ElevenLabs Chat Mode: The Complete 2025 Guide to Text-Only Conversational Agents
If you’ve known ElevenLabs primarily for ultra-realistic AI voices and its real-time conversational agents, there’s a new capability you’ll want to put on your radar: Chat Mode. Announced on August 19, 2025, Chat Mode lets you build text-only conversational agents on the same platform used for voice agents—so your bots can “talk, type, and take action” without any audio at all. In other words, you get the same orchestration, tools, grounding, and handoff flows that power ElevenLabs’ voice experiences, but optimized for environments where typing is preferred or required. ElevenLabs+1
In this deep-dive, we’ll unpack what Chat Mode is, why it matters, how it works, where it shines, and how to launch a production-ready chat agent in minutes. We’ll also compare it to voice agents, share practical implementation patterns, and answer the most common questions teams are asking right now.
What is ElevenLabs Chat Mode?
Chat Mode is a configuration of an ElevenLabs Agent that switches the conversation to text-only: no audio input, no speech synthesis output—just messages. It’s built into the same Conversational AI platform that powers ElevenLabs’ voice agents, so you can reuse the same knowledge sources, tools, policies, memory, and guardrails—but deliver them via a chat UI on the web, in-app, or embedded widgets. ElevenLabs+1
Why this matters: previously, teams using ElevenLabs for real-time voice sometimes needed a separate chat stack (and vendor). With Chat Mode, you can converge on one agent platform and choose the modality—voice or text—per channel, user preference, or task. ElevenLabs explicitly positions Chat Mode as a “natural extension” of its agent platform and highlights speed of deployment: turn it on, configure your grounding and actions, drop in the widget or API, and go live. ElevenLabs
Why Chat Mode now? The modality shift in customer and employee experiences
Even as voice UX accelerates, many workflows still demand typed input—think order IDs, account numbers, serials, addresses, and email addresses. For accessibility, privacy, or noisy environments, typing is also the default. ElevenLabs frames Chat Mode as ideal for users “who prefer typing to speaking,” and for precision-critical data entry, with straightforward cases handled in chat and seamless escalation to voice when richer disambiguation is needed. Blockchain News
This flexibility lines up with the platform’s broader vision: agents that talk, type, and take action across channels while staying grounded in your data and tools. The same orchestration layer backs both modalities, letting you design one set of flows that adapt to chat, voice, or mixed experiences. ElevenLabs
Core capabilities at a glance
From ElevenLabs’ docs and launch materials, here’s what Chat Mode enables right now:
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Text-only conversations
Configure any agent to run purely via chat—no TTS or voice input—perfect for web support widgets, in-app assistants, or help center embeds. ElevenLabs -
Fast deployment
ElevenLabs emphasizes “deploy in minutes.” If you already use their agents, Chat Mode is effectively a toggle with a few configuration tweaks. ElevenLabs -
Widget support & customization
The hosted widget can start directly in chat when a conversation begins by text, and you can tailor look/feel and behavior for your brand. ElevenLabs -
Shared agent brain
You reuse the same grounding, actions, and policies from voice agents—search your knowledge base, call APIs, create tickets, log analytics, and more. ElevenLabs -
Channel-appropriate handoff
Keep routine issues in chat; escalate to voice (or human) when higher empathy, nuance, or identity verification is needed. That escalation path is part of the same platform. Blockchain News -
Ecosystem alignment
Recent ElevenLabs releases like 11.ai (personal voice assistants) and integrations via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) expand what your agent can do once a chat is underway—think Slack, Notion, Linear, and custom tools. ElevenLabs
Where Chat Mode fits best (and when to switch to voice)
High-fit chat scenarios:
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Support portals & help centers: Users arrive expecting to type; Chat Mode handles intents like order tracking, refunds, basic troubleshooting, and policy lookups with high precision. Blockchain News
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Checkout & account flows: When users must enter structured data—emails, OTP digits, reservation codes—typed input avoids speech recognition ambiguity. Blockchain News
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Low-bandwidth or noisy environments: Text remains robust when audio quality is poor or privacy is a concern.
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Async interactions: Users can step away and return without the awkwardness of pausing a call.
