Chats come from the chat window on your website. The customer enters their name there; the page determines the skill and language. Before the chat reaches you, the flow may already have answered the customer automatically and asked them for information.
You handle chats in the Chat module. You see it as soon as you accept chats for at least one skill.
Accepting a chat
A new chat rings, the notification window shows Chat with the customer’s name, and the Chat module slides out. You accept it
- with the green button in the notification window,
- with Accept in the Chat group or
- with the Accept Conversation keyboard shortcut.
If you reject the chat or do not accept it in time, it goes to another agent. The Agent never accepts chats by itself — except a chat that you have picked yourself.
The chat window
- On the left are the boilerplates.
- At the top right is the history: before the first message of a day Today, Yesterday, the weekday or the date, then each message with sender, time and text. Your own messages are highlighted in color. The flow’s automatic messages also appear here.
- At the bottom right is where you write.
The status bar shows the customer’s name and the language of the chat. You can move the dividers; the Agent remembers their position.
Writing and sending
Write your message in the input field and press Enter — there is no send button. The field then clears.
- Use the tabs of the text editor to format the text or insert an image; it is embedded in the message.
- You cannot send files. The customer also sends only text.
- The Agent does not show whether the customer is currently typing or has read your message.
Boilerplates
The list on the left shows the boilerplates the administrator has released for this skill and the chat channel, in the language of the chat. After each message from the customer, matching boilerplates move up and are highlighted in green. The search field above the list filters as you type.
Double-clicking a boilerplate appends it to your input field without sending it. Adapt it if necessary and send it with Enter. The Agent fills in placeholders as it does for emails — see Boilerplates.
Several chats
If your profile allows several chats at the same time, the window always shows one of them. The Chats selection in the Conversations group lists them all with the customer’s name and an icon in the color of their state: green for the one shown, orange for the other accepted ones, blue for one that is ringing.
- Only the chat shown is Connected; the others are On hold. Messages from the customers still arrive and are in the history when you switch to that chat.
- If you accept a new chat, the window shows it immediately.
- If the chat shown ends, the window switches to the next one.
Customer data and previous contacts
The Attached data module shows the customer’s name and everything the flow has collected about them. The Tickets module searches for previous contacts when the chat comes in — for chats, by the name the customer entered. It does not distinguish between customers with the same name.
Right-click in the history to add a comment to a selected passage. Comments are only visible to whoever handles the chat, not to the customer.
Passing on
You pass chats on by double-clicking in the Agent transfer and Skill transfer modules — see Transferring and consultation calls. The colleague receives the entire history so far.
- To a colleague: The chat goes into their private queue; your comments go with it.
- To a skill: This only works if the skill is open and qualified agents are logged in.
Ending
| Button | Effect |
|---|---|
| Terminate | Closes the chat as answered. If the administrator has stored a closing text in the flow, the customer still receives it; then the connection ends. |
| Reject | Returns the chat to the queue, even if you have already written. The customer stays in the chat and waits for the next agent. This counts as a conversation that was not accepted. |
Both buttons act on the chat the window is currently showing — not on one that is ringing. You reject a ringing chat in the notification window.
If the customer closes the chat window, the chat ends and disappears from your window. Then, as after every conversation, classification and wrap-up follow — see Finishing conversations.
Later you find the chat in the Tickets module: double-clicking the chat icon in the Transcription column shows the entire history.
When a supervisor is reading along
A supervisor can read along in a chat, write hints to you or join in — see Listening in:
- Listen — they only read along; you do not notice anything.
- Whisper — only you see their messages, with their name in the history.
- Conference — the customer also sees their messages.