Live Chat Messaging General Information (Updated)

Live Chat Messaging General Information (Updated)

What is Live Chat/Instant Messaging (IM)?

Live Chat or Instant Messaging is a way for a help-seeker to talk with a volunteer-staff user by typing or using other input methods to enter and send text over the internet. Help-seekers may access Live Chat services via their computer, mobile or other small screen device such as a cell phone or tablet. 

When the Live Chat feature is enabled in your system, a Messaging Portal will be created that is unique to each Live Chat service. This means iCarol can support you in offering multiple Live Chat (and SMS/Texting) services under different contracts and programs. Each contract or program may offer different available days and hours, branding, standard messages and even volunteer-staff team members. The following features and tools are included with each when a Live Chat Messaging Portal and can be configured for each:
  1. Choose between using an existing Contact Form in your system, or creating a new Contact Form
  2. Configure Pre-Chat Survey and Registration questions that support your program needs from allowing anonymous help-seekers to requiring names, emails, location and other pre-survey details
  3. Enabling the Pre-chat Survey Queue Indicator
  4. Configure Post-Chat Survey questions to support your outcome and quality assurance reporting
  5. ‘Counselor Response Time’ and ‘Visitor Exit Time’ are automatically populated into each conversation Contact Form
  6. Full access to your settings in order to personalize your messaging service to meet your programs needs.
  7. Create unlimited Standard Messages for your Volunteer-Staff users to use throughout the conversation
  8. Make referrals and send referral information during the chat to the help-seeker 

How to request a new Messaging Portal

When setting up your new or additional Messaging Portal, the iCarol Support Team will need the following information to complete the set up:

1. Portal Name & Color: Each messaging portal has a unique name and color.
    1. What is the name of your Messaging Portal? (e.g. "Live Chat", "Teen Helpline", etc.)
    2. What color should be used for your Messaging Portal? (e.g. "Green", "Purple", "Red", "Black", "Blue", etc.
2. Contact Form Version: Each messaging portal comes with a Contact Form Version. You can choose to create a new Contact Form, copy an existing Contact Form or use an existing Contact Form in your system
    1. What Contact Form would you like to use? (e.g. New Contact Form, Copy of existing Contact Form, Name of existing Contact Form)
    2. What Name should be used for the New Contact Form or a copy of an Existing Contact Form?
TIP: Copying an existing form to consistently document demographics, issues and other details about interactions is a great way to streamline training and reporting. You can always further edit a copied form to add or remove questions needed for your Messaging services.

3. Pre-Chat Survey and Registration Questions: Many clients like to ask visitors some basic questions prior to a chat. Questions might ask about the visitor’s state of mind, or ask for demographic information funders may require. See Pre-Chat Survey and Registration questions for details.
  1. What Pre-Chat or Registration questions would you like to ask?
4. Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator: Customers use this tool for a variety of reasons from visually identifying risk, discussion topics or preferred language. See Pre-chat Survey Queue Indicator for details.
  1. How would you like to use the Pre-chat Survey Queue Indicator? What questions will you ask and what are the possible answers?
5. Post-Chat Survey Questions: We see clients asking questions at the end of a chat session to determine if the visitor felt helped, or if they are in a better state of mind after their chat session. Generally, these are kept short to make them easy to fill out and encourage the visitor to complete them. See Post-Chat Survey Question for details. .
  1. What questions (if any) would you like included in your Post-Chat Survey?
Other Configuration Options:
iCarol offers two ways to install your Live Chat widget on your website. You may choose to use the modern mobile responsive Live Chat Popup, or the Traditional Status Button, or a combination of both.

There is no cost for configuring the following when using the "Live Chat Popup Messaging Widget", all of these settings are available to Administrator from the Messaging Settings;
  1. Logos: You may upload and change your logo at any time
  2. Colors: You may choose and change your selected colors at any time
The "Traditional Status Button" option includes some no cost and upgrade configuration options:
  1. No cost: You may upload your own online and offline button images
  2. Cost: Any other changes including logos (transparent PNG file formats that do not exceed 742pixels by 72 pixels high, and customizing the look, style and feel of the chat windows have a cost. See "Live Chat Screen Customization" for details.
Note, this feature may have an additional cost associated with it. If your organization is interested in enabling this feature, then a designated Support Contact from your organization can go to 'Help' in the left side menu and submit a case to request more information.

