Setting up the pre-chat form

The pre-chat form asks a few questions before the conversation starts. Every field is a reason somebody leaves.

The pre-chat form asks a few questions before the conversation starts. Every field is a reason somebody leaves.

Set it up

1. Open the chat widget settings.
2. Enable the pre-chat form.
3. Choose the fields and which are required.
4. Save and try it as a visitor.

Ask for two things at most

Name and email, where you need to follow up. A department choice, where routing genuinely depends on it.

Anything more and you are interviewing somebody who wanted to ask a question. The agent can ask the rest in the conversation, where it feels like a conversation.

Required fields cost you conversations

A required email address on a pre-chat form loses a measurable share of visitors, particularly those with a quick question. Whether that trade is worth it depends on whether you genuinely need to reach them afterwards.

For a chat that resolves in one exchange, it usually is not.

The department field

Only if departments are real and the visitor can tell which they need. A list of internal team names asks the customer to know your organisation chart, and they will guess.

Test the whole path

Fill it in as a visitor, start the conversation, and check what the agent sees. Fields collected but not shown to the agent are pure cost.

See also

• Designing a form that helps agents and customers both
• Can I hide the department field on the pre-chat form
• Departments, triggers and operating hours in live chat