HelpBar works for any web app using any framework (e.g. React, Angular etc.) It is available on all modern browsers and for Mac and PCs (we use CMD for Macs and CTRL for PCs automatically). It's great for SaaS applications which have existing documentation and logged-in users.
It can! But it doesn't have to; your existing search can persist but HelpBar can provide help answers. You can also trigger the HelpBar to open when a user clicks on your existing search bar (or any other element on the page) if you'd like. Over time you can decide if you want HelpBar to replace the overall search functionality.
Algolia and other site searching tools (e.g. Bloomreach) are engineering tools to offer native search functionality on your site or app, using the content that exists. Think of them as a Google API you can use. HelpBar provides an interface/window for searching using a keyboard shortcut and allows you to specifically control what is searched and displayed, all without engineering.
For help articles / docs etc. you can simply add the top-level URL of the site and HelpBar can then search it (as long as it's publicly indexed). You can also use our native integrations to common knowledge base hosting solutions (Zendesk, Intercom, HelpScout, Gitbook etc.) to privately search your help center. For other content, you can upload URLs via CSV or API, and manually add "actions" (e.g. booking a call, or upgrading plan etc.)
HelpBar uses GPT to provide answers to questions users ask, alongside search results. Users must end their question with a question mark (?) to initiate the AI-answering.
Yes; for simple page navigation you can upload a list of URLs via a CSV, but if you want to incorporate URLs of user-generated pages then you can leverage our API to ensure that all of those pages are available, to the correct users.
It does not; users can ask a question and receive an answer multiple times, but users cannot "chat" with HelpBar. However if you use an existing support solution (like Intercom or Zendesk) you can launch the chat/messenger from that service from HelpBar via an "action" / shortcut.
To enable your users to discover HelpBar we recommend announcing it via your existing channels (e.g. email, in-app, docs site, webinar, LinkedIn etc.) You can help drive discoverability of the HelpBar feature by placing the "Smart widget" in your app as a click target. You can also use an existing element to trigger the HelpBar so that affords another opportunity to make users aware via your UI.
Within the Chameleon dashboard, where you configure your HelpBar, we offer downloadable CSVs for the following: Questions and Answers (from users); Interactions (events when users open, search etc.); and Content (download all content that you have uploaded or pointed HelpBar to). In addition we automatically send events data to connected analytics integrations.
Yes! You can deploy HelpBar without any payment or credit card details. There may be some additional functionality we develop in future that are only available to those on paid plans (e.g. more sophisticated targeting). If you want to offer Chameleon Product Tours/Walkthroughs as search results then you will have to join a paid subscription for the Chameleon core product.
Chameleon is the company/startup behind HelpBar. Our mission at Chameleon is to enable teams to create personalized UX without engineering, to drive better engagement and usage of products. We do this via a variety of patterns (e.g. in-app product tours, announcements, tooltips, checklists, microsurveys etc.) and HelpBar is the newest addition to our product catalog.
No! Chameleon's core product offers teams the ability to build and deploy targeted and branded in-product experiences without code. If you use Chameleon's main product you can include some of these (e.g. walkthroughs) in your search results (to help users take a guided tour) but this is not necessary. You can also include walkthroughs built with other providers in your HelpBar results!!