Anonymous chat
Summarize
Summary of Anonymous Chat
Anonymous chat enables guest users to engage with consumer service agents via the Consumer Service Portal without needing authentication. Users can initiate a chat by clicking the Chat link, filling out a form with their name, email, and issue type, which creates a chat request routed to the appropriate agent queue.
Show less
Key Features
- Setup Process: Activate the Consumer Service Portal plugin, modify or create a record producer, establish matching rules for agent queues, and configure chat properties.
- Plugins Required: The feature requires two plugins: Anonymous Connect Support and Connect Support Routing, both included with the Consumer Service Portal plugin.
- Record Producer: The form for guest users is a configurable record producer linked to the Customer Interaction table, storing submitted information for routing.
- Routing Mechanism: Chat requests are routed based on the selected issue type using predefined matching rules for different support categories (e.g., Billing, Order, Product Support).
- Anonymous Chat Properties: Two properties help manage guest sessions: a limit on sessions per hour and a message displayed when the rate limit is reached.
Key Outcomes
By implementing anonymous chat, ServiceNow customers can enhance user experience by allowing seamless interaction with support agents for guests. Proper configuration ensures efficient routing of requests, better management of chat sessions, and improved customer service responsiveness.
Anonymous chat allows guest users to initiate chat sessions with consumer service agents through the Consumer Service Portal without requiring authentication.
From the Consumer Service Portal, guest users can click the Chat link in the portal header to initiate a chat session with a consumer service agent. Clicking this link opens a form that requests some basic information, including the user's name, email address, and type of issue. Completing and submitting the form creates a chat request that is routed to the appropriate agent queue based on the selected issue type. Once the assigned agent accepts the request, a chat session is established. If necessary, the agent can create a consumer record or a case for the guest user, or transfer the chat to another agent.
Setting up anonymous chat
- Activate the Consumer Service Portal plugin (com.glide.service-portal.consumer-portal).
- Modify the default anonymous chat record producer or create a new record producer.
- Create one matching rule for each agent queue.
- Configure anonymous chat properties.
- If necessary, modify the Connect actions to provide the desired functionality for consumer service agents in chat conversations. The anonymous chat feature includes these actions: Create Case for Guest and Create Consumer and Case for Guest. For more information, see Administer Connect actions.
Anonymous chat plugins
- Anonymous Connect Support (com.glide.connect.anonymous_support): enables the anonymous chat feature for Connect.
- Connect Support Routing (com.glide.connect.support.routing): routes Connect Support requests to the appropriate chat queue.
Anonymous chat record producer
The form used to request information from a guest user is a configurable record producer based on the Consumer Interaction table (sn_customerservice_customer_interaction), which is a new table in the Istanbul release. When a guest user submits the form, the information provided is stored as a record in the Customer Interaction table. This record is used for routing the chat request.
The default anonymous chat record producer, What can we help you with?, is located at . This is a public record producer. You can modify this record producer or create your own. If you choose to create your own, see Section 3 in the Making a record producer and catalog item public on a CMS page [KB0551300] article. You must also set the glide.sc.use_user_criteria property to false.
For more information, see Record Producer.
Anonymous chat routing
Information provided by the guest user assists with routing and also provides the context of the request to the consumer service agent. The chat request is routed to the appropriate agent queue based on the type of issue selected. The routing for anonymous chat requests uses matching rules. Create one matching rule for each queue and tie a chat request to a chat queue based on the selected issue type. Matching rules for anonymous chat are based on the Customer Interaction table.
- Anonymous Connect - Billing Support
- Anonymous Connect - Order Support
- Anonymous Connect - Product Support
These rules are based on the selections in the Issue Type field on the default anonymous chat record producer.
Anonymous chat properties
There are two properties related to the anonymous chat feature. Set these properties to limit the number of chat requests created by guest users.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| connect.support.max_guest_sessions_per_hour | Limit maximum number of guest conversations created in the last hour.
|
| connect.support.guest_sessions_rate_limit_reached_message | Message shown to user when rate limit for guest conversations is breached.
|