SmarterTrack Help
Community Knowledge Base

Live Chat

SmarterTrack's live chat feature gives businesses the ability to reduce phone calls, improve customer support and assist more customers concurrently. Administrators will use this section to adjust the general live chat settings for the installation, including quality control settings, notification settings, department permissions and settings, and live chat link integration.

NOTE: SmarterTrack's live chat functionality uses jQuery for communication between a website using the live chat embed code and SmarterTrack itself. If the website utilizing the embed code also uses jQuery for any JavaScript plug-ins or similar, there could be compatibility issues if these plug-ins use a jQuery version lower than 3.0. In order to ensure that live chat and the website itself work as expected, jQuery should be updated to at least jQuery 3.0. The embed code accesses jQuery from within the script itself, so if the website does NOT use jQuery, nothing needs to be done. The same holds true if a version of jQuery above 3.5.1 is being used on the site.

To access this section, log into the management interface with an administrator account. Select Settings from the Navigator, then click on Live Chat in the navigation pane. The live chat settings will load in the content pane and the following tabs will be available:

Options

Use this tab to edit the following settings:

  • Hand-off - no initial response - When a live chat comes in, but an agent doesn't respond for this amount of time, the chat will either be handed off to another agent (if Round Robin distribution is enabled) or the chat will go back to the queue.
  • Hand-off - no follow-up response - If, in the middle of a chat, the agent doesn't reply to the end user within this amount of time, the chat is handed off to another agent (if Round Robin distribution is enabled) or the chat will go back to the queue. Note: An agent is considered to be inactive in a live chat if the agent has not transferred the live chat to another agent, typed in the live chat text box, or does not have the last response in the chat.
  • Hand-off - agent disconnected - If, in the middle of a chat, the agent closes the chat window, the chat is handed off to another agent (if Round Robin distribution is enabled) or the chat will go back to the queue.
  • Disallow new chats outside of business hours - Check this box to turn off the live chat feature outside of the business hours that were set up for the department. By default, this option is disabled. Note: Administrators will need to define the business hours for the brand or department.
  • Allow end users to send attachments - Check this box to allow users to send files (screenshots, documents, etc.) to agents via live chat. By default, this option is disabled. To limit the file types Users can upload, go to Configuration > Security and click on the Uploads tab. Here you can add extensions to the Allowed extensions for end user file uploads (one per line) text box. (E.g., .DOCX, .JPG, .PDF, etc.)
  • Warn agents if they are the last to go inactive for chat - Checking this box will display a confirmation box to the last agent to log out of a department or group letting them know, and having them acknowledge, that they are the last agent to log out.

Notifications

Use this tab to specify the following settings:

  • In queue sound - To specify how often a sound notifies agents that live chats are in the queue, select the appropriate time interval from the list.
  • Idle sound - To specify how often a sound notifies agents that they have an unanswered live chat, select the appropriate time interval from the list.
  • Idle warning sound - How often a sound warns agents that they have a live chat that has not been responded to. The threshold for when the warning sound begins is determined by the ‘after' field.
  • Idle critical sound - How often a sound notifies agents that a chat has not been responded to and has reached the critical idle threshold. The critical idle threshold is determined by the ‘after' field.
  • Duration warning - The number of seconds or minutes a chat lasts before its duration sets off a warning.
  • Duration critical - The number of seconds or minutes a chat lasts before its duration sets off a critical alert.

Live Chat Links

Use this tab to stylize how live chat appear on the customer portal and how live chat appears when added to a company website using Website Integration. These links and/or images can be used to spawn SmarterTrack live chats wherever the links and/or images are placed.

In general, the following columns are available:

  • Checkbox - Use these boxes to select multiple links. Custom links must be selected before choosing an action from the content pane toolbar.
  • Title - The name of the live chat link.
  • Refresh Rate - Indicator of the number of seconds after which the script checks the SmarterTrack server to make sure SmarterTrack is responding and live chat is available.

