Gorgias logo
Gorgias logo
All articles

Dynamic wait timeUpdated 2 months ago

With the queue system (dynamic wait time), your chatters will know how long they'll most likely have to wait for a reply back from an agent via Chat which helps set the right expectations for your customers.

The estimated wait time is the median first response time from the 10 last Chat tickets during business hours. If you have fewer than 10 tickets, we'll use the number of tickets available for the calculation, and for new Chat users who have 0 tickets, we'll use the short wait time by default.

If you have multiple Chats installed, the wait time is calculated individually per Chat integration. 


From the customer's side

The queue system is an auto-responder including a time estimate of when an agent will be able to pick up the Chat, sent after they've sent their first message.

  • If the wait time is low (<15min) -  the customer will only receive the message and wait.
  • If the wait time is high (>15min) - the customer will receive the message and then be prompted to either wait or get a reply via email a bit later.
    • In the message, the wait time will simply be reported as "greater than 15 minutes".
    • If they click on "Get replies by email" we'll start the offline capture.
Redirecting to the offline capture is a way to ensure that you don't lose customers and sales, and provides a better experience for the customer.


This will also impact the Chat’s header:

  • Before getting the ETA, the customer will only see the Chat name and intro text.
  • Once we know if their wait time is short (under 1min), medium (1-15min), or high (>15min), the system will remove the introduction text and replace it with the time cue that says "We'll reply shortly" for a short wait time, "We'll reply in a few minutes" for a medium wait time, and "Wait time is longer than usual" for a high wait time. 
The waiting time won't be displayed on your Chat on mobile. Due to the limited space on smaller screens, it can be seen by clicking on the clock icon in the Chat launcher header.


From your side

You can choose between a dynamic auto-responder or a static one.

All chats with a low wait time will be live Chat tickets but, in the event of a high wait time, we'll wait until the customer chooses to either get a reply by email or wait for an agent to create the ticket. 

  • If they choose to wait for an agent, we'll create a Chat ticket.
  • If they choose to get a reply via email by leaving their inquiry through a contact form, we'll open an Offline Capture ticket. 
Was this article helpful?
Yes
No