Escalate to voice when:
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Empathy or persuasion matters: Service recovery, retention saves, or sensitive conversations benefit from tone, pacing, and natural human-like delivery—the long-time strength of ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs
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Back-and-forth clarification is heavy: For multi-turn troubleshooting where emotion and cadence help, voice can be faster and clearer than long chat threads.
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Accessibility needs require audio: Some users prefer voice responses; your widget can offer a switch. ElevenLabs
Architecture: one agent, multiple modalities
A helpful way to think of ElevenLabs agents is “brains + I/O + actions.” The brain is your reasoning stack plus grounding in your docs and databases. I/O can be chat or voice. Actions are the tools the agent can call: CRMs, ticketing, RPA, MCP integrations, or your own APIs. Chat Mode simply changes the I/O layer—everything else stays the same. This modularity is the platform’s superpower. ElevenLabs
Because of the shared architecture, you can:
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Launch chat first to gather data and refine intents, then add voice later.
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Run A/B tests—chat vs. voice—for different cohorts.
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Offer user-selectable modality in the same widget. ElevenLabs
Getting started: from zero to a working chat agent
ElevenLabs’ quickstart shows how to create your first conversational agent, then extend it with tools and grounding. For Chat Mode, you’ll configure the agent to operate in text-only and embed the widget or use the API to drive your own UI. ElevenLabs+1
Typical launch steps:
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Create an agent
Use the Console or API to define system behavior, tone, and safety policies. Connect knowledge sources (docs, FAQs) and tools (ticketing, order status). ElevenLabs+1 -
Enable Chat Mode
In your agent configuration, choose chat (text-only). If you’re using the hosted widget, set conversations to start in chat when initiated by text. ElevenLabs+1 -
Design guardrails & escalation
Decide what the chat agent can answer autonomously, what requires a tool call, and when to escalate to voice or human. Keep a graceful pathway to voice for complex intents. Blockchain News -
Embed the widget or build a custom UI
Drop the widget into your site/app for the fastest path, or build a bespoke chat interface using the API if you need deep customization. ElevenLabs -
Instrument analytics
Track intent coverage, containment rate, CSAT, first-contact resolution, average handle time, and escalation outcomes. Iterate weekly. (The quickstart and docs outline foundational patterns.) ElevenLabs
Product design: writing for chat vs. voice
Even with the same agent “brain,” chat UX has different constraints and opportunities than voice:
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Brevity with structure. In chat, dense paragraphs are intimidating. Favor short, scannable messages with numbered steps, buttons, and quick replies.
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Inline validation. When collecting IDs or emails, validate client-side to avoid long back-and-forths.
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Smart defaults & suggestions. Provide one-tap options for top intents (“Track order,” “Change plan,” “Billing help”).
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Stateful clarity. Summarize progress (“Got it: Order #1234 for jane@…—want to change the delivery address?”) and keep a conversation memory so users don’t repeat themselves. ElevenLabs
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Seamless escalations. Preserve chat context when switching to voice or human; your platform should carry transcript and state forward. Blockchain News
Tooling & integration patterns that shine in Chat Mode
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Knowledge search & retrieval. Ground on your help center, docs, and policy PDFs to keep answers accurate and auditable. ElevenLabs
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Transactional actions. Issue credits, reschedule deliveries, reset passwords—tie your agent into the systems that resolve problems, not just explain them. ElevenLabs
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MCP integrations (11.ai). If you’re exploring personal assistants, ElevenLabs has been leaning into MCP to connect agents to Slack, Notion, Linear, and custom servers—useful in back-office chat workflows. ElevenLabs
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Channel routing. Start in chat (web widget), escalate to voice for sensitive steps like identity checks, then return to chat for receipts and summaries. ElevenLabs
Governance, safety, and brand control
ElevenLabs’ agent platform emphasizes safe operation via policies, tool access control, and content guardrails. For chat, this means:
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Policy-driven refusal & redirection. Ensure the bot declines restricted requests and offers compliant alternatives.
