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Timeout and close behavior

You can set timeouts that determine the behavior of a chat or messaging conversation when the following events occur:

The customer or customer service representative (CSR) has not sent a message for a specified time
A CSR disconnects due to a network issue or closed browser
A CSR resolves the interaction

Each channel has its own timeout settings.

For example, your client, U+ Bank, wants to provide a consistent experience for customers across messaging channels. The U+ Bank team asks you to set timeout behaviors for their supported channels to ensure that they answer customer requests in a timely manner.

U+Bank uses three messaging channels: Web Messaging, Apple Business Chat, and SMS.

Web Messaging channel

For Web Messaging, U+ Bank wants to set the following idle time behaviors:

When a customer or CSR has not sent a message, the conversation is considered idle.
When a CSR is idle for 10 minutes, the interaction continues with the first available CSR.
When a customer is idle for 10 minutes, the conversation is closed.

To meet these goals, you access the settings in App Studio by clicking Settings > Chat and Messaging, then selecting Timeout and close behavior.

Idle timeout

For the CSR, you set the Idle timeout to 10 minutes and the associated action to Requeue interaction w/ priority.

For the customer, you set the Idle timeout for 10 minutes, after which the conversation ends.

For example, when the customer is idle for 10 minutes, the customer sees this message:

The CSR sees a similar message. The chat session ends, but the customer interaction is still displayed. The CSR can click the Wrap-up icon to close the interaction.

CSR disconnect timeout

To ensure that the customer conversation continues when the CSR disconnects due to a network issue, or closes the browser before completing the conversation, you set the disconnect timeout to allow 90 seconds to reconnect, and then requeue the interaction.

You can use the following other options for the associated action:

Requeue interaction w/ priority adds the conversation back to the queue and assigns a higher priority in the queue.
End conversation closes the conversation.

CSR resolves interaction or closes application

In most cases, the CSR resolves the issues and closes the interaction. For these cases, you set the action so that when the CSR closes the interaction tab, or logs out, the conversation ends.

You can use the following other options for the associated action:

Requeue interaction adds the conversation back to the queue.
Requeue interaction w/ priority adds the conversation back to the queue and assigns a higher priority in the queue.

Apple Business Chat and SMS channels

For the other messaging channels, Apple Business Chat and SMS, U+ Bank wants to use the same settings, with one exception.

For the idle timeout, if a customer is idle for one hour, U+ Bank wants to keep the conversation available. With these messaging channels, conversations can be ongoing, and not necessarily occur in real-time.

If the CSR is idle for 30 minutes, the same CSR should maintain the conversation.

To meet the goal, you set the customer timeout to one hour and the associated action to Switch to long running. You set the CSR timeout to 30 minutes and the associated action to Switch to long running.