Step Into a Chat the Assistant Is Answering

Your website assistant answers visitors on its own. You can still step in at any time, for example to add a personal touch or close a sale. The visitor sees that a teammate has joined, and your reply arrives in their chat on your site. This guide steps into a chat where a visitor asked Northwind’s assistant about coffee for a French press.

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A visitor asks the assistant

On Northwind’s site, a visitor opened the chat and asked a question. The assistant answered straight away.

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Find the chat

Click Helpdesk in the left rail, then Inbox. Chats the assistant is handling show Assistant answering. Visitors still on your site are under Live now. Click the chat to open it. The banner at the top says the assistant is answering. Read the conversation first: the assistant’s answer is there, with what it looked at.

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Take over

Click Take over. The banner now says the visitor is waiting for your reply and that you have the chat, and Assigned on the right says You. You don’t have to click Take over first: sending a reply takes the chat over too.

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Reply

Type your reply in Reply at the bottom and click Send. Your reply joins the conversation, and the banner says you’re chatting with the visitor. On your site, the visitor sees that a teammate joined, then your reply, under your team’s name.

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Finish

• Resolve at the top marks the chat as done. Northwind resolved this one, and the visitor was asked to rate the help (see See How Customers Rated Your Help).
• Hand back returns the chat to the assistant, so it answers the visitor’s next question.

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Good to know

• While the visitor is on your site, your reply shows in their chat right away. On your site now at the top tells you they’re still there.
• Draft with assistant writes a reply for you to check and send.
• More: Answer a Visitor Who Asked for a Person.