Thanks to conversation queues, iAdvize offers you a way to engage with online visitors even if no agent is available.
This article provides a clear overview of this new feature.
1. How will asynchronous messaging change the customer conversational experience?
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Visitors will automatically receive the following message (which is customisable) when opening the chatbox, warning him/her that he/she may not receive an immediate response:
“👋Hi, there! Leave us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. If you don't have a quick reply, come back later, the team typically replies in a few hours!"
For any conversation for which the routing rule is set up with at least 1 conversation in the queue:
- After sending their first message, visitors will receive an invitation to enter their e-mail address. This will allow us to notify them as soon as agents respond to their messages if they are no longer browsing on the brand website.
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Visitors will be able to send a message at any time but will not necessarily receive an answer in real-time.
- If they minimize the chatbox and remain on the brand website, they will see the chat box in a minimized state along with a red dot displaying the number of new messages received in real-time
- If they leave the brand website, visitors will get notified via e-mail whenever they receive a new reply from an agent. When they come back to the website, they will see an open chat box with the agent's latest replies.
- In both cases, visitors will be able to continue their conversation whenever they want but won't necessarily receive answers in real-time.
- If visitors come back to the brand website whilst an agent already closed their conversation, they must be retargeted to start a new conversation.
- Visitors will always be able to retrieve their conversation history in the chatbox.
- Visitors will not be able to make the chatbox disappear using the cross icon. The only effect that this icon has is to minimize the chatbox on the brand website.
2. When will the e-mail notification be sent to visitors? What information will it contain?
The notification email is sent if the visitor has entered their email address and opted to receive an email if they leave the site; AND the agent must reply to the conversation, then snooze or close it.
Here are the elements you can find in the email notification:
- your brand name as sender name
- your logo
- the name of the agent who replied to the last messages sent by the visitor
- the last messages sent by both the visitor and the agent
- a link that allows the visitor to come back to your brand website and see an open chat box with the agent's latest replies. If agents end conversations right after sending their last messages, visitors can see a satisfaction survey.
N.B. Visitors can change or delete their e-mail address at any time (cf screenshot). They can also disable the sending of notifications from the chatbox settings panel.
3. Will the visitors still receive the GDPR consent message?
Yes, nothing changes with this new feature. Visitors will still receive a consent request before starting a conversation and send their first message.
4. Can we make the conversation history disappear from the chatbox?
Yes and no.
- If visitors are not authenticated and hide their browsing history using the "Hide my history" feature via the chatbox settings panel; the history of their previous conversations (and active ones) will no longer be displayed on the chatbox.
- If visitors are not authenticated and clear their cookies, they will be dissociated from their iAdvize ID. Thus, you will need to retarget them to initiate a new conversation (and create a new iAdvize ID) and their previous conversations will no longer be displayed on the chatbox.
- If visitors are authenticated (via an external ID) and hide their browsing history using the "Hide my history" feature via the chatbox settings panel; the history of their previous conversations (and active ones) will no longer be displayed on the chatbox.
- If visitors are authenticated (via an external ID) and clear their cookies, they will be dissociated from their iAdvize ID. Thus, you will need to retarget them to initiate a new conversation (and create a new iAdvize ID). When a new conversation opens, if visitors are authenticated (via their external ID), they will find the history of their previous conversations.
5. Can we integrate external chatbots or Bot Builders with asynchronous conversations?
Chatbots can engage in conversation with visitors even if agents are not available to respond in real-time in case of conversation transfer. The bot routing rules will have to be set up with at least 1 slot in the queue to do this.
In such cases, it is good practice to send an automatic message to visitors such as "We are forwarding your request to an agent who usually answers within a few hours" when chatbots escalate their conversation to a human agent.
On the website, a chatbot closes the conversation if the visitor stops interacting for 5 minutes (default delay). For a bot created with the Bot Builder, you can change this delay in the bot's Identity tab, Conversation Auto-Close section.
Please note that a chatbot cannot snooze a conversation.