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Grounding over guessing. Force high-stakes answers (billing, legal) to be retrieved from approved sources or require human confirmation. ElevenLabs
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Brand tone & persona. Keep a consistent writing voice across chat and voice; your system prompt and style rules should mirror brand guidelines.
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Auditability. Log prompts, tool calls, and responses for QA and continuous improvement.
Performance metrics to watch
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Containment rate (CR): % of conversations resolved in chat without human handoff.
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First-contact resolution (FCR): % solved in the first conversation.
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Average handle time (AHT): Measure end-to-end, including tool calls.
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Deflection savings: Volume absorbed by chat vs. your human team.
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CSAT/NPS: Post-chat surveys with one-tap ratings.
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Escalation quality: When chat hands off, does voice or human resolve faster because context was preserved?
A rigorous weekly loop—review 50 random transcripts, fix knowledge gaps, refine policies, and add missing tools—will raise all the above.
Real-world adoption signals
Within days of launch, early adopters noted that Chat Mode lets them retire a separate chatbot vendor and run both phone-based voice agents and website chat on ElevenLabs, consolidating cost and governance. You can see this sentiment in community threads and coverage around the announcement. RedditBlockchain NewsAnalytics India Magazine
From ElevenLabs’ side, the public blog post and social announcements frame Chat Mode as a mainstream addition to the platform, not an experiment: it’s in docs, the product homepage’s “Latest updates,” and the customization guide for the widget. ElevenLabs+2ElevenLabs+2X (formerly Twitter)
Chat vs. Voice: a practical comparison
| Dimension | Chat Mode | Voice Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Input/Output | Typed text only | Spoken input + TTS output |
| Best for | IDs, emails, quiet/private use, async tasks | Empathy, persuasion, complex disambiguation, hands-free |
| Setup speed | Minutes—widget or API | Minutes—phone lines, WebRTC, or in-app voice |
| Accessibility | Great for hearing-impaired users | Great for vision-impaired users |
| Data precision | High (structured input) | Moderate (ASR can mishear strings) |
| Switching | Escalate to voice for complex cases | Offer chat for links, receipts, and forms |
Both share the same agent brain, tools, and grounding—so you can start with chat and bolt on voice later, or vice-versa. ElevenLabs
Implementation blueprint (with tips)
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Scope 3–5 high-volume intents. Track order, cancel subscription, password reset, plan change, delivery issue. Publish clear success criteria (“resolve without human,” “<3 min”).
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Ground first, then generative. Connect the help center and policy docs; require retrieval for regulated answers. ElevenLabs
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Add one action per intent. E.g.,
getOrderStatus,cancelSubscription,issueCredit. Keep tool schemas strict (types, enums) to reduce ambiguity. ElevenLabs -
Write “conversation contracts.” For each intent: sample dialogues, required fields, error messages, escalation triggers.
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Instrument and review weekly. Use transcripts to find fall-throughs; add synonyms and rewrite prompts accordingly.
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Design escalation to voice. Create a route for high-friction steps (identity) and ensure context carryover (chat transcript, slots collected). Blockchain News
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Pilot with 10% of traffic. A/B against your existing chat provider if you’re replacing one; monitor CR, CSAT, and AHT.
Frequently asked questions
Is Chat Mode a separate product?
No—Chat Mode is a capability within ElevenLabs Agents. You configure your agent for text-only conversations, reuse your existing grounding and tools, and deploy via widget or API. ElevenLabs
Can I start conversations in chat and later switch to voice?
Yes. The widget supports starting in chat, and you can route users to voice or human agents when needed, preserving context. ElevenLabsBlockchain News
How fast is the setup?
ElevenLabs emphasizes minutes to deploy, particularly if you already use their agents—Chat Mode is essentially configuration plus embedding a widget or wiring up the API. ElevenLabs
Does Chat Mode support the same tools as voice?
Yes. Chat Mode runs on the same agent platform, so your actions, grounding, and policies carry over. ElevenLabs
What about analytics?
You’ll track chat-centric metrics (containment, FCR, CSAT, AHT) and escalation outcomes. The docs and quickstart give you a solid foundation for instrumentation. ElevenLabs
How does this compare to other vendors?
