Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Admin |
Yes, through the offline form on the chat widget. Or use messaging, where there is no offline state and the question does not arise. That second answer is the durable one: live chat goes away on 31 January 2028.
Can a chat become a ticket when nobody is available?
When no agent is available, the chat widget can show a form instead of a conversation. What somebody submits becomes a ticket and is answered like any other.
You switch it on in the Chat dashboard under Settings > Widget, on the Forms tab, in the Offline Form section. It is on by default, with the message "Sorry, we aren't online at the moment. Leave a message and we'll get back to you."
The form asks for name, email and message. You can add a phone number field, make fields required or optional, and set your own offline greeting.
You cannot run both: with the Web Widget (Classic) contact form enabled, Chat's offline form is unavailable. That is the usual reason the setting looks right and the visitor sees something else.
What the visitor experiences
A shift from "chat with us" to "leave a message", which is honest but noticeably less inviting. Some people fill it in; a good proportion close the window.
Is there a way round the offline state?
In messaging there is no offline state. Somebody sends a message whether or not anyone is there, an out-of-office response tells them when you will reply, and the conversation waits.
Same outcome, better experience, and no separate form to configure and maintain.
If you are staying on chat
Configure the offline form rather than hiding the widget. A visible route that takes a message beats a widget that disappears at five, because the visitor at least knows you exist.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.