Handle Chats

If your administrator has assigned a chat skill to you, you can handle chat interactions initiated by a contact. Depending on the settings your administrator has chosen, you may be able to handle multiple chats—up to 12—simultaneously. The chat workspace contains tools that allow you to transfer chats to other agents or skills and insert pre-written responses into the chat interaction.

Your administrator may have configured Advanced Chat, which allows you to handle chats with case information and the option for co-browsing. Co-browsing allows the contact to share the computer screen so you can better help the contact.

Your company may use agent assist applications in MAX. These applications provide you information or guidance during an interaction. The type of information or guidance depends on which applications your company uses. The information or guidance appears on a panel that slides out on the right side of MAX at the start of the interaction.

Chat Workspace

Image of MAX chat workspace.
Menu Item Description
Contact Tabs (1) The differently colored contact tabs to the left of the chat window let you toggle between chat interactions and display one or two timers: a timer with a gray background displays the total time you have been handling the chat interaction, and, if the contact sent the last message, a timer with a blue background displays the total time the contact has been waiting for you to respond to the last message. If you are required to do after call workClosed State that allows an agent to complete work requirements after finishing an interaction or apply a disposition to the contact, a timer with a purple background displays the total time since you ended the contact and ACW began.
Launch (2) Contains the New Commitment button and custom links configured by your administrator, if any.
Slide-Out Icon (>>) (3) Opens the quick reply pane where you can select a pre-written quick reply to inject into the chat.
Tags & Dispositions (4) You have the ability to add tags and dispositionsClosed Result assigned by the agent or system at the end of a voice (disposition) or digital (status) interaction. to the contact, if configured by your administrator. See Additional Contact Handling Tasks for more information.

Handle Inbound Chats

Image of an inbound chat notification.
  1. Set your stateClosed The availability status of an agent to Available.
  2. When a chat confirmation window appears, click Accept. If you take longer than 45 seconds to respond, or you click Reject, the chat returns to the queue and your state automatically becomes Refused. If your administrator has enabled it, you can handle multiple chats simultaneously by clicking Accept each time a new chat request appears.
  3. Type messages to the contact in the text area, pressing Enter to send them. You can also use quick replies to insert pre-written responses to common questions.
  4. If you are handling multiple chats, use the contact tabs to toggle between chat interactions, paying close attention to the timers so you do not leave a contact waiting for too long.
  5. If you are unable to answer a question or handle the chat for any other reason, you can transfer the chat to another agent or skill. You can also create a new commitment to reach the contact at a later time.
  6. When you have finished the chat interaction, click End Chat. Click End Chat again to confirm the end of the interaction.
  7. If you want to save the interaction, click Copy Entire Chat on the top of the chat window. Open a text editor and paste the chat into it. Save it.
  8. If you want to select a disposition or apply tags, you can do so as instructed by your manager, if configured by your administrator. Type any notes you want to save with the interaction. Click Save & Close.

Transfer Chats

  1. In the workspace of the chat you want to transfer, click Transfer.
  2. Type the name of the agent, team, or skillClosed Used to automate delivery of interactions based on agent skills, abilities, and knowledge you want to transfer the chat to, or use the address book to drill down to a specific entry.
  3. Hover over the address book entry and click Transfer. The chat is immediately transferred to that location and is removed from your interface.

When another agent accepts the chat, all messages from your original chat with the contact appear in that agent's chat window.

Use Quick Replies in Chats

Image of quick reply options.
  1. In the chat workspace, click >>, which opens the quick reply pane.
  2. Select a quick reply from the list and fill in any variables. If MAX auto-populated the variable, verify that the information is correct (this may be your name, agent ID, and so forth).
  3. Click Insert.

The quick reply is inserted into your conversation with the variables you entered, if any.