Can we avoid having the chats close automatically?

Community Support
1

After the person leaves, it becomes impossible to answer their chat. Can we avoid having the chats close automatically?

1 Like
2

Hi there, @vaxo

Thank you for bringing up this concern in our community. I understand that it can be challenging to answer chats after a visitor leaves, as the sessions have a specific duration. I appreciate your patience, and let me clarify the session behavior on our platform.

Each session on our platform has a 2-minute buffer. This means that if a visitor leaves the website or remains inactive for 20 minutes, they have a window of two minutes to resume the session. During this time, you can still respond to their messages and continue the chat. However, once the 2-minute buffer expires, the session will end, and a new session will be created if the visitor returns or initiates another chat.

While it may not be possible to indefinitely extend the chat duration, you can utilize other features to ensure effective communication with visitors:

  1. Pre-Chat Form: Implement a pre-chat form that collects visitors’ contact details before they start the chat. This way, even if the chat ends, you will have their information and can reach out to them via email or other means.
  2. Offline Mode: Utilize the offline mode feature, which allows visitors to leave messages and provide their contact information when no one is available to answer the chat. This enables you to follow up with them even if the session ends.
  3. Triggers: Consider using triggers to engage visitors while they are still active on your website. By sending automated messages or invitations to chat, you can initiate conversations and address any questions or concerns before they leave.

These approaches will help you maintain communication with visitors and provide opportunities to follow up, even if the chat session ends due to the session duration or inactivity.

If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m here to help you optimize your chat experience.

3

It would be great if you guys could add a setting that allows users to change this. I am constantly having users get confused by their chat being closed and then they end up opening up like 4 different chats trying to get our attention while we’re out for the weekend. Makes the customer experience way worse and it makes it frustrating to wade through tickets on Monday morning. Pretty disappointed there’s no way to change this.

4

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to us. One option you might find helpful is enabling the offline form on your chat widget during weekends. This will allow customers to leave their details, and you can easily follow up with them through the ticketing system once you’re back online during working hours.

Would this solution work for you? Please let me know if you’d like assistance setting it up—I’ll be glad to help.