Glossary of iCarol Messaging Terminology

There is specific terminology used in iCarol regarding the Messaging feature, which is important to understand before you configure your settings. It is most important to understand the following terms:
  1. Main Messaging Page or Messaging Queue Page: the page that appears after you click Messaging on the left menu
  2. Message Type: SMS/Text or Live Chat (IM)
  3. Portal Legend: Is a legend or list of all Messaging Portals in your iCarol system including SMS/Texting and Live Chat (IM), the Portal Legend also identifies online/offline status for each
  4. Default Portal: Is portal that is initially selected when you go to the main IM and SMS Settings page; you will see in the Portal drop-down list at the top of the page, ‘default portal’ appears before you select a named portal ("default portals" were depreciated in 2016, see below for details)
  5. IM and SMS Settings: Is the configuration page allowing you to configure settings, standard messages and more.
  6. Standard Messages: configured or canned messages that can be sent to help-seekers throughout a conversation.
  7. Messaging 2.0 refers to the upgraded version of Messaging that was released early 2017, which embeds messaging conversations directly into an upgraded Contact Form. All Messaging Portals created after 2017 use Messaging 2.0 by default.
Notes: In 2016, "Default Portals" were depreciated with many being upgraded to Named Portals. Those still using "Default Portals" will have reduced access to configuration settings and Messaging features. "Default Portals" do not have access to the "Portal Legend" as accessed from the Main Messaging or Messaging Queue page. For more information, or to upgrade your "Default Portal" contact the Support Team at support@icarol.com or by creating a ticket within the iCarol Help Center.

Multiple Portals

When you have Messaging enabled, you can also choose to create additional portals that can be customized to serve specific target groups or the needs of specific programs.
Each unique Messaging portal can be setup for Instant Chat Messaging or SMS services, and can include custom:
  1. status badge/URL to place on your website(s) for visitors to start a new conversation
  2. auto-response messages
  3. registration/pre-chat surveys
  4. post chat surveys
  5. call reports
  6. shift scheduling
  7. queue sharing and chat collaboration
  8. and more
When multiple Messaging Portals are enabled a color coded Portal Legend will appear on the main Messaging page, accessed by clicking on Messaging from the left menu. All new chats will be colored to match the Portal Legend to make it easier to tell where the conversation has originated.

Messaging Portal Legend

The Portal Legend provides at a glance information about the status for each Messaging Portal, using the following:
  1. Portal Type icon Live Chat or SMS/Text
  2. Online Status
TIP: Tooltips in the Portal Legend can offer additional information including:
  1. Hovering over the portal name will tell you when the portal is open until (eg. Portal open until 8/6/2015 10:00:00 PM)
  2. Hovering over the portal icon will tell you the status of the portal, the type of portal and the number of shifts with volunteers assigned that affect that portal. (eg. Portal is open for SMS, 1 shift.)
Note on how Shift Totals are calculated
Shifts created for "All Programs" count towards all portals, and shifts created for a specific Program/Portal only count towards Portal associated to the shift. It is possible that one All Programs shift will be counted on multiple portals. In addition, shifts created that are both IM and SMS will increase the count of both portals. Therefore the tool tip shift total is not an accurate way to understand how many Chat or SMS shifts are currently active, but to gauge how many active shifts affect that individual portal.


    • Related Articles

    • Live Chat Help Seekers Information

      Live Chat Help Seeker Connection Status This functionality was enhanced in April 2019. In Messaging 1.0 and 2.0 Live Chat conversations, a 'Connection Status' message appears within the iCarol vols-staff conversation window, indicating if the Live ...

    • SMS/Text Messaging General Information

      What is SMS/Text? SMS/Texting allows you to communicate with help seekers using text messaging available on their mobile devices. When the SMS/Texting feature is enabled in your system, a portal will be created that is unique to each SMS/Texting ...

    • General Messaging Settings Live Chat and SMS/Text

      General Messaging Settings Each Live Chat and SMS/Text Portal in your system has associated 'General Settings', as follows: From the main Messaging page, click the ‘IM and SMS Settings’ link in the top right corner of the page Select the named portal ...

    • Training Plan: Live Chat

      Training Plan: Live Chat The information in this training plan is meant to be reviewed by your organization, and used as guidance on what should be included in your individualized training materials created by you for your users when learning how to ...

    • Live Chat - Help-seeker Experience Configuration

      What is the Live Chat Help-seeker Experience? When Help-seekers or visitors to your Live Chat or SMS Messaging service they experience a workflow of starting a conversation, answering pre-survey or registration questions, engaging in the conversation ...