Chat FAQs
Q: Why chat?
Chat provides a way for Experts and customer to quickly connect and resolve the customer's question. Customers love chat because it gives them a fast, interactive connection to a real Expert. Customer satisfaction scores have been higher when customers use chat. Experts love chat because it allows them to ask follow up questions immediatly, keep the customer engaged, and ensure that the customer is fully satisfied. Many Experts have reported a big increase in accept rate with chat.
Q: Can I choose not to chat? Can the customer choose not to chat?
Once your account is enabled for chat, all questions with the chat icon will drop directly into chat. You always have the option to switch a question out of chat and over to regular Q&A. You can do this immediately, as soon as you enter the chat, or after you've already chatted back and forth with the customer. Once you switch out of chat, you cannot switch back.
Customers do not get a choice for chat. If you initiate the chat, the customer is drawn into the chat from the Waiting Room. If you switch the question out of chat before the customer joins or if the question starts in regular Q&A, the customer sees only the regular Q&A page.
Q: How does the customer join?
The customer is invited to join the chat as soon as you post your first reply. The faster you can post that first message, the sooner they'll join you in chat and the greater your chance of connecting with them before they leave the site.
Q: How does chat work?
Watch this quick tutorial.
When you click into a question with a chat icon,
the question will drop right into chat.
Q: How does the customer join the chat?
The customer is invited to join the chat as soon as you post your first reply. The faster you can post that first message, the sooner they’ll join you in chat and the greater your chance of connecting with them before they leave the site.
Q: How do I post replies and answers?
Type your message and hit enter. As soon as you hit the enter key, your response is posted to the chat. You can use a “soft-return” (hold down shift and press enter) to insert line breaks without posting the reply immediately. If you need additional information from the Customer before you can give an answer, select the "Info Request Only" checkbox before you type in your reply. The check box is found to the left of the "reply" button. This way the Customer cannot accept the reply as an answer. When you are ready to give your answer, clear the checkbox by clicking it again. The Customer will then be able to accept your response as an answer.
Q: What if the customer isn’t online?
You can still use the chat in the same way you use the regular Q&A flow. Post your clarifying questions or your full answer to the customer. If you get no reply, you can leave the chat. There is no need to sit and wait for the customer if they do not appear to be online. The customer will receive an email when you post to the chat and they will be able to click right into the chat to see what you’ve written. If you’re both online at that point, you can chat. If you’ve left the chat, you will be notified when the customer posts a new reply to the chat.
Q: Can I choose to chat or not?
Once your account is enabled for chat, all questions with the chat icon will drop directly into chat. You always have the option to switch a question out of chat and over to regular Q&A. You can do this immediately, as soon as you enter the chat, or after you’ve already chatted back and forth with the customer. Once you switch out of chat, you cannot switch back.
Q: I need to do research before providing an answer, how does chat work with that?
Initiate contact with the customer and gather any additional information you need to understand the situation. Then tell the customer that you’ll research the answer and provide them with a full response as soon as possible. Neither you nor the customer needs to wait in the chat while you’re doing this. Customers are usually willing to wait longer if they know that someone has started work on the question. Once you have an answer, go back to the question and post your reply in the chat window.
Q: How does locking work with chat?
You are allowed to have multiple chat question locked at one time. This allows you to post a reply in one chat and keep it open for a few minutes to see if the customer will join in. Meanwhile you can go back to the question list and open another question that you can answer. As long as you’re actively chatting with a customer, you keep the lock on that question.
Q: Can the customer choose to chat or not?
Customers do not get a choice for chat. If you initiate the chat, the customer is drawn into the chat from the Waiting Room. If you switch the question out of chat before the customer joins or if the question starts in regular Q&A, the customer sees only the regular Q&A page.
Q: How does payment work in chat?
Chat questions work the same as regular Q&A questions. The customer posts a deposit and must accept the answer provided. The customer can accept at anytime from the chat screen. If the question is switched out of chat, they can accept the chat from the regular Q&A page. If the question was switched out of chat and then answered using regular Q&A, the customer can accept either the chat or the answer provided after the chat ended.
Q: Does Spell Check work in chat?
Chat allows you to use your browsers own built in spell checking feature. In Firefox, Chrome, and Safari misspelled words are underlined in red. You can right-click on the word to see suggestions on how to correct the spelling. You can also choose to add the word to your browser's dictionary if it's a word that is spelled correctly, but not recognized by the spell checker. If you're using one of those browsers and not seeing the red underlined words, right click on the text box and choose the "Check Spelling" option.
Internet Explorer (IE) does not have a built in spell checker. You can download a plug-in for IE ("iespell" is a popular choice), which will allow you to use the same type of spell checking in IE.