To create a new live chat link, click Add in the content pane toolbar. To edit an existing live chat link, select the link and click the Edit button or simply double-click the link. The settings will load in a modal window and the following tabs will be available:

Options

Use this tab to edit how the live chat window appears, the location of the live chat image/tab, how live chats are displayed adn the Departments available when someone starts a chat. The following settings are available:

  • Title - The name used to identify the live chat link you're generating. The title can signify the brand you're creating the links for, the website the links will go on, or any other naming convention you choose.
  • Style - SmarterTrack includes standard live chat styles for determining how chat conversations are displayed. Select one of the styles by previewing it in the preview window to the right of the live chat settings.
  • Position - Determines where the live chat link will be displayed on the website: Bottom Right, Bottom Left, Top Right or Top Left.
  • Colors - The colors used across various areas of the live chat window. Note: The text color will automatically adjust to be visible based on the color chosen for the background. In addition, not all Live Chat Link Styles use Colors.
    • Background Color - The color used for the header and footer of the chat window, as well as the background color for the window when departments are offline and the ticket submission interface is displayed. By default, this is (255 255 255) RGB or (#FFFFFF) HEX.
    • Primary Color - Used to highlight things such as agent name and the submit button during a chat, or the button color for department names when departments are offline and the ticket submission interface is displayed. Primary colors denote agent-side pieces of live chat for Styles that use the color scheme. (E.g., default, bubble, etc.) By default, this is (0 0 0) RGM or (#000000) HEX.
    • Accent Color - Used top highlight things such as the end user's name during a chat. Accent colors denote user-side pieces of live chat for Styles that use the color scheme. (E.g., default, bubble, etc.) By default, this is (0 0 0) RGM or (#000000) HEX.
  • Refresh Rate - The number of seconds after which the script checks the SmarterTrack server to make sure SmarterTrack is responding and live chat is available. By default, the refresh rate is 30 seconds.

Departments

If there are multiple departments created within SmarterTrack, it is possible to select which department(s) will be available for live chat when using the live chat script. Simply select the department(s) from the list.

Online

Making changes on this tab will be displayed to the right of the various settings, making easy to see how the changes you make will appear on the portal and/or any website that uses the live chat link. Use this tab to edit the following settings:

  • Display As - Select how the live chat link will be displayed when live chat is online. Live chat links can be displayed as an Image or Tab. In addition, varying settings will display based on the selection made here.
  • Header Text - When using a Tab for your live chat display, this is the text that appears in the tab's header.
  • Anchor Title / Alt Tag - The text displayed when a visitor's mouse pointer hovers over the live chat online link. This text is also available to search engine spiders that describes the live chat online link. This text is also used as the HTML "Alt" tag for the image being used. As a result, use of this text may improve SEO efforts.
  • Chat Introduction - The chat introduction is text that will be displayed above the live chat image or link for new visitor sessions to invite visitors to participate in a live chat. Note: This setting is only visible for embedded-type live chat links.
  • Tab Color - When displaying live chat as a tab, this is the tab's color.
  • Image - The image displayed when live chat is online. SmarterTrack offers a number of pre-made chat images that can be used, which can be selected from the dropdown. However, a business may want to use their own image, and this image can be linked to if it's hosted publicly, or a custom image can be uploaded.

Offline

Use this tab to edit the following settings when live chat is offline. The primary difference between Online and Offline is that there is an option to hide the live chat link when chat is offline. Apart from this, the settings are the same:

  • Display As - Select how the live chat link will be displayed when live chat is online. Live chat links can be displayed as an Image or Tab. In addition, varying settings will display based on the selection made here.
  • Header Text - When using a Tab for your live chat display, this is the text that appears in the tab's header.
  • Anchor Title / Alt Tag - The text displayed when a visitor's mouse pointer hovers over the live chat online link. This text is also available to search engine spiders that describes the live chat online link. This text is also used as the HTML "Alt" tag for the image being used. As a result, use of this text may improve SEO efforts.
  • Chat Introduction - The chat introduction is text that will be displayed above the live chat image or link for new visitor sessions to invite visitors to participate in a live chat. Note: This setting is only visible for embedded-type live chat links.
  • Tab Color - When displaying live chat as a tab, this is the tab's color.
  • Image - The image displayed when live chat is offline. SmarterTrack offers a number of pre-made chat images that can be used, which can be selected from the dropdown. However, a business may want to use their own image, and this image can be linked to if it's hosted publicly, or a custom image can be uploaded.

