Configure channel switching

Channel switching lets a visitor move an in-progress chat to another channel — useful when they’re about to step away from their desk but want to continue the conversation on their phone.

This article covers manual switching, where the visitor initiates the move. For the related-but-different case where Atender moves the conversation because the visitor’s connection dropped, see Configure dead-connection detection.

The two destinations are email and SMS. Every switch works the same way: Atender sends a one-time confirmation link to the address or number given, and the conversation moves only when the customer opens it. WhatsApp cannot be a destination, because there is no sender to deliver that link on.

Before you start

• The widget exists. If not, create one first.
• The destination channel is set up — a working email sender for email, a working SMS sender for SMS. If it isn’t, the switch is refused when the visitor tries it.
• You do not need the visitor’s address in advance. If Atender already has one from the pre-chat survey it is pre-filled; otherwise the widget asks the visitor to type one.

Steps

1. Open Settings → Web Chat and click your widget.
2. Open the Channel Switching tab.
3. Turn on Enable Channel Switching. It is the master switch for both the visitor’s manual switch button and the automatic lost-connection switch.
4. Under Availability, tick the channels you want in Allowed Channels:
   Email — after confirmation, the conversation continues over email and the visitor’s next message arrives there.
   SMS — the same, with their phone number as the destination.
5. Save.

Verify it worked

• Open your site and start a chat.
• Look for the channel-switch button inside the widget.
• Click it and confirm the channels you ticked appear as options.
• Pick one. If Atender has no address for the visitor it asks for one; then the widget shows a card saying a confirmation link has been sent. There is nothing to type — the switch completes when the link is opened.

What happens after a switch

The conversation does not start over. It keeps its history, and only its channel changes.

Every visitor-initiated switch, on either channel and whether or not Atender already knew the address, goes the same way:

1. The request is accepted but nothing moves yet. The widget shows the confirmation-link card.
2. Atender sends a one-time link to the address given. The email version reads “Open this link to continue your conversation by email”; the SMS version is the same in one line. The link expires after 24 hours.
3. The visitor opens it and presses Confirm on the page that loads. It is a button on purpose — a mail scanner that follows links must not be able to complete a switch on the customer’s behalf.
4. Only then does the conversation move. The channel badge in Atender changes, the widget posts a notice in the chat — by default “This conversation has been transferred to {channel} at {contactValue}. Further replies will be sent there.” — and the live chat session ends.

If the link is never opened, or it expires, the conversation simply stays on web chat.

One live link per conversation. If the visitor asks again — a different address, say — the earlier link is retired first, so a stale address cannot complete the switch later.

Limits

• Email and SMS only. WhatsApp is refused outright: “This channel cannot be verified. Please choose email or SMS.” It is not offered in the settings tab and is filtered out of the widget even if it was ticked before that rule existed.
• Confirmation is not optional. There is no setting that lets a switch complete without the link, for either channel, however well known the address is.
• Only the channels you tick are offered, but a channel whose sender is not configured is still shown in the widget — the switch fails at request time with an error rather than the button being hidden.
• A visitor may switch up to three times per ten minutes in one chat session.
• Switching is one direction. A visitor can move from web chat to SMS, but not back to web chat in the same conversation; they would start a new chat from the widget.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: The channel-switch button doesn’t appear in the widget. Fix: Either Enable Channel Switching is off, or no channels are ticked under Allowed Channels. Confirm both, save, and hard-refresh the page.

• Symptom: The visitor picks a channel and gets an error instead of a confirmation card. Fix: The destination sender isn’t configured — an email sender for email, an SMS sender for SMS. Set it up and try again. The same error appears if the conversation is already on the channel being switched to.

• Symptom: The visitor says nothing happened after they asked to switch. Fix: Nothing does happen until they open the link. Ask them to check the inbox or phone for the address they entered, including spam, and remember the link is good for 24 hours. If they asked twice, only the most recent link still works.

• Symptom: WhatsApp isn’t available as an option. Fix: It never is. A switch waits for a confirmation link and WhatsApp has no sender for one.

See also

• Configure dead-connection detection
• Add a pre-chat survey