6. Can I still provide instant messaging for some customer paths and switch to asynchronous messaging for other paths?
Yes, you can test asynchronous messaging on your entire website or only on some specific customer paths.
7. In such cases, how can I configure asynchronous messaging on the iAdvize platform?
The number of available slots in the queue has to be set up within the routing rules.
You will define the maximum number of conversations that can be added to the conversation queue of each routing group associated with the routing rules you would like to attribute to asynchronous messaging.
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the number is set to 0: there won't be any queue and it will work in a synchronous way: visitors will be engaged only if agents are available to answer in real-time.
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the number is greater or equal to 1: the queue will be enabled and it will work in an asynchronous way: visitors will be engaged only if there are available slots in the queue.
Let's take an example: you associate the PRO PLATEAU 1 - IT routing rule with the PRO PLATEAU 1 & PRO PLATEAU 2 routing groups. You have chosen the routing in escalation mode. Therefore, conversations will first be distributed to the PRO PLATEAU 1 group, then if they are saturated, distributed to the PRO PLATEAU 2 group.
- If you have chosen 100 as the maximum number of conversations that can be added to the conversation queue of the routing group "PRO PLATEAU 1"
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If you have chosen 40 as the maximum number of conversations that can be added to the conversation queue of the routing group "PRO PLATEAU 2"
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Thus, when the 100 places are taken in the group "PRO PLATEAU 1", new conversations will be assigned to the "PRO PLATEAU 2" group until we reach 40 new conversations, and then, if this routing rule has reached its maximum number of conversations, new visitors won't be able to engage in conversation.
In conclusion, conversations are backlogged in a routing group queue and are thereafter allocated according to routing rules settings (escalation, equal distribution, ...) and the number of available conversation slots.
The iAdvize teams will help you define the most appropriate testing strategy according to your needs and the conversational experience you would like to offer to your visitors.
8. How will agents receive conversations from these queues?
Agents receive conversations in push mode, in the same way as live chats.
9. How will the conversation slots dedicated to asynchronous messaging be displayed on the conversation panel?
Asynchronous conversations are added to availability slots dedicated to chat conversations.
10. Will operators be able to receive both real-time and asynchronous conversations?
Yes, if operators are part of a routing group associated with a routing rule for which the conversation queue set to 0 slots (synchronous routing) and also part of a routing group associated with a routing rule for which the conversation queue is set to at least 1 slot (asynchronous routing).
11. Will conversations sent from visitors who are currently on the brand website be prioritized?
There will be no distinction between asynchronous and instant messaging. In other words, conversations will be sent to agents in order of arrival. Therefore, conversations coming from visitors currently browsing the brand website will not be prioritized.
However, you can reduce the maximum number of conversations sent to the conversation queue to make sure that more visitors currently browsing the brand website can engage in conversation. In such cases, be careful not to add an operator to both a routing group dedicated to instant messaging and another dedicated to asynchronous messaging.
12. How should you handle conversations started by visitors who no longer respond to agents' replies because they have left the brand website?
If a visitor has left the website but the agent considers that the conversation is not over, it is possible to snooze the conversation.
The agent can snooze a conversation during a certain amount of time (3 hours, 24 hours or customisable duration) after which it will disappear from the conversation panel.
Example with a 3 hours conversation:
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If after 3 hours, visitors have not sent a new message → the conversation returns to the conversation queue and is ranked according to the end of the snooze period (end of the snooze period activated by the agent + 3 hours). The conversation will only reappear in the conversation panel if agents have handled conversations positioned higher in the conversation queue.
- If visitors send a new message before the end of the 3-hour snooze period → conversations are added to the conversation queue and ranked according to the time when visitors answered. They will only reappear in the conversation panel if agents have handled conversations positioned higher in the conversation queue.
13. Will operators have access to canned answers?
Yes, operators have access to the same features when they handle asynchronous conversations.
14. Will it be possible to block a tricky visitor?
Yes, operators have access to the same features when they handle asynchronous conversations. They can block a visitor and then end the conversation.
