Setting up the end-user experience for messaging

When you migrate to messaging, your end users are migrating as well. Take time to plan how you want customers to experience messaging.

You are likely using live chat configuration options that have equivalent options in messaging. There are also options in messaging that are unavailable in Chat.

Use this article as a high-level walkthrough of the main customer-facing settings to review during migration.

Note: If you went through the assisted migration experience, some of the options described below may have already been migrated to Admin Center.

This article includes the following topics:

Step 1: Setting up your messaging channