Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator
What is the Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator?
The Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator (Pre-Chat Survey Indicator) allows Live Chat visitors to answer assessment questions on the registration page, which are then used to indicate and display their need or risk as they are 'Waiting in queue' or in 'Your conversations', depending on how the feature is setup. After the feature is setup in your system, the following occurs:
- Answers to questions that have been designated, by your organization, as being part of the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator are used to determine the need or risk of the help seeker
- Additional questions can be in your pre-chat survey that aren’t included in the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator
- The help seeker’s need or risk appears with their conversation when ‘Waiting in queue’ or ‘Your conversations’, allowing users to prioritize which conversation they should join next
- The answers to the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator also appear for users within the conversation window and fields in the related contact form, so the answers can be easily referenced during and after the interaction
- This feature is NOT currently available for use with the Pre-Text Survey, it is only available with the Pre-Chat Survey
How to create a Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator
Creating the Pre-Chat Survey Queue Indicator is a multi-step process, which involves your organization working with a member of the iCarol Support Team to configure the necessary settings; here is an overview of the process, which is explained in more detail below:
- Step 1: Determine what method, one or multiple questions, to use in the Pre-Chat Survey Assessment
- Step 2: Determine the required questions and answers you wish to ask the help seeker to evaluate their risk or need.
- Step 3: Determine the Risk or Need Levels to use, which will appear for your users to help indicate the conversation before joining.
- Step 4: Assign the answers to your questions a numerical severity value that will be used by iCarol to automatically indicate the help seekers Risk Level, and using those values set the range for each Risk Level
We understand the process involved in step 4 to calculate and assign the point values for the answers and risk levels can get technical, so we encourage a designated Support Contact from your organization go to ‘Help’ in the left side menu and submit a case to request assistance if needed.
Step 1: Determine what method, one or multiple questions, to use in the Pre-Chat Survey Assessment
First determine how you wish to assess help seekers, by using one or multiple questions, depending on your organizations services. Each method is ideal in different scenarios, as follows:
- Single Question: this method is ideal if you’re simply asking what the help seeker’s risk or need is because you can setup a corresponding level in the indicator for each answer
- Multiple Questions: this method is ideal if you’re trying to determine the risk of a help seeker, and you need to ask a series of questions to calculate the risk or need
After you determine which method you’re going to use, next you will begin to set the Risk or Need Levels and create the associated questions and answers. The levels are displayed to users before they join the conversation, allowing them to indicate the risk or need of the help seeker and prioritize which conversation they should join next, and calculated based off the answers submitted by the help seeker.
The Pre-Chat Survey indicator must first be designed outside of iCarol using the information and templates below, because the iCarol Support Team will need to create the Indicator for you in iCarol.
Step 2: Determine the required questions and answers you wish to ask the help seeker to evaluate their risk or need.
Use the examples and templates below to begin creating the questions you wish to include in the Indicator. As you’re filling out the template, keep the following in mind about how the Indicator is created in your contact form:
- The Pre-Chat Survey Indicator can be added to your existing pre-chat survey
- You can choose to include some or all questions from your pre-chat survey to use in the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator. For example, you may wish to ask a question like “How old are you?” and have that answer not affect the scoring of the Indicator; you can do this if you wish, or alternately you can setup your pre-chat survey, so all answers are used to affect the scoring
- You can only have one Pre-Chat Survey Indicator or an Assessment Gauge created in each contact form version, so if you already have an Assessment Gauge created in the same form used for your Live Chat Portal, consult with the iCarol Support Team about your options
- The answers included in the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator can only be set to appear in a drop-down or checkbox list; you can’t set free text answers in the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator
- The use of Conditional Questions aren’t currently supported in the Indicator
- Once the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator is added to your system, a user with permission to do so can work with the Support Team to edit it at any time
Step 3: Determine the Risk or Need Levels to use, which will appear for your users to help indicate the conversation before joining.
Use the examples and templates below to begin creating the risk levels you wish to include in the Indicator. As you’re filling out the template, keep the following in mind about how the risk levels appear and function:
- The Risk Level Name appears on the main Messaging page with the conversation under ‘Waiting in queue’ and ‘Your conversations’, so this is what users will use to indicate the risk or need of the help seeker; it also appears in the conversation window during and after the conversation so they can be easily referenced
- The Risk Level Description appears on the main Messaging page when users hover their mouse over the related Risk Level Name
- The Risk Level Color is used to display the Risk Level Name
- The Risk Level Range is calculated using answers to the questions you set to include in the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator, so you’ll need to come back to update the Risk Level Ranges throughout the process of creating the Pre-Chat Survey Indicator
- You can choose to use one risk level, or many, depending on the needs of your service
Step 4: Assign the answers to your questions a numerical severity value that will be used by iCarol to automatically indicate the help seekers Risk Level, and using those values set the range for each Risk Level
After you create the questions, answers, and risk levels, you need to assign each answer a point value, and set associated ranges for each risk level. Remember, we understand the process involved in this step can get technical, so we encourage a designated Support Contact from your organization go to ‘Help’ in the left side menu and submit a case to request assistance if needed.
Below are 2 examples you can choose from to use as your starter template when beginning to create your Pre-Chat Survey Indicator. The first example demonstrates how to setup the indicator using the “Single Question” method, and the second example demonstrates the “Multiple Question” method.
Indicator Answer Values & Risk Levels Templates – Single Question Example; add additional rows as needed:
| Assessment Question: What is your main concern today? | |
| Answer Name | Point Value (Answer) |
| Tax Assistance | 1 |
| Food/Shelter Crisis | 3 |
| Mental Health Crisis | 5 |
| Level Name | Level Description | Level Range | Level Color |
| Tax Assistance | The visitor is looking for tax assistance; only users trained in this contract should join the conversation. | 0-1 | Blue |
| Food/Shelter Crisis | The visitor is in crisis; only users trained in this contract should join the conversation. | 2-3 | Red |
| Mental Health Crisis | The visitor is in crisis; only users trained in this contract should join the conversation. | 4-5 | Red |
Indicator Answer Values & Risk Levels Templates – Multiple Questions Example; add additional tables and rows as needed:
| Assessment Question: How are you feeling today? | |
| Answer Name | Point Value (Answer) |
| Great | 0 |
| Okay | 2 |
| Bad | 4 |
| Terrible | 6 |
| Assessment Question: Have you ever attempted suicide? | |
| Answer Name | Point Value (Answer) |
| Yes, in last 48 hours | 10 |
| Yes, in the past 2 months | 8 |
| Yes, in the 1 to 2 years | 5 |
| Yes, more than 2 years ago | 2 |
| Never attempted suicide | 0 |
| Level Name | Level Description | Level Range | Level Color |
| Low Risk | The visitor answered as feeling “Bad” or better, and as attempting suicide more than 1 to 2 years ago. | 0-9 | Green |
| High Risk | The visitor answered as feeling “Bad” or worse, and as attempting more recently than a year ago. | 10-16 | Red |
Or alternately, you can request one of the following demo Indicators be added to your system for review:
- Single Question - Need Assessment: this includes one question that is used to indicate the overall need of the help seeker, or reason for reaching out
- Single Question – Risk Assessment: this includes one questions that is used to indicate the Suicide Risk of the help seeker
- Multiple Questions – Suicide Risk Assessment: this includes several questions that are used to indicate the Suicide Risk of the help seeker
Please note there are countless possibilities for how the Indicator can be setup and used by your organization. The samples above are meant to give you an idea of how the Indicator can functions after it’s created by your organization. If the samples above meet your organization’s needs, they are available for use by request.
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