Departments

Use this tab to adjust the live chat permissions and settings per department. Each department configured will be displayed on its own row. Select a department and click Edit in the content pane toolbar to open the department's live chat settings in a modal window or simply double-click the department. The following tabs will be available:

Options

  • New Chats in Portal - The role required to start a live chat via the portal. For more information, see Roles.
  • Custom Field Template - The custom field template used to submit live chats. The live chat template specifies which fields the user should complete when submitting a live chat. For more information, see Custom Fields.
  • Auto-Delete After - When enabled, this setting will automatically delete older live chats from the SmarterTrack database after a set number of days. Enabling this is recommended to help keep your SmarterTrack database lean and performing optimally.
  • Survey to Offer After Chat - To automatically offer a survey to customers after a live chat ends, select the appropriate survey from the list. For more information, see Surveys. Surveys are displayed immediately after a chat ends.
  • Search Knowledge Base before starting a new chat - Checking this means that when customers initiate live chats to a department via the portal, prior to the chat actually being submitted, the end user will be presented with a screen listing possible KB articles that are relevant to their questions. By default, this setting is enabled.
  • Search Knowledge Base before starting a new ticket - Checking this means that when customers submit tickets via a live chat link when live chat is not available, prior to the ticket actually being submitted, the end user will be presented with a screen listing possible KB articles that are relevant to their questions. By default, this setting is enabled.

Custom Messages

Use this tab to create custom messages to be displayed within the live chat window:

  • Waiting for Live Chat - A message notifying customers of their estimated wait time to chat with an agent.
    • Show position in the queue to user while waiting - When enabled, the following text will be shown to a user who is waiting in the queue: "You are next in line." or "There is X person/There are X people ahead of you." This text is displayed as a header ABOVE the custom message they enter for "Waiting for Live Chat". The default text will is "There is 1 person ahead of you. All agents are currently helping others." As an alternative to using this checkbox, administrators can include the #QueueCount# variable within the text of their custom "Waiting for Live Chat" message as a way to let users know their position in the chat queue. NOTE: Administrators must use one or the other method -- the checkbox OR the #QueueCount# variable -- or neither. However, only one method can be used at a time.
  • Before Live Chat - The title text displayed on the live chat window before a live chat has been started.
  • Agent Welcome in Live Chat - The text that is displayed as the initial message from the agent to the end user. The welcome message appears after the user's initial live chat question.
  • After Live Chat - The text that is displayed after a live chat has ended. NOTE: If a department is configured to send a survey after a live chat ends, then this message will not be displayed. Instead, the survey's "thank you" text is displayed in its place.
  • Not Available Message - The title text displayed on the live chat window when live chat is offline, indicating that live chat is not available.

Website Integration

Use this tab to get the live chat link script needed to integrate SmarterTrack's live chat with your company website. NOTE: In order for live chat links (and/or Who's On links) to work on an external website, the SmarterTrack Portal must be secured with an SSL certificate.

  • Live Chat Link - Use this dropdown menu to choose from the list of configured live chat links. The live chat link script will change based on which link is chosen.
  • Host Header - In those instances where customers are utilizing multiple brands and have host headers setup for each, a unique live chat script can be generated for each brand that is set up. Leaving this as the default means that the script will be generated for the SmarterTrack Base URL.
  • Control ID - This is a unique identifier for the live chat link script that is used at the location where the live chat link/image will appear on the page. You'll notice that when this is modified, the code for where live chat appears on your page is also adjusted to the change you make.
  • Support HTTPS - Select this option to allow SmarterTrack to make connections over HTTPS when visitors initiate live chats.
  • Put the following right before the page's ending </body> tag: - This is the actual script that will be placed on your website, between the main <BODY> HTML tags. The BODY end tag will generally be at the very bottom of the Web page's source. The code should be copied and pasted exactly as it appears, and it should be placed at the very bottom or your Web page so that the script is the LAST thing called when your website renders. This will prevent any potential issues with SmarterTrack prohibiting your website from loading when customers visit.
  • Put the following on your page where you want your chat link to appear - When using a button-type live chat link, copy and paste this script in the location where you want your live chat status to appear. For embedded-type live chat links, it's recommended to put this HTML in the website's footer, if possible, as embedded-type chat link's positioning is determined by its live chat setting.
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