears on every page of your storefront. This guide walks through each step for PrestaShop 1.7, 8 and 9, then shows how to teach an AI assistant about your shop, how to handle multistore setups and what to check when the chat bubble does not appear.

We use Talkmio in the examples because it has a ready-made PrestaShop module, but most of the advice applies to any chat tool.

What You Need Before You Start

Back-office access with permission to install modules. On most shops that means the SuperAdmin profile.
A supported version. The Talkmio module supports PrestaShop 1.7, 8 and 9. You can see your version in the back-office footer or under Advanced Parameters → Information.
A chat account. Talkmio’s free plan is enough to test: 1 operator, 1 website and 50 AI answers a month, no card required.
Five minutes to update your key pages. Delivery, payment, returns and contact pages are what the AI assistant will answer from, so check they are current before you switch it on.

Step 1: Get Your Site Key

Sign in at app.talkmio.com, open Websites and add your shop’s address. Talkmio creates a site key, a 12-character code that connects the widget on your shop to your Talkmio inbox. Copy it; you will paste it into PrestaShop in step 3.

If you run several separate shops on different domains, add each one as its own website. Each gets its own key, its own widget settings and its own knowledge base.

Step 2: Add Live Chat to PrestaShop With the Module

Download the module ZIP from the Talkmio PrestaShop integration page. Do not unzip it. Then, in your back office:

Go to Modules → Module Manager.
Click Upload a module at the top right.
Drag the ZIP file into the window or choose it from your computer.
Wait for the confirmation that the module was installed.

PrestaShop installs the module and registers it on the storefront. The module uses the displayFooter hook, one of the standard front-office hooks listed in the PrestaShop hooks reference. Almost every theme calls it, so the widget script loads on every page.

Step 3: Configure the Module

After installation, click Configure (or find Talkmio in the Module Manager list and click Configure).
Paste your site key.
Decide whether to identify logged-in customers (see below).
Click Save.

Identify logged-in customers

When this option is on, the module passes the name and e-mail address of a logged-in customer to your inbox. Your team then sees who is writing without asking, and it becomes much easier to handle order questions. Mention this in your privacy notice, because the chat now receives account data. If you prefer anonymous chats, leave it off; visitors can still leave an e-mail when they need a reply.

Step 4: Check the Storefront and Clear the Cache

Open your shop in a private browser window. The chat bubble should appear in the corner of every page. If it does not, clear the PrestaShop cache under Advanced Parameters → Performance → Clear cache and reload. If you use a CDN or a full-page cache module, purge that too.

Then do a real test. Ask two or three questions your customers often ask, such as “How long does delivery to Germany take?” or “Can I return an item after 14 days?”, and check the answers. In the Talkmio app you should see the conversation in the Inbox with the page the visitor was on.

Step 5: Teach the AI Assistant About Your Shop

A PrestaShop store usually has a clear set of pages the assistant should know: CMS pages for delivery, payment, returns, terms and contact, plus category and product pages. Talkmio’s assistant, Mio, answers only from the content you give it and hands over to your team when it cannot answer.

Choose what to add

In Talkmio go to Mio AI → Knowledge base. You can add your whole website, in which case Mio reads every public page on the domain and respects robots.txt, or add single pages. Your plan limits how many pages Mio keeps: 20 on Free, 200 on Pro and 1000 on Ultimate. A shop with thousands of product pages will exceed the smaller limits, so start with the pages that answer most questions:

Delivery options, costs and times per country
Payment methods
Returns and refunds
Warranty and repairs
Size guides or technical buying guides
Your top categories and best-selling products

You can also upload files such as a product CSV, a PDF catalogue or a DOCX with internal FAQ, up to 15 MB each.

Write business instructions

Add a few rules for the assistant, for example: “Never promise delivery dates. Hand all order-status questions and complaints to the team. Only mention prices shown on the product page.” Then use Try Mio to test answers before visitors see them. It shows which knowledge pieces each answer used, so you can see whether a wrong answer came from missing content.

Step 6: Match the Widget to Your Store

The default widget works, but a few minutes of settings make it feel like part of your shop. In Talkmio open Websites and choose your shop. You can change:

Colour and position. Use your theme’s accent colour and keep the bubble away from your theme’s own floating buttons, such as a back-to-top arrow or a cookie icon.
Assistant name and welcome text. A short, specific greeting works better than a generic one: “Questions about delivery, sizes or returns? Ask here.”
Offline text. Tell visitors when you reply, for example “We answer by e-mail within one working day.”
Pre-chat form. Choose none, optional or required. For most shops “none” or “optional” keeps more conversations, because every extra field is a reason to leave.
Language. Auto-detect suits shops with several languages; a fixed language suits single-language shops.
Business hours. Set them in your own time zone, so visitors know whether a person is available.

On paid plans the “Powered by Talkmio” line is hidden. Settings changes apply within about five minutes.

