Custom Display Name: White-Label Your Shopify AI Chat Widget in 30 Seconds

A chat widget that says "Milly Chat" in the header is fine on day one. By month two, the merchant's customers don't care which vendor built the widget; they care that the widget feels like part of the store. Vendor branding in customer-facing UI is friction every time a customer wonders whether they're talking to the merchant or to some third party.

v1.1.0 added the most basic white-label primitive — a merchant-set display name that replaces the default in the widget header. It's universal across plans (every tier, no upcharge) and lays the foundation for the deeper Core-tier white-label that follows.

The display name override

The merchant sets widget_config.display_name from the Branding section in the dashboard. Type the name, save, the widget header now reads that name instead of the default. The widget renders display_name || store.name — if the merchant doesn't set one explicitly, the Shopify shop name is the fallback (still better than a vendor name).

Examples of how merchants use it:

• Brand name as-is — "UAG Helper," "Murf Assistant." Direct match to the merchant's store identity.
• Persona / character name — "Ask Maya," "Chat with Theo." Personifies the assistant; some brands prefer this for warmer customer interaction.
• Function name — "Product Finder," "Style Assistant." Sets expectation about what the widget does, not who it represents.

All three patterns are common. The right choice depends on the brand voice; the system doesn't care.

Live preview behavior

The Branding UI ships with a live preview pane that renders the widget with the current configuration applied. Type a new display name; the preview updates immediately. No save-and- refresh-the-storefront-to-see-the-change loop. The merchant can A/B-feel two or three names against the rest of their widget styling before committing.

The preview uses the same widget bundle as production (cdn.millysoftware.com/widget.js), wired to the merchant's draft config rather than their saved config. What renders in preview is what visitors will see when the save lands.

The Core-tier full white-label upgrade

The display name is one of two pieces of vendor branding the widget surfaces. The other is a small "Powered by Milly Chat" tag in the widget footer. On Starter and Essentials tiers, that tag stays — visible but unobtrusive. On Core and Enterprise, the merchant can flip hide_powered_by on, and the tag goes away entirely. Combined with the display name override, the widget can be made to read as fully merchant-branded — no Milly references anywhere a customer sees.

This split is intentional. Display name is universal because every merchant deserves to put their own brand voice in the widget header. Removing the "Powered by" line is Core because the residual vendor attribution serves a different role on lower tiers — it's a small breadcrumb that helps prospective merchants find the tool through their existing customers' stores. On Core+, the merchant has paid for the upgrade and full white-label is part of what they bought.

Why this is the foundation feature, not a polish

It's tempting to treat custom display name as cosmetic — a small preference toggle that doesn't affect the widget's capability. The framing the data supports is the opposite: the widget's effectiveness depends on feeling like part of the store. A widget the customer recognizes as "the brand's helper" gets used. A widget the customer recognizes as "some third-party tool the store bolted on" gets ignored.

The name in the header is the first thing every visitor sees about the widget. It frames everything that follows — the trust the customer extends, the seriousness with which they take the responses, the willingness to share an email or click an Add to Cart button. Cosmetic in the sense that no logic depends on it; foundational in the sense that almost everything downstream does.

Universal access (every tier) reflects this. White-label depth (Core+) is upmarket polish; basic display name is table stakes the merchant should never have to think about whether they qualify for.