Chat Widget Spam Protection
Chat widget forms can receive high volumes of fake or bot-generated submissions that waste messaging spend and damage your sender reputation. Spam Protection automatically flags suspicious leads, pauses outbound messaging on those contacts, and tags them for review — all without disrupting the experience for legitimate visitors.
This guide explains how the feature works, how to enable it for your chat widgets, and how to review flagged leads so you retain control over which contacts are genuine.
What is Chat Widget Spam Protection?
Chat Widget Spam Protection automatically detects and tags submissions that exhibit patterns consistent with bot or spam behavior. When a lead is flagged as suspicious, HighLevel pauses outbound messaging on the channels you choose — preventing wasted SMS credits and protecting your email sender reputation — while still creating the contact record and tagging it for your review.
The feature operates server-side without adding CAPTCHA, extra form fields, or visible delays. Legitimate visitors experience no change to the chat widget form.
Suspicious leads arrive in your contacts list tagged with chat_widget_high_volume_flag. You retain full control: review the flagged contacts, restore genuine leads with a single click, and delete confirmed spam.
Key Benefits
Spam Protection delivers automatic bot detection without disrupting your conversion funnel or discarding leads you may need to review.
Protection Options
You can configure how Spam Protection handles flagged leads by choosing one of four options. Select the level of protection that matches your needs and risk tolerance.
Flagged leads are tagged with chat_widget_high_volume_flag but messaging is not paused. Use this if you want visibility into suspicious submissions without blocking outbound communication.
Flagged leads are tagged and SMS messaging is paused. Email remains enabled. Ideal for protecting SMS spend while allowing email follow-ups.
Flagged leads are tagged and email messaging is paused. SMS remains enabled. Use this to protect email sender reputation while allowing SMS outreach.
Flagged leads are tagged and both SMS and email messaging are paused. This is the default setting for new chat widgets and provides the most comprehensive protection.
Calls, inbound messaging, and other DND settings are never affected by Spam Protection. Only the outbound channels you select are paused on flagged contacts.
How to Enable Spam Protection
Spam Protection is configured per chat widget. Follow these steps to enable it on an existing widget or verify the default setting on a new one.
Open the chat widget builder by selecting the widget you want to configure.
In the builder sidebar, locate and expand the Spam Protection section.
Enable the Spam Protection toggle. Existing widgets default to OFF; new widgets default to ON.
Select one of the four options.
Click Save to apply your changes. Protection is active immediately for submissions received after saving.
New chat widgets created in the builder have Spam Protection enabled by default with Pause Both selected. Existing widgets remain OFF until you manually enable them.
Reviewing Flagged Leads
Flagged contacts appear in your contacts list with the tag chat_widget_high_volume_flag. Review them periodically to identify genuine leads that were flagged by mistake and restore messaging permissions.
Go to Contacts and filter on the tag chat_widget_high_volume_flag to view all flagged submissions.
Open each contact to inspect the submission. Check the activity log for the entry "DnD enabled by chat widget spam protection" to confirm which channels were paused.
If a contact is legitimate, manually remove the DND setting for the paused channel(s) and remove the chat_widget_high_volume_flag tag. Outbound messaging resumes immediately.
Bulk-select confirmed spam contacts and delete them. This clears your contact list and prevents accidental outreach to invalid addresses.
Schedule regular reviews of flagged contacts — weekly or after campaigns — to ensure you restore genuine leads before they become stale.
Managing Legitimate Surges
Legitimate spikes in chat widget submissions — caused by product launches, paid ad campaigns, events, or press coverage — can resemble spam waves from an automated detection standpoint. During these periods, temporarily disable Spam Protection to avoid tagging genuine leads.
Follow these steps to pause and resume protection around high-volume events:
Navigate to Sites → Chat Widget, open the widget, and toggle Spam Protection OFF before your campaign or event begins.
Once the event concludes and submission volume normalizes, toggle Spam Protection back ON and restore your protection settings.
If you forget to disable protection during a legitimate surge, review the flagged contacts after the event and restore any genuine leads that were paused.
Frequently Asked Questions
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