While some platforms lead with text chat and add voice later, ElevenLabs came from the voice excellence side and has now added a robust text-only mode—appealing if you want unified governance and a single agent brain across both modalities. ElevenLabs+1
Does ElevenLabs plan to expand agent capabilities further?
Recent releases like 11.ai and MCP integrations suggest a push toward richer tool ecosystems and personal/workflow assistants—good news for Chat Mode, which benefits directly from stronger actions. ElevenLabs
Strategic benefits for teams
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Vendor consolidation. Replace a separate chatbot while keeping (or adopting) ElevenLabs for voice, reducing cost and integration surface area. Community reactions highlight exactly this move. Reddit
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Unified policy & QA. One place to govern prompts, grounding, and safety—no drift between chat and voice. ElevenLabs
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Faster iteration. Fix an answer once (in grounding) and it improves both chat and voice.
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Modality intelligence. With both offerings in one stack, you can route users to the best modality dynamically (e.g., chat for forms, voice for retention saves). ElevenLabs
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
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Overlong messages. Keep chat copy short and structured; use lists, confirmations, and suggested replies.
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Unvalidated inputs. Validate emails/order IDs client-side; prompt corrections inline.
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Tool sprawl. Start with 3–5 actions; expand only when containment plateaus.
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Ambiguous escalation. Define clear triggers for voice/human handoff, and always pass context. Blockchain News
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Ungrounded answers in high-risk domains. Require retrieval or human approval for billing, legal, or medical content. ElevenLabs
What the launch signals for the market
Chat Mode’s launch shows ElevenLabs is no longer “just” a best-in-class TTS company. It’s now an omni-modal agent platform covering chat, voice, and action flows with real-time awareness and enterprise-ready customization. The public docs, product site updates, and official blog post all reinforce that this is a first-class modality, not an afterthought—positioned to accelerate adoption in support, commerce, and internal productivity use cases. ElevenLabs+2ElevenLabs+2
For teams already investigating “advanced voice modes” or mixed-modality assistants, Chat Mode offers a pragmatic on-ramp: start with chat where it’s most efficient, add voice where it’s most human, and run it all from one agent brain. ElevenLabs
A 2-week rollout plan (sample)
Week 1
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Day 1–2: Pick 3 intents (track order, change plan, refund policy). Connect knowledge sources; write refusal/redirect policies. ElevenLabs
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Day 3–4: Add one action per intent (read-only first), e.g.,
getOrderStatus. -
Day 5: Enable Chat Mode, embed the widget in staging; design escalation to voice/human. ElevenLabs+1
Week 2
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Day 6–7: Pilot with internal users; collect 100 transcripts; fix top 10 failure modes.
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Day 8: Turn on write actions (e.g.,
cancelSubscription) with guardrails and confirmation steps. -
Day 9: Soft-launch to 10% of production traffic.
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Day 10: Review metrics; tune prompts/tool schemas; widen rollout if containment ≥ 60% on target intents.
The bottom line
ElevenLabs Chat Mode brings the company’s agent capabilities squarely into text-first experiences without losing any of the orchestration and tooling that made its voice agents compelling. It’s quick to deploy, easy to govern alongside voice, and designed for the many contexts where typing beats talking—especially when accuracy and structure matter.
If your roadmap includes consolidating vendors, elevating self-service, or experimenting with modality routing, Chat Mode belongs in your next sprint. Build with chat where it’s efficient; escalate to voice where it’s human. Same brain, different channels—now under one roof. ElevenLabs+3ElevenLabs+3ElevenLabs+3
Sources & Further Reading
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Official launch: ElevenLabs Agents now support Chat Mode (Aug 19, 2025). ElevenLabs
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Docs: Chat Mode — configure your agent for text-only conversations. ElevenLabs
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Platform overview: Conversational voice AI agents (what agents can do, grounding, and actions). ElevenLabs
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Widget customization: Start conversations directly in chat mode. ElevenLabs
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Home page updates: Chat Mode listed in latest updates. ElevenLabs
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Coverage & community: News and early user reactions to replacing separate chatbot providers. Blockchain NewsAnalytics India MagazineReddit
