Verify the address before a channel switch
When a visitor asks to move a Web Chat conversation to email or SMS, they give an address on the spot. Nothing stops them from typing an address that isn’t theirs — by mistake, or to see someone else’s replies. Atender closes that gap on every switch: before the conversation moves, the visitor has to prove they can actually read what’s sent to the address they gave. There is no separate verification toggle — it is always on.
This article explains how that verification works. For the base channel-switching setup — enabling the switch button, choosing which channels are offered, the lost-connection switch — see Configure channel switching.
What it does
When a switch is requested, Atender sends a confirmation link to the email address or phone number given. Opening the link shows a page with a Confirm button; the conversation moves to that channel only when the visitor presses it. Opening the link alone does nothing, so a mail scanner that follows links cannot complete the switch for the visitor. The link expires after 24 hours. Until it is confirmed, the conversation stays on web chat — it does not silently switch. The address the visitor gave is recorded before the link goes out, so the team can see it and follow up manually if needed.
Where to find it
- Open Settings → Web chat, select the widget from the list, and use the detail pane that opens.
- In the Channel switching tab, turn on Enable Channel switching if it isn’t already. Verification comes with it — there is nothing else to turn on.
- Click Update Widget to save.
What counts as trusted, and what doesn’t
- No address skips the link. Even if the visitor’s email or phone number is already stored on their contact, the conversation waits for the visitor to press Confirm on the page the link opens.
- An address the visitor just typed in is not trusted, even if it looks valid. It has to go through the confirmation link before the switch happens.
- An address an agent enters on the visitor’s behalf is not put through this check. The verification step exists to confirm what a visitor claims about themselves, not to gate agents.
Limits
- WhatsApp can never be a switch target. There is no way to send a confirmation link on WhatsApp, so a WhatsApp switch is refused (“This channel cannot be verified. Please choose email or SMS.”) and WhatsApp is not offered under Allowed Channels.
- It needs a working email or SMS sender. The link has to actually be delivered. If your tenant’s email or SMS sending isn’t configured for the channel the visitor picked, no link is sent and the request is refused with “This verification method is unavailable right now. Please try another option.” Check your sending configuration if visitors report never getting a link.
- It can’t be turned off. There is no setting that lets a switch complete without the link, however well known the address is.
Where this applies
The same verification requirement applies everywhere a Web Chat conversation can move to a visitor’s address, not just the switch button in the chat window:
- The widget’s manual channel switch form — the flow a visitor triggers themselves mid-conversation.
- The AI handover email follow-up — when an AI agent hands off and offers to follow up by email.
- The outside-hours switch to email — when a visitor who gave an email address (in the pre-chat survey, for example) writes outside opening hours on a widget with channel switching enabled.
- The lost-connection auto-switch — when Auto-Switch on Lost Connection moves a visitor who dropped off mid-conversation to email or SMS, using the address on their contact.
If the link is never confirmed, what happens depends on the flow. A switch the visitor asked for, or any switch to SMS, simply stays on web chat. A switch to email that Atender started itself — the AI handover follow-up, the outside-hours switch or the lost-connection switch — closes the chat once the link expires unopened, unless someone on the team has already engaged or replied: the conversation is archived, the visitor is told in the chat that they can start a new one, and the team gets an internal note explaining why it closed.