👋 We’re happy to introduce a new functionality in Gorgias Chat, which allows visitors of your website to see information about how long they might be waiting for a live agent.

How does it work

Gorgias Chat will now display the estimated wait time for a shopper when they open the Chat widget. This allows you to set the right expectations to shoppers in terms of wait time and offer them an option to be contacted back via email if the wait time is too long.

Shoppers can end up in 3 different cases:

1️⃣ If estimated waiting time is short (≦ 1 minute), shoppers receive a notification that an agent will get back to them soon

2️⃣ If estimated waiting time is medium (between 1 & 15 minutes), shoppers receive a message with the estimated wait time in minutes (round-up to the nearest minute).

3️⃣ If estimated wait time is long (﹥15 minutes), shoppers will receive a message that wait time is longer than usual and be provided with 2 options - wait for a live agent OR get replies by email. If they click the first option, it will create a new live chat ticket, if the second - they will be redirected to the contact form and notified that an agent will get back to them by email.

How is it calculated?

The estimated wait time is calculated using a simple algorithm based on your support team’s first response time, specifically as the median first response time from 10 last live chat tickets (within business hours). If you have multiple chats installed, wait time is calculated per chat application individually.

🤓 Read more about estimated wait time in this help docs article.

How to turn on the feature

The new feature is turned on automatically if you had the auto-responder settings enabled. If that’s not the case, you can go to chat integration preferences and select the new option called “Dynamic wait time“.

Is it possible to customize texts generated by this feature?

Yes! By using advanced chat customization scripts, you can adjust text values and make the chat more aligned with aesthetics of your main website.

Why is it better for visitors?

It will give visitors a better experience by setting the right expectations when using the chat while also providing another solution (leaving their inquiry through the chat contact form) when you are not able to answer fast enough.

More information available here.