Setting up Live Chat Channel
In addition to email, self-service, and phone, Live Chat is a great tool for online customer support that makes sure your customers are getting their needs addressed as quickly as possibly. Customers can initiate a chat from their Help Center or, if you allow it, even from your business website by copying and pasting two lines of code.
Live Chat Glossary
Float Button - Float Button is a handy way to attract your customer's attention throughout your pages without intruding into their on-page experience. Because the button “floats” along the browser, the chat widget is visible even while exploring a page or scrolling down. You can customize the button for both online and offline availability.
Chat Window - The Chat Window helps the customers to key in their questions and reach you for help when needed. Typically, the chat window open when your customers click the float button. You can customize it for its appearance and to enable or disable your customers from performing certain actions while on chat.
Enabling Live Chat
To begin with, you must enable the Live Chat channel for your Zoho Desk.
To enable live chat:
- Click the Setup icon (
) in the top bar.
- In the Setup Landing page, click Chat under Channels.
- In the Chat Settings page, click Enable Chat.
Note:
- You can also go to Setup >> Departments >> [Select Department] >> Channels >> Chat to enable Live Chat for your departments.
- Live Chat can be enabled only for the public departments (i.e., visible in the Help Center).
Setting up Live Chat
Once you enable Live Chat, you can continue with the following steps to configure the channel for your Zoho Desk:
- In the Chat Setting page, do the following:
- Enter the Chat Welcome Message: This message is displayed when an agent accepts a chat from your customer.
- Select the Chat Waiting Time: This is how long your customers had to wait before they leave the queue without a chat. You can set a waiting time of 30, 45, 60, 90, or 120 seconds.
- Click Save.
- Under Embed Chat Configuration, do the following:
- By default, the Live Chat channel will be added to your Help Center. You can choose to uncheck the Embed Float Button in Help Center option to disallow chat from the Help Center.
- Click Customize corresponding to the Float Button.
You can set the appearance of the Float Button for both online and offline availability. - Click Save.
- Under Chat Window Configuration, do the following:
- Click Customize corresponding to the Chat Window.
You can customize the action, theme, customer color of the chat window. - Click Save.
Note:
- Enabling Embed Float Button in Help Center option will automatically add the Live Chat channel in your Help Center without requiring you to embed any script.
Customizing Float Button
The Float Button is the chat entry point that a customer clicks to initiate a conversation. You can customize the look and feel of it to subtly remind your customers that help is just a click away.
Here are the options you could customize:
- Themes: Set the color for the background, icon background and the border of the float button.
- Icons: Choose an icon for the Float Button from the options provided. You can also set the alignment and the placement of a selected icon.
- Online status message: Customize the status message (both content and the color) of the float button. The message will be shared with your customers when your live chat operation is online.
- Offline status message: Enter the message that is shared with your customers when your Live Chat channel is unavailable.
- Use online theme for offline: Click to maintain the appearance of your online theme, even when you are offline. When enabled, only the message will change and not its appearance.
- Float Button size: Select the required Float Button size to match your website. You can choose between small, medium and large.
- Float Button alignment: Choose which quadrant you want the button to float over, and use the detailed settings to create a more accurate alignment by either pixels or percentage.
- Float Button options: Decide if you want to show a chat bubble above your float button. You can also choose to display the agents who are online and available to chat.
Once you've finished customizing the Float Button, you must click Save to retain your preferences.
Customizing Chat Window
You can customize the chat window for its appearance and to enable or disable your customers from performing certain actions while on chat.
Here are the options you could customize:
- Actions: Enable or disable your customers from having the power to carry out certain actions from inside the chat window.
The actions are: - Print: Ability to print a transcript of the chat
- Mail: Ability to email a transcript of the chat to their inbox
- File Sharing: Ability to share a file with the agent
- Sound Notifications: Ability to notify your customers about their incoming chats
- Themes: Select a pre-programmed theme for the chat window’s color scheme.
- Custom Color: Specify the exact color for the header, background of the header, background of the window’s body and the border.
- Header: Include (or not) your company logo, agent’s photo, and your company’s contact information.
Once you've finished customizing the Float Button, you must click Save to retain your preferences.
Embedding Chat on Websites
Engage your website visitors by copying a simple line of Javascript into the HTML of your website. When you embed a live chat widget, you give your customers a quick and consistent access to great customer support.
To copy the code snippet:
- Click the Setup icon (
) in the top bar.
- In the Setup Landing page, click Chat under Channels.
- In the Chat Settings page, select and copy the code snippet.
Embed the code snippet into the HTML of your website. All of your customizations for the float button and the chat window will be carried into your website.
Adding Agents to Chat
From the moment you enable live chat, your live chat operation is staffed with one user and administrator—you. You can add your support agents, so they can connect with your customers and get started delivering instant happiness.
To add agents:
- Click the Setup icon (
) in the top bar.
- In the Setup Landing page, click Departments under Organization.
- In the Active Departments page, select a Department to view its details.
- In the Department Details page, under Channels tab, click Chat.
You might notice that you are already added to the chat. - Click Associate Agent and select an agent from the drop-down menu.
You can type in at least one character of the Name to look up for the desired agent from the drop-down.
The agent will be added instantaneously.
Note:
- You must add at least one agent to enable live chat in a department.
- An agent can be added to the live chat channel in more than one department.
Advanced Chat Settings
Advanced settings for Live Chat allows you to personalize chat settings according to your business needs. It includes setting your type status, sharing files, etc. These settings will apply to all your agents, departments, and web embeds.
To configure advanced settings:
- Click the Chat module.
- In the Chat Module page, select Chat Configuration from the left panel.
- In the Portal Settings page, enable or disable the following options as per your preference:
- Notify typing status to visitor: Share the agent's typing status with the visitor
- Send file to visitor: Allows your agents to share files across chat with your customers
- Push age to visitor: Allows your agents to share a URL during a chat session
The chat settings will be saved instantaneously.
Disabling Live Chat
If you are convinced that Live Chat is not for your business, you can disable the same in Zoho Desk. When you disable, the chat widget will be removed from your Help Center and web pages.
To disable live chat:
- Click the Setup icon (
) in the top bar.
- In the Setup Landing page, click Chat under Channels.
- In the Chat Settings page, click Disable Chat in the upper right area.
- Click Continue to confirm your action.
The Live Chat channel will be disabled in your Zoho Desk. However, you will still have access to all of your chat settings including agent—department mappings, widget customizations, etc.,
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