15. Will agents be able to see the visitor's screen?
Yes, they can do so whenever visitors are browsing the brand website if the feature is activated on your SID.
16. What happens if visitors don't answer the last message(s) sent by operators?
If visitors don't answer despite repeated attempts to resume the conversation, an agent can close the conversation. If automatic closing of snoozed conversations is enabled, the Without a response from the visitor, close this conversation once the snooze duration is over checkbox is displayed when snoozing. It is checked by default: if the agent leaves it checked, the conversation is closed automatically if the visitor does not reply before the end of the snooze.
E.g.:
- Respondent A <> Visitor
- Respondent A snoozes
- Respondent A <> Visitor
- Respondent A transfers
- Respondent B <> Visitor
- Respondent B snoozes
- Transaction
- Respondent B <> Visitor
- Closing
=> Respondent B gets the transaction
Another example: for a 48-hour transaction delay on the site. The agent takes the conversation on a Monday, sends a message immediately, then pauses (snooze) the conversation for 1 week without adding any message. If a transaction takes place on Thursday, will it be attributed to him?
=> No, there is no attribution of the transaction, if there is more than 48h between the last message of the agent and the transaction of the visitor.
18. How can I track my asynchronous conversations via the administrator's / manager's interface?
The Production report helps you drive your asynchronous messaging strategy
It allows you to track the following indicators in real-time:
- the number of waiting conversations
- waiting conversations segmented by conversation queue
- snoozed conversations
- conversations closed throughout the day
- agents logged in to the platform
- active conversations (on the agents' conversation panel)
The Supervision report is also available.
Customer Experience report indicators
To manage asynchronous conversations, the Customer Experience report provides 4 indicators:
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Customer satisfaction: This data allows you to measure the satisfaction you generate with iAdvize
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Net Promoter Score: This allows you to measure your ability to be recommended by your customers.
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First reply time: The first reply time is based only on the first "human" reply (agents). It does not consider the reply from the bot.
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Resolution time: The median time elapsed between the first message sent by the visitor and the end of the conversation.
The number of closed conversations in your Conversations report
The Conversations report displays the number of conversations closed over the given period of your choice.
Definition of a contact and a conversation
In your reports:
- Contact: a contact begins when the conversation arrives on the agent's conversation panel and ends when it is transferred, snoozed or closed. There can be therefore an unlimited number of contacts in a conversation.
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Conversation: a conversation begins when visitors send their first message and ends when closed.
The Customer Experience, Conversations and Production reports track conversations.
19. What is the 24-hour assignment expiry?
When a conversation is assigned to agent 1, either because he has decided to keep a conversation after a snooze, or because an agent 2 has transferred a conversation to him live, he has 24 hours to process it. If agent 1 does not make himself available to take the conversation within 24 hours, then the assignment expires and the conversation goes back into the group queue.
20. Why does the assignment only expire after 24 hours?
This timeframe allows an agent who has to be absent to retrieve his/her unfinished conversations for a period of 24 hours.
Without this period, the agent would risk having his conversation assigned to another iAdvize user and not being the last person to have conversed with the visitor before the conversation was closed.
21. What can the "Release a conversation" button do?
When a conversation is currently on an agent's desk, or a conversation is assigned to an agent, a manager or administrator account has the option to "Release" it.
If the conversation is on a desk, releasing it will end the current contact for the agent, and return the conversation to the distribution group queue.
If the conversation is simply assigned to the agent, releasing will put the conversation back into the group queue.
22. Why can't we release some conversations?
It is only possible to release a conversation if it is currently on a desk, or on hold assigned to an agent.
All other cases have no reason to be released.
Also note that it is not possible to release a conversation if the agent who has the conversation on his desk is currently logged in.
23. Why are conversations stuck, what can be done to get them unstuck?
Conversations are waiting for available agents to be processed. The first check to make, when we suspect that a conversation is stuck, is to check that agents capable of receiving it are in the distribution group in which the conversation is waiting.
If agents are available, but the conversation is still not distributed, then it may be a technical error.