Getting started with web chat

You will learn

Learn about web chat, which is a conversational “chat” or “ticketing” channel you can add to your Customer Hub. Web chat gives shoppers easy access to your live support agents who can answer questions and assist with issues.

Before you begin

Web chat is a feature of Customer Hub, which is a signed-in consumer experience you can link with Shopify's customer accounts functionality. To add web chat functionality, you must first enable the Customer Hub feature in Klaviyo. 

Learn more about Customer Hub.

About web chat

Web chat is a two-way communication channel that allows your business to engage in live, personalized conversations with customers. When enabled in Klaviyo, web chat creates a space for authenticated shoppers (meaning those who have signed into their customer account on your site) to ask for help while they browse. 

This additional Customer Hub support layer allows site visitors to get answers to their pre- and post-sale questions, building trust with customers and opening up conversion opportunities. Messages from customers via web chat feed into your Klaviyo inbox where a member of your team can reply.

Customer experience with web chat

After opening the Chat tab in Customer Hub, shoppers will see your welcome message and can send an inquiry. Note that web chat can only be used by site visitors that have signed into their customer account, also referred to as “authenticated” shoppers or visitors.

When a member of your support team responds, their message seamlessly replies to the sender, creating a conversational thread that appears as a back-and-forth chat, embedded directly into the on site Customer Hub interface.

Shoppers can end a web chat conversation at any point. Once closed, however, a chat cannot be reopened, and they must start a new chat session.

Enable web chat

Enabling web chat in Klaviyo adds a Chat tab in Customer Hub.

You can enable web chat in the Customer Hub settings, and customize a welcome message to greet visitors who send a chat. To do so:

1. In Klaviyo’s main navigation, select Customer Hub.
2. Select Settings.
   
3. Open the Web Chat menu.
4. Under Visibility, select Logged in users from the dropdown. This permits all signed-in shoppers to engage with web chat.
   
5. Add a Welcome message. This is the pre-filled message that visitors see upon viewing the “Chat” tab in Customer Hub, and before they send their first message. Note that the welcome message will appear as a chat bubble over the hub launcher, if you have one enabled.
   • An example welcome message could be: “Hi! How can we help you?”
6. Click Save. 

Note that unauthenticated shoppers are unable to see the Chat tab when they open the Customer Hub drawer on your site.

Configure office hours

No matter the time of day, all signed-in shoppers are greeted with your Welcome message, and can send their inquiry in the Chat tab of Customer Hub. Unless you have a 24/7 support team, however, your agents may not always be available to offer live chat assistance. 

You can use Office hours to set expectations for interacting with web chat. As a best practice, configure dedicated office hours and automated messages to communicate when live agents are or are not available.

Configure Office hours details:

1. In your Customer Hub settings, select Web Chat.
   
2. Under Office hours, set your dedicated days and hours when support agents are available for two-way support messaging, using the Add hours button as needed. Note that you can also click the 3 dots menu for additional options to Duplicate or Copy hours to all days.
   
   

   Office hours for web chat use your account’s existing time zone selection.

3. Under During office hours, craft a message to automatically respond to any new inquiries. We suggest using this message to set response time expectations. 
   • For example, you could say “One moment, a member of our support team will be with you soon.”
4. In the Outside of office hours text box, create an automatic reply for when your support agents are not available for live chat. 
   • For example, you could say, “Thank you for your message. Our live chat is unavailable at the moment, but leave your name and email, and we’ll get back to you soon.”
     
5. Click Save.

If someone sends a web chat message outside of your configured office hours, Klaviyo automatically replies with your customized Outside of office hours message. Ensure that you routinely check your Inbox in Klaviyo for these messages, and follow up with the profile in an email so they still receive support for their inquiry.

Delete office hours

To remove office hours:

1. Click the trash can icon beside the hours you wish to delete.
2. Click Save to confirm.

Note that customers won't receive automatic replies in web chat unless you set office hours. You have to set office hours to configure automatic replies.

Manage web chat messages in Klaviyo

Each inbound message you receive from a customer via web chat creates a new conversation (or “ticket”) in your Klaviyo Inbox, where a member of your team can reply. 

In an open web chat ticket, your support agents can:

• View the message thread with the sender.
• See a summary of the profile details.
• Check the profile’s event history (whether they ordered a product, received an email, etc.). 

Managing these tickets in your Klaviyo inbox streamlines your support capabilities by equipping agents with complete customer context to deliver personalized support. 

Note that both SMS and web chat tickets feed into the Klaviyo inbox, offering a consolidated place for managing these 2 direct communication channels. Learn more about managing tickets in your inbox.

Web chat notifications 

A notification badge appears next to the Inbox tab in Klaviyo's main navigation when you have new messages. In your Inbox, new messages show a blue dot to indicate they’re unread, and display the sender’s name as well as a preview of their message.

Web chat messages also show a distinctive chat icon next to each ticket in the Inbox, allowing for easy differentiation from SMS messages, which show an envelope icon.

Statuses of web chat conversations

A web chat ticket in your Inbox can have 1 of 3 statuses:

• Open, to indicate an ongoing chat.
• Snoozed, which you can use to temporarily hide a ticket.
• Closed, to mark completed chats.

Support agents can view prior conversation history of open or snoozed chats. If a chat is closed, site visitors must start a new chat and prior conversation history is not visible to them. Agents can still view this history by filtering their view in the Inbox. 

Replying to web chat messages

Any member of your team can click on a message in your inbox and provide real-time support to the shopper, helping you manage customer queries efficiently. To reply to a web chat ticket:

1. Open the ticket that you want to respond to.
2. Click into the text box and create your response. You can:
   • Use text and emojis in your reply.
   • Send multiple messages in a row.
     

While communicating via web chat, agents can see read receipts, which show whether their messages have been seen by the profile. This ensures clarity in communication and aids in maintaining ongoing helpful dialogues. 

Note that the same profile can have an active web chat ticket and an SMS ticket in Inbox. Once the web chat ticket is closed, however, it cannot be reopened, and site visitors will have to start a new chat session. 

Web chat best practices 

Link your privacy policy and terms of service

As a compliance best practice, add links to your site’s privacy policy and terms of service so your customers are notified of the terms governing their interactions with web chat. These links will appear before a site visitor sends their first message. To do so:

1. Navigate to Customer Hub.
2. Select Settings >General.
3. Under Terms and policy, add your links for each.
   

Prioritize prompt responses

Customers anticipate quick replies when using chat tools. If your team can't provide immediate support, manage expectations by using the "During office hours" message to explain availability or outline the process.

Additionally, if you are chatting with someone and need to take some time to investigate, ensure you regularly check back in. You don’t want to snooze the message or keep people waiting for long periods of time. Instead, make sure to touch base with them at least once every 3-5 minutes. Even a simple: “Still looking into this. Thank you for your patience” lets the user know you haven’t forgotten about them. 

Consistently monitor your inbox

Regularly check your inbox to ensure no messages are missed and all customer inquiries are addressed promptly, especially after resolving an issue. 

Additional resources

• Guide to the Klaviyo inbox
• How to configure help settings for Customer Hub
• How to connect Customer Hub and Gorgias