Zero to Hero #3: Chat routing with queues

Quick recap of where we are. You have added a chat box to your web page and have chatted with guests (even if they were just pretend guests). Also, you've likely created user accounts for your colleagues so they can staff chat.

Not bad for three days! You've already tested chat, added it to your website, and started exploring how your team will use it.

In today's installment, we'll cover chat routing with queues.

Queues help direct questions to the staff best equipped to answer them, whether that's a circulation team, reference desk, IT help desk, or something else entirely. Along the way, you can customize auto-responses, control how chats are distributed, and even use queues as a service assessment tool to see where guests find and use your service.

Let's take a quick look at where all of this is configured.

Visit the queues page of the Administrative Dashboard ( US, CA, EU, SG ) and take a look at your current queue settings.

While you're there, take a look through the queue settings in the "Chat" tab to get a sense of the options available. Don't worry about changing anything yet. A quick tour is enough for now - we just want you to know where these settings live when you're ready for them.

One option in the "Chat" tab you may wish to modify at some point is whether or not transcripts are saved; this setting is off by default.

Lastly, take a peek at the "Mailbox & Tickets" tab in your queue's settings. This is where you can connect your queue to either the 3mail or Tickets module. In the next two installments, we will introduce you to these modules.

We recommend selecting "Tickets" as your asynchronous contact module so you are ready for the next installment where we cover the Tickets module.

Pro tip! Most organizations spend some time refining their queue setup after launch, so there's no pressure to get everything perfect right away.