Agent profile: Operator Chat

Open Chat agentAgent profileOperator Chat. Here you turn on the live chat: a teammate can take over a conversation from the agent and then hand it back.

To get an email as well, turn on Operator Request in General › Email Notifications. How to take the chat and hand it back to the agent: Stepping in as an operator.

#Live Chat and Operator Takeover

Three switches, one inside the other: each one works only if the one above it is on.

Enable Live Chat Yes / No

Lets teammates take over one of the agent's conversations with Take control, in Conversations. When it's off, that button is missing and from the console you can only write internal notes. The exception is the time slots when the agent stays silent because of its reply hours: see Agent Reply Hours.

Default: off

Show the "Request Operator" Button in the Widget Header Yes / No

Despite the name, it doesn't add a button: it adds the Request an operator item to the menu at the top of the website chat, that is, in the widget, the link and the iframe. On WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger this item doesn't exist.

Default: off

Mandatory Contact Form before the handover Yes / No

When the customer chooses Request an operator, they first fill in a form with the fields you choose below. If the chat already knows those details, the form doesn't appear.

Default: off

Below is the Contact form fields panel, which applies only when the form is on: see Contact form fields.

#The Playground's Live chat node

To hand the chat to a teammate at a specific moment, for example after a complaint, you can also use the Live chat node in the Playground. There the request starts when the agent decides, on all channels, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Compared with the switches in this tab:

• it uses the hours and the unavailability message below;
• it doesn't show the form before the handover, which applies only to the Request an operator item;
• it doesn't depend on the menu item, but Enable Live Chat must stay on: otherwise the request arrives in Conversations, but no teammate can take the chat.

#Operator Availability Hours

The operator is available Always · Only during opening hours · Only outside opening hours

When the customer can ask for a person. It follows the workspace's opening hours, time zone and closing days. Outside the chosen hours, whoever asks for an operator reads the unavailability message and can keep writing to the agent.

Default: Always

Unavailability Message Text · per language · max 200 characters

The text shown to anyone who asks for an operator outside the hours. If the operator follows the hours, write it in every language.

Default: “The operator will be available again on {{next_livechat_day}} at {{next_livechat_hour}}. In the meantime, our AI assistant is at your disposal.”

If the workspace has no opening hours, “The workspace has no opening hours: the operator is always available.” appears. Set up the hours takes you to the Workspace settings.

#The message variables

The message can use two variables, which in the chat become the next available time. You find them above the field, in Available dynamic tags: one click inserts them where you are typing.

#How to save and check

Press Save changes in the bar at the bottom: “Operator chat saved” appears.

To test, open the link from the Share tab and choose Request an operator: in Chat agentConversations the chat appears among those Waiting for operator.

#Frequently asked questions

#See also