Learn how to set up office hours for web chat so your site visitors know when live chat support is available and what to expect outside of those times.
About office hours for web chatAbout office hours for web chat
Office hours help you set clear expectations for when site visitors can connect with a live support representative via web chat. During office hours, your team is monitoring the Klaviyo Inbox and can respond to incoming web chat tickets in real time.
Outside these hours, visitors automatically receive an away message that you configure, letting them know when chat support will be back or or how to get assistance in the meantime.
You can customize the automated messages customers receive after they send a web chat both during and outside of your office hours to maintain transparency and provide a positive support experience.
Tip: Even if you use the AI Service Agent, setting office hours is important. When the AI escalates an inquiry, office hours let customers will know when a human will follow up if one isn't available at the time of handoff.
Set up office hour and automated repliesSet up office hour and automated replies
Setting up office hours involves 2 main steps:
- Specify the days and times your support team is available (i.e., when they’re actively monitoring new tickets in the Klaviyo Inbox).
- Customize the automated messages customers see during and outside those hours.
Set your office hours
- In Klaviyo, go to Conversations > Inbox.
- Click Settings.
- In the Office hours section, click Add hours to set the days and times your team is available. Times are based on your account’s time zone.
- Add additional hours, or use the three dots (...) to duplicate or copy or hours across other days.
- Click Save.
You can edit these hours at any time, or delete them using the trash icon next to each entry. Be sure to click Save after making changes.
Set automated messages for office hoursSet automated messages for office hours
- In the Inbox settings navigation, select Web chat.
- Scroll to the Web chat auto-responders section.
- Under During office hours, enter the message visitors receive when live agents are available to respond to their message. For example, “One moment, a member of our support team will be with you soon.”
- This message is not required; if agents typically respond quickly during office hours, you can leave this field blank.
- Under Outside of office hours, enter your message for when support is offline. For example: “Thank you for your message. Our live chat is unavailable right now, but leave your name and email and we’ll get back to you soon.”
- Click Save.
Note that customers only see these automatic replies if office hours are set.
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