The challenge
You've embedded a watsonx Orchestrate AI assistant on your website. It answers questions, helps customers, and handles tasks efficiently. But there's a problem: every user sees the same interface.
Your premium customers get the same welcome screen as free-tier users. When your Salesforce integration goes down in the Japan region, your users there need to know — but you have no way to surface a static notice on the chat. And even if you could, you'd want it shown only to users in Japan, not everyone else. When a customer asks about booking a hotel, you can't show them your current resort promotion. The chat is functional, but it's static. One-size-fits-all.
What if you could change that? What if your chat could adapt to each user, show contextual information, and deliver rich, personalized experiences?
That's exactly what customWriteableElement enables.
What is customWriteableElement?
The customWriteableElement is a powerful feature in watsonx Orchestrate's embedded chat that gives you full control over specific areas of the chat interface. Instead of relying on configuration options alone, you can inject your own HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create dynamic, personalized experiences.
Think of it as having designated "slots" in your chat interface where you can insert anything you want:
- Personalized banners that change based on user context
- Rich media like video carousels and interactive tutorials
- Promotional cards triggered by conversation flow
- Completely custom welcome experiences
The key difference? These elements persist outside the agent's conversational control. They're visual components you manage directly, giving you the flexibility to create experiences that go far beyond traditional chat interfaces.
Why this matters — Before you see the examples
Most chat interfaces treat every user identically. Same welcome screen, same banners, same experience — regardless of who's logging in, where they are, or what they need. That's not a personalization problem, it's a control problem. You simply don't have the surface area to do anything about it.
The customWriteableElement gives you that surface area. It lets you own specific zones of the chat UI — not through configuration toggles, but through real HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The result is a chat interface that can show different things to different people, surface information proactively without waiting for a conversation to start, and reflect your brand at every touchpoint.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
Four ways to transform your chat experience
1. Context-aware personalized banners
The Opportunity: Different users need different information at different times.
With customWriteableElement, you can display dynamic banners based on any parameter you can access: user location, account tier, authentication status, time of day, device type, or custom user attributes.
Real-world examples:
- Critical notices: Your HR portal is down for the next 24 hours. Every employee needs to complete their self-appraisal by March 31. These aren't things users should have to discover mid-conversation — they should be front and center the moment the chat opens, before anyone types a word. customWriteableElement makes that possible.
- Role-based banners: Managers see a banner with headcount approval deadlines and a direct link to the approvals portal. Employees see a banner reminding them of open enrollment dates. Same chat, same moment — completely different, targeted content driven by the user's role.
- Time-sensitive notices: Running extended support hours during tax season? Surface that notice only to users in the regions and months where it actually applies.
- Maintenance windows: Alert users in specific regions about scheduled maintenance that affects only them.
- Account status: Display "Your trial expires in 3 days" to trial users approaching expiration.
The power lies in the flexibility: you decide what parameters matter and what content to show. The banner adapts automatically based on the context you define.
2. Rich media embeds
The opportunity: Sometimes a video explains better than text.
Embed interactive media directly into your chat interface — video carousels, tutorial libraries, product demos, or any multimedia content that enhances the user experience.
Real-world examples:
- Tutorial carousels: A new user opens the chat and immediately sees a "Featured Videos" panel — three short tutorials, right there, before they've typed anything.
- Onboarding content: Instead of emailing a "Getting Started" guide that nobody reads, surface it as a video series directly in the chat on first login.
- Product demos: A user asks about a feature — the writeable element opens with a walkthrough video alongside the agent's response, no redirect required.
- Help resources: Build a categorized video library in the panel — users browse and watch without ever leaving the conversation.
- Training materials: Different roles get different content — a manager sees leadership training, an individual contributor sees something else entirely.
You control what appears, when it appears, and for whom. The content comes to the user — not the other way around.
3. Contextual promotions
The opportunity: The right offer at the right moment drives conversions.
Trigger promotional cards dynamically based on conversation context. When a user asks about specific products or services, show them relevant offers, upgrades, or special deals.
Real-world examples:
- Conversation-triggered offers: A user sends a message about booking a flight to Ibiza. Your event handler picks up keywords like "vacation" and "Ibiza" in the conversation and opens the bottom writeable element with a curated resort offer — image, description, booking link. It doesn't feel like an ad. It feels like the assistant just read their mind.
- Upsell opportunities: A user asks about your basic plan — the writeable element surfaces premium plan benefits and a limited-time discount alongside the agent's response.
- Cross-sell suggestions: A user asks about checking accounts — a credit card offer with rewards details appears in the panel without interrupting the conversation.
- Abandoned cart recovery: A returning user mentions a product they'd looked at before — a targeted discount appears in the panel as soon as the message lands.
These aren't random ads — they're intelligent, contextual promotions that feel helpful rather than intrusive. The timing and relevance make all the difference.
4. Custom welcome experiences
The opportunity: First impressions matter, and the default welcome screen might not tell your story.
Take complete control of the welcome screen with full HTML customization. Design an experience that perfectly matches your brand, guides users effectively, and sets the right tone for the conversation.
Real-world examples:
- Branded onboarding: A user opens the chat for the first time and sees a full-bleed hero image, an animated greeting, and a bold headline — the kind of entry experience you'd build for a product launch page, not a chat window. That's the bar you can now hit.
- Visual hierarchy: Your welcome screen opens as a mini-dashboard — live system status, a personalized activity feed, a to-do list. The user gets immediate value before typing a single word.
If the chat is the front door to your product, the welcome screen is what people see when they walk in. Make it yours.
Getting started
The customWriteableElement feature is available today in watsonx Orchestrate's embedded chat. Here's everything you need to get going.
Key resources:
You've seen what's possible — what will you build?
Written by @Kiran B K
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