24/7 Chat Support With Glad App

You first need to update the configuration for each Glad App you want to enable 24/7 Support:

• Set the Glad App Hours to 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM each day you want Glad App to be available 24/7. This ensures that Glad App remains visible on your website.

Next, decide on the Chat experience Customers receive outside your normal operating hours. Select an option to view setup instructions:

1. Customers receive a message on how they can receive support, like sending an email as an alternate Channel

2. Ask Customers to leave a message describing their request so Agents can work on the issue before contacting them

Customers receive a message on how they can receive support, like sending an email as an alternate Channel

This is the simplest way to handle Customers attempting to chat outside your regular operating hours. Use it to provide information and encourage them to send an email, SMS, or engage on another Channel when Chat is unavailable.

1. Create a Messaging Answer with the information you want to share with Customers if Agents are unavailable for Chat. Below is a sample message. Customize the message to reflect your operations:

   • Thank you for your message. Our agents are available by live chat and phone from 9 am-5 pm EST, Monday-Friday, except for major holidays. You can also reach us by email at <insert email address> anytime or text us at <insert number>, and we’ll get back to you ASAP. Thank you for being patient if you’re contacting us about an order. Summer is our busiest season, and some orders may be delayed. We’re a small team and will get to your order ASAP!

2. Once the Messaging Answer is created, create a Rule with the following Rule details:  

   1. Triggers

      1. Communication is received

   2. Conditions

      1. If Channel is Chat

      2. And Business Hours are [Choose the Business Hours you’d like to use]

      3. And Is outside business hours

      4. And Message starts a new contact

   3. Actions

      1. Close Conversation

      2. Send Auto-Reply [Select the Messaging Answer you created]

3. Click Add Rule.

   • Note – Closing the Conversation can be important to maintaining your SLA. If you leave the Conversation open and exceed your Chat SLA, it will count as a Conversation that wasn’t handled within your SLA.

Ask Customers to leave a message describing their request so Agents can work on the request and contact the Customer

Ask Chat Customers to leave a message in Glad App with automated messages. Convert Customer messages to Tasks and route them to Agents, enabling Agents to follow up with Customers on their preferred Channel.

You’ll create two Rules, one to create Tasks and another to acknowledge receiving requests. The Rules will use Topics to send the correct message, asking the Customer to leave a message or confirming that their messages are received.

1. If not already available, create a Topic that can be used to identify additional inbound chat messages received outside normal operating hours, such as “After Hours.”

2. Create a Messaging Answer to use as a reply to the first message you receive from the Customer outside of business hours. For example: Thanks for reaching out. We’re open 9-5 if you want to chat live with us. For now, please leave a message, and we’ll get back to you at the email address you provided.”

3. Create a Rule that sends the Customer a message and creates a Task using the following details:   

   1. Trigger

      1. When Communication is received

   2. Conditions

      1. If Channel is Chat

      2. And Business Hours are [Choose the Business Hours you’d like to use]

      3. And Is outside business hours

      4. And Message starts a new contact

      5. And Topics include None of [Choose a Topic that uniquely signifies receiving after-hours messages]

   3. Actions

      1. Close Conversation

      2. Create a Task [Choose the response time, Inbox and/or Agent, and Task description you’d like to use]

      3. Send Auto-Reply [Choose the Auto-Reply you’d like to use]

4. Click Add Rule.

   • Note – If you have multiple Glad Apps with different Business Hours and required messaging, use “Chat URL contains” instead of “If Channel is Chat.” This way, you can choose different Rules for different Glad Apps on different URLs.

   • Note – The Topic you use will mark the Conversation, so that if the same customer sends more messages in that same conversation, it doesn’t create additional tasks for your team.

5. Create a Messaging Answer to use as a reply to confirm that you have received their message. For example:  

   • Your message has been received. Our agents will respond to you at the email address you provided. Please reply with how you’d like us to reach you: phone, SMS, or another email address.

6. Next, create a second Rule that will trigger a message acknowledging that you have received their message via Glad App using the Messaging Answer you created in the previous step.   

   1. Trigger

      1. When Communication is received

   2. Conditions

      1. If Channel is Chat

      2. And Business Hours are [Choose the Business Hours you’d like to use]

      3. And Is outside business hours

      4. And Topics include None Of [Choose the Topic that uniquely signifies additional messages after the initial message]

   3. Actions

      1. Add Topic [Choose the Topic you created that uniquely signifies additional messages received after the initial message]

      2. Send Auto-Reply [Select the Messaging Answer you created in step 4]

      3. Close Conversation

7. Finally, create a third Rule that closes the Conversation without sending any further replies if the Customer sends additional messages after their second message. This helps avoid the Customer receiving multiple "we got your message" responses for every message they send after hours.   

   1. Trigger

      1. When Communication is received

   2. Conditions

      1. If Channel is Chat

      2. And Topics include All of [Choose both Topics you created that uniquely signify message received after hours and additional message received after the initial message]

   3. Actions

      1. Close Conversation

At this point, when Customers send messages outside your normal operating hours, the initial message is converted into a Task and routed to Agents. Once routed, Agents can see the Task with the initial message, plus additional messages sent by the Customer, for context, on the Conversation Timeline.

This only applies if you're using Sidekick with Hero.

With Sidekick, Rules will apply to your Customers’ Conversations that result in expected handoffs, like when the Customer asks to speak with an Agent or in Threads you’ve programmed to hand to an Agent, and unexpected handoffs when exceptions occur in Sidekick.

Once Hero Rules are configured by following the Hero only instructions above, contact Gladly Support to configure 24/7 Support for Sidekick.