Engage Voice | Accepting or declining a pending chat
Once a customer sends a web chat or SMS, agents will receive an incoming alert for a pending chat. For any pending chat, you can choose to either accept or reject that chat. When you receive an incoming chat, those chats will appear in the Chat menu, which you can access by navigating to Chat via the left-hand navigation bar. All pending and active chats will appear in the left pane, where you can see the name of the queue, the date and time it was sent, and the type of chat (either web or SMS).
Another way that an agent gets notified for an incoming chat is via a standard desktop notification. When a chat comes in and you’re currently in another window, a notification pop-up will appear and alerts you that you have an incoming chat. This pop-up notification is coming directly from your browser and is helpful when you’re looking at a different window so you don’t miss a chat. This notification can be turned on/off in your browser settings.
How the chat widgets appear on the website is configured by your admin. Your admin creates the input fields the customer can fill out, what the chat widget looks like, and what notification the customer receives while waiting to be routed to an agent.
Let’s review what to expect when you accept or decline a chat.
Accepting or declining pending chats
As we discussed above, when you receive an incoming chat, that chat will appear as pending in the Chat menu. From here, you can choose to either accept or decline that chat. Keep in mind that accepting incoming chats in a timely manner is important. Your administrator might set a time limit for accepting chats via the admin interface and any missed chats will affect agent productivity.
Accepting a chat
To accept a chat, click on the Accept button. This will open that chat in the left pane, and the Script and Chat Details window will appear in the pane on far right. If you select the Details tab, you can find out more information about the chat and the customer, including the queue the customer was routed to, the date and time the chat was sent, and the DNIS number (for SMS) the customer used to contact you.
While you chat with a customer, you will have the option to requeue that chat to the same queue or another one at any time. Additionally, you can enter agent notes and disposition that chat to mark the outcome of the interaction.
Declining a chat
If you’d like to decline a pending chat, simply select the Decline button and the chat will disappear. A chat will also decline if your administrator set a time limit and you do not accept a chat in that specified time frame. Your administrator might configure your agent state so that it’s automatically set to Available after a chat is not accepted. You may also change your agent state manually if you have the permission to do so. Keep in mind that the system will not send another call or chat to you until your agent state is back to Available.
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