Set up your chat experience
π£ Availability and editions
Chat in Customer Service Management has two modes with different availability:
AI chat β generally available on Standard, Premium, and Enterprise editions.
Live chat with a human agent (including AI-to-human handoff) β Open Beta. Available to Premium and Enterprise tenants only.
This article covers customer-experience-level chat setup: which support mode customers use, which widget they see, which space conversations route to, and what customers see when no agent can answer. For support-team setup, including turning chat on in a space and understanding the conversation limit, see Set up chat for your support team. For the concept overview, see About chat in Customer Service Management.
Before you start
You have admin permissions on the customer experience you're configuring.
For live chat: your tenant is on Premium or Enterprise, and chat is turned on in at least one space (see Set up chat for your support team).
For AI chat: you have an AI agent set up and published (see Make your customer service agent available to customers).
Choose your support mode
Each customer experience uses one support mode for chat:
Support mode | Who customers talk to | When to use it |
AI agent | An AI agent only. | Use this when you want the AI agent to answer customer questions without handing conversations to your support team. |
Support team | A human agent only. | Use this when you want every conversation to go straight to a person. |
AI agent and support team | An AI agent that can hand off to a human agent. | Use this when you want the AI agent to resolve common questions and hand off conversations that need a person. |
Add a chat widget
Chat widgets are where customers start conversations. You can add a widget to your support website, another website, or an app.
Support website: add the chat widget to the support website that comes with your customer experience. See Add a chat widget to your support website.
Another website or app: embed the chat widget wherever your customers need support. See Embed an AI-powered chat widget on any website.
Route conversations to a space
Each customer experience routes live chat conversations to one space. Choose a space where chat is turned on. Pending agent availability, the space's support team can accept or decline incoming conversations.
To set the routing destination:
Open your customer experience settings.
Open the chat settings.
Choose the space to route live chat conversations to.
Save your changes.
Within the routed space, incoming conversations are offered to available agents in a round-robin pattern. A site admin sets the conversation limit, which controls how many active conversations each agent can have at once. For more on support-team setup and conversation limits, see Set up chat for your support team.
Set up AI-to-human handoff
If you use the AI agent and support team mode, set up automated handoff for your AI agent. Handoff uses the AI agent's existing handoff settings, and your chat settings determine whether handoff sends the customer to a conversation with your support team.
To set up automated handoff for your AI agent, see Ensure your customer service agent can hand off requests to your team.
When a customer is handed off to your support team, the full conversation transcript is visible to the agent who accepts the conversation.
Set the fallback message
The fallback message is what customers see when they can't be connected to an agent.
If no agents are available in the routed space, customers see the fallback message straight away. If agents are available but no one accepts the conversation within 20 minutes, customers see the fallback message and the conversation ends.
To set the fallback message:
Open your customer experience settings.
Open the chat settings.
Edit the Fallback message.
Save your changes.
Write a fallback message that gives the customer a useful next step β for example, a link to your contact form, your support email address, or expected hours of availability.
Customer-facing experience: what to expect
After you configure chat, customers can start conversations from the widget you added to your support website, another website, or an app.
Customers must be signed in to start a live chat with a human agent. If they aren't signed in, the chat widget prompts them to sign in first.
While an agent is replying: customers see typing indicators.
During the conversation: the conversation transcript stays visible to the customer.
If no agents are available: customers see your fallback message straight away.
If agents are available but no one accepts: customers see your fallback message after 20 minutes and the conversation ends.
If neither side sends a message: after 20 minutes of inactivity, both the customer and agent are notified the conversation is inactive. If there's still no activity, the conversation ends 10 minutes later.
When a customer-facing conversation ends, the related work item remains available for the agent to finish and resolve. See Manage live conversations with customers.
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