V4 Update #4: A look at the new live chat interface and engagement options

Welcome to the fourth in a series of Version 4 development updates and previews.

Following up on preview #3 (where we looked at the operator’s desktop application), this preview takes a look at the new end-user live chat interface, revised visitor engagement options and a new HTTP streaming option.

New visitor engagement options

Engagement options in the operator's desktop application

In V3, there were two proactive visitor engagement options – “Forced” and “Invitation”.

The “Forced” option popped up a new chat window and immediately connected the visitor to the operator.

The “Invitation” option opened an in-line invitation window inviting the user to a chat, with “Chat Now” and “Close” buttons.

We have replaced these with two new engagement options:

• Engage (on-page invitation)
• In-line (on-page chat window)

Both of these new engagement options have been engineered to be popup blocker friendly. Both are demonstrated below.

Chat invitation

Proactive chat invitation request, as demonstrated on our own website

The new chat invitation appears in-line, and can be styled and translated using the template system in the administrator control panel. Clicking on the “Chat Now” button opens up a new browser window which enters the user into a chat. Because it is the user who initiated the window launch, it should not be blocked by pop-up blockers.

In-line chat window

The in-line chat window engagement option will open a floating chat window on top of the page the visitor is currently viewing. This new engagement feature is much like the previous “Force Chat” option in V3. The problem with the old implementation is that these forced new windows may be blocked by popup blockers.

An in-line chat engagement

The new in-line chat window works around this. Because no new physical window is opened, pop-up blockers should not interfere.

End-user live chat window

Chat request form

End-user chat request form, with language selection field on display

This is the generic live chat request form (which will support custom fields, not shown here). Users can select their own language before entering a chat, and enter a question for quick chat routing.

In a chat with an agent

In a chat with an operator

The chat interface has been overhauled to make the experience more focused and even more user friendly. Everything is self-explanatory. Staff avatars will be supported, although they are not yet shown here.

Sound notifications

Toggle sound notifications, enabled by default

End-users now have sound notifications played whenever a new message from an operator arrives. This feature can be toggled on and off at any point during the chat.

E-mail a transcript

Copies of chat transcripts can be e-mailed to any address

Copies of chat transcripts can be e-mailed to an address at any point in the chat, without having to leave the session.

Printer-friendly transcript view

The “Print” button in a chat window opens a new printer-friendly view of the chat transcript so far. This option is also available at the end of a chat.

New HTTP streaming option

New HTTP streaming option

A new HTTP streaming option has been implemented for the operator’s desktop application. This allows your operators to receive real-time notifications and data updates, as opposed to intermittent polling.

Operators can now choose between:

• HTTP steaming (updates as and when they are made)
• Intermittent polling (poll the server at a certain interval for updates)

HTTP streaming adds an additional load on a server, and will not be recommended for those using their software on a shared web server.

Feedback from the last preview

We feel passionately about engaging our customers in the 4.0 roadmap, allowing them to shape their helpdesk and their investment.  In each V4 preview, we summarise some of the feedback we received on the last, as well as any subsequent engineering decisions we have taken based on the feedback received.

Are we able to have each account as a tray icon to say how many visitors there are as we can now?

(from craigbrass). The new operator’s desktop application supports multiple accounts and connections (you can sign in as an operator to multiple help desks). However, the desktop application will not feature multiple system tray icons to represent each account.

We have not yet decided how we will engineer this, but the current plans are to use one system tray icon which shows the visitor count (across all signed in locations), and hovering over the system tray icon will display a detailed breakdown of visitor numbers per help desk. What are your thoughts on this?

Any ETA for v4?

Staff knowledgebase would be amazing. I think there’s been discussion about it being improved but I’m still waiting to see if it’s confirmed that there will be an internal staff KB, hopefully with the ability to easily add images and files as well.

I would love to see ability to have Customer Satisfaction Surveys which a customer would be asked to fill out at the close of a ticket…..

In Visitor grid I would like to see City column after Country column. We have local business & very need this column…

One suggestion here is the possibility to know whether the user is actually viewing one page only or are they viewing multiple pages on our site. It is already a feature within LiveZilla so I hope it can be included in LiveResponse as well.

(from JLHC) Great suggestion! We’ll implement an indicator which will show whether or not a visitor is viewing multiple pages.

Pay per ticket in V4?

(from Davide Miccone) We currently have no plans to implement pay-per-ticket support in V4, out of the box.

There was some talk a while ago about linking customer tickets through to a list of Assets that they might have – I work for a school that needs to link incoming support requests through to a physical asset.

(from Matt Sampson) We will get back to you on that – keep watching the blog.

Are Mac users going to get left behind again? You’re spending plenty of time and effort on a nice Windows client (again) but no Mac screenshots.

(from Matt Martin) Matt; unfortunately, as much as we would like to, we will not be able to do everything on the initial release. However, we are still investigating our options and we promise a full Mac client in the near future. The only thing we cannot say with certainty is when it will be.

Will there be better Satellite Helpdesk support?

(from Digital Mayhem) It will be possible to deploy entirely separate front-ends on different servers and connect them to one back-end, as long as that front-end has access to the database server. However, this will bring about some limitations with regards to caching and attachment storage. We are still engineering this, and will post information on it soon.

Suggestions?

It is never too late to file your feature requests. To do so, create a new thread in the relevant section on our forums.  To comment on this preview, leave a comment on this post or post in the discussion forum thread. We look forward to hearing from you!