What to measure in the first month

After launch, look at a few numbers in Talkmio’s reports: conversations per day, the share answered by Mio alone, hand-offs, first-reply time and your busiest hours. If the share answered alone is low, read the handed-over conversations and add the missing answers to your pages. If most chats arrive in the evening, adjust business hours or the offline text rather than promising replies you cannot give.

Other Ways to Add Live Chat to PrestaShop

The module is the simplest method, but it is not the only one. The table compares the options.

Method	Effort	Survives theme updates	Customer identification	Best for
Talkmio module	Low: upload and paste key	Yes	Yes, optional	Most shops
Google Tag Manager	Low if GTM is already installed	Yes	No	Shops managed by marketing teams
Script in theme template	Medium: edit template files	No, unless using a child theme	No	Developers with custom themes

Google Tag Manager

If your shop already loads Google Tag Manager, you can import Talkmio’s ready-made container or create a Custom HTML tag with the widget script and an All Pages trigger. Steps are on the Talkmio GTM integration page. Remember that GTM tags can be blocked by consent tools until the visitor accepts, so check how your consent banner treats the tag.

Editing the theme

You can paste the widget script into your theme’s footer template. The script loads asynchronously, which means it does not block the page while it downloads; MDN’s script element reference explains the async attribute. The drawback is that a theme update can overwrite your change. Use a child theme if you go this way.

Multistore Setups

PrestaShop’s multistore feature lets one back office run several shops. With the Talkmio module you configure the site key per shop context: switch the back-office shop selector to a specific shop, open the module configuration and paste that shop’s key.

Should each shop get its own key? Use separate keys when shops have different domains, languages or products, so each has its own knowledge base and widget settings. Use one key when the shops are only different storefronts for the same catalogue and team. Talkmio plans include several websites (3 on Pro, 10 on Ultimate), so separate keys rarely cost extra.

Troubleshooting: The Chat Bubble Does Not Appear

Cache. Clear the PrestaShop cache and any CDN or page-cache module, then reload in a private window.
Module disabled. In Module Manager, check that the module is installed and enabled, and enabled on mobile as well as desktop.
Wrong key. Compare the key in the module with the one in Talkmio → Websites. A missing character is enough to break it.
Theme without the footer hook. Some heavily customised themes do not call displayFooter. Ask your theme developer to add it, or use the GTM method.
Consent banner. If your cookie tool blocks third-party scripts until consent, the widget will appear only after the visitor accepts. Check the tool’s settings.
Two chat widgets. If you had another chat module before, disable it. Two widgets on one page confuse visitors and slow the page.

Widget changes you make in Talkmio, such as colour, position or welcome text, can take up to five minutes to appear.

What Live Chat Should Handle in a PrestaShop Store

Once the widget works, decide what the assistant answers alone and what goes to people. For most stores:

AI alone: delivery times and costs, payment methods, returns policy, product details and sizing, opening hours.
Handed to the team: “Where is my order?”, damaged goods, complaints, custom or bulk orders, invoice changes.

Talkmio hands over automatically when a visitor asks about a specific order, asks for a person or complains. If nobody is online, the visitor leaves an e-mail and your reply from the Inbox goes out by e-mail. For more ideas on running chat in a store, read our practical guide to live chat for e-commerce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which PrestaShop versions does the Talkmio module support?

The module supports PrestaShop 1.7, 8 and 9. You upload it as a ZIP in Modules → Module Manager → Upload a module, paste your site key in the configuration and save. For older versions you can use Google Tag Manager or place the widget script in your theme’s footer template instead.

Does live chat slow down a PrestaShop store?

The widget script loads asynchronously, so it does not block the page while it downloads. The effect on page speed is usually small. Load only one chat widget, remove old chat modules, and compare a speed test before and after installation to confirm the impact on your own theme.

Can the chat see which customer is writing?

Yes, if you enable the option to identify logged-in customers in the module settings. The module then passes the customer’s name and e-mail to your Talkmio inbox. Guests stay anonymous unless they leave an e-mail. Mention the chat and the data it receives in your privacy notice.

Can the AI assistant check order status in PrestaShop?

Order status is personal, so Talkmio’s assistant does not answer it from general content. When a visitor asks about a specific order, Mio hands the conversation to your team, who can look it up in the back office. That avoids wrong answers about deliveries and refunds.

How do I add live chat to several PrestaShop shops in multistore?

Configure the module separately in each shop context. Switch the back-office shop selector to the shop, open the Talkmio module configuration and paste that shop’s site key. Use separate keys when the shops differ in domain, language or catalogue, so each has its own knowledge base and settings.

What should I do if the chat bubble does not show up?

Clear the cache under Advanced Parameters → Performance, purge any CDN, and reload in a private window. Then check that the module is enabled, the site key is correct, your theme calls the displayFooter hook, and your cookie banner is not blocking the script before consent.

The Bottom Line

The quickest way to add live chat to PrestaShop is a module: upload the ZIP, paste your site key, clear the cache and test. The part that makes chat useful is what comes after, putting clear delivery, payment and returns pages in the knowledge base and deciding what goes to your team. Talkmio’s PrestaShop module does the installation in minutes, and you can try it on the free plan at app.talkmio.com.