kilo
Documentation
Back to docs

Starter Prompts

Page-Specific Starter Questions



Starter prompts are the clickable questions visitors see when they first open the chat widget, before they type anything. They serve two important purposes: they show visitors that the AI is relevant to what they're looking at, and they make it effortless to start a conversation with a single click.

Good starter prompts dramatically increase engagement. Instead of staring at a blank chat window and wondering what to ask, visitors see three helpful questions and think, "Oh, that's exactly what I was wondering."

How auto-generated prompts work



During onboarding, Kilo reads each page it indexes and automatically generates three starter prompts based on the content. For example, if it indexes your pricing page, it might generate:

  • "What's included in the Growth plan?"
  • "Do you offer annual billing discounts?"
  • "Is there a free trial available?"


  • These auto-generated prompts are marked with an "Auto" badge in your dashboard so you can tell them apart from ones you created manually.

    Creating and editing custom prompts



    You have full control over prompts from Knowledge > Prompts in your dashboard.

    To edit an auto-generated prompt:
  • Go to Knowledge > Prompts.
  • Find the prompt you want to change.
  • Click to edit the text and save.


  • To create a new prompt:
  • Go to Knowledge > Prompts.
  • Click "Add prompt."
  • Enter the question text (e.g., "How does Acme compare to HubSpot?").
  • Set the URL path this prompt should appear on (e.g., /pricing).
  • Save.


  • How page matching works



    Prompts are shown based on which page the visitor is currently viewing. Kilo matches prompts to pages using URL prefixes:

  • A prompt set to / will appear on your homepage.
  • A prompt set to /pricing will appear on /pricing, /pricing/enterprise, /pricing/startup, and any other page that starts with /pricing.
  • If a visitor is on /pricing/enterprise and there are prompts for both /pricing and /pricing/enterprise, the more specific (exact) match takes priority.


  • This means you can create broad prompts for an entire section of your site and override them with more specific ones on individual pages.

    Tips for writing great prompts



  • Keep them short and specific. "What does your product do?" is too vague. "How does Acme reduce onboarding time for new reps?" is much more engaging.
  • Frame them as questions a real visitor would ask. Think about the questions your sales team gets on calls. Those are your best prompts.
  • Three prompts per page is the sweet spot. Fewer feels sparse; more feels overwhelming.
  • Match the intent of the page. On your pricing page, prompts should be about plans, costs, and billing. On a features page, prompts should be about capabilities and use cases.
  • Include at least one comparison prompt on competitive pages. Something like "How do you compare to [Competitor]?" often gets the highest click rate because it's top of mind for evaluating buyers.


  • Examples by page type



    Homepage:
  • "What does Acme do?"
  • "Who is Acme built for?"
  • "Can I see a quick demo?"


  • Pricing page:
  • "What's included in the Growth plan?"
  • "Do you offer discounts for annual billing?"
  • "How does per-seat pricing work?"


  • Integrations page:
  • "Do you integrate with Salesforce?"
  • "How long does a typical integration take to set up?"
  • "Can I connect Acme to our existing tech stack?"


  • Common questions



    "What if I don't set prompts for a page?" The visitor will still see the chat widget, but without suggested questions. They'll need to type their own message, which significantly reduces engagement. We recommend having prompts on at least your homepage, pricing page, and main product page.

    "Can I A/B test different prompts?" Not yet natively, but a simple approach is to change your prompts every two weeks and compare conversation volume in your dashboard to see which set performed better.