Customer interactions may involve AI, an Agent, or both – which can make it easy to lose track of what's actually being measured. This article breaks down three key terms – Conversation, Session, and Contact – explains how they relate to each other, and identifies which reports to use to dive into each one.
Before you start
A Conversation is the time-bounded grouping of a customer’s interactions with your brand.
A Session is an interaction with Gladly AI.
A Contact is a team-handled interaction.
A single Conversation can include one or more Sessions, one or more Contacts, or any combination of the two.
Definitions
Conversation
A Conversation is a time-bounded grouping of interactions a customer has with your brand. By default, Gladly recommends a Conversation window of 24 hours (this is configurable per brand). A Conversation can include any combination of AI Sessions and team-handled Contacts.
When the Conversation window closes, the next time the customer reaches out, a new Conversation begins (unless a team member manually reopens the previous Conversation).
Session
A Session is a single Gladly AI interaction. A Session stays open while the customer and Gladly AI are actively exchanging messages. If there is no activity for 2 hours, the Session closes automatically. If the same customer comes back later after the 2 hour window, that starts a new Session.
Contact
A Contact is a team-handled interaction. This can happen when Gladly AI hands the customer off to a team member, or when the customer comes in directly through a channel that goes straight to the team.
How they fit together
Here’s one example of how Sessions and Contacts can sit inside the same Conversation when there is a hand-off.
Time | What happens | What gets counted |
|---|---|---|
10:00 AM | Customer starts chatting with Gladly AI | Conversation is created and Session 1 begins |
10:15 AM | Customer stops responding | Session 1 still open |
12:15 PM | Session 1 closes (2 hours of inactivity) | Session 1 ends |
5:00 PM | Customer comes back and chats with Gladly AI again | Session 2 begins |
5:10 PM | Gladly AI hands the Customer off to an Agent | Session 2 ends and Contact 1 begins |
5:25 PM | Agent finishes helping the Customer | Contact 1 ends, Conversation closes |
All of this happens inside the same Conversation, because the Conversation window (recommended 24 hours) is still open. Conversation window is still open.
In other words, Conversation 1 includes:
Session 1: AI interaction at 10:00 AM
Session 2: AI interaction at 5:00 PM
Contact 1: team-handled interaction after handoff
Where to find each in reporting
What you want to look at | Where to look |
|---|---|
AI interactions | |
Team-handled interactions | |
Conversation-level grouping |
FAQ
What used to be called "AI Conversations" – is that the same as a Session now?
Yes. We've updated the terminology from "AI Conversations" to "AI Sessions" so the naming is consistent across the product and reporting. Nothing about how AI interactions work or are measured has changed – only the name.
If a Customer is handed off from AI to an Agent, does it count as both a Session and a Contact?
Yes. The AI portion is counted as a Session in Session reporting. When the Customer is handed off, the Session ends and the team-handled portion begins as a Contact.
Both the Session and the Contact can be part of the same Conversation.
If a Customer only interacts with an Agent and no AI is involved, is that still a Contact?
Yes. A Contact represents a team-handled interaction, whether it came through a handoff from Gladly AI or directly through a Channel that goes straight to an Agent.
Does “Conversation” mean the same thing as a Customer’s entire history with us?
No. A Conversation is one time-bounded grouping. A Customer's full history is made up of many Conversations over time, which you can view in the Conversation Timeline.
The Timeline is a view, not a reportable unit – reports work at the Conversation, Session, or Contact level, not across the Customer's full history.
Do Contact reports include AI Sessions?
No, not today. Contact reports currently count team-handled interactions only. AI Sessions are reported separately in Gladly AI Session reporting. Unified reporting across both is on Gladly's long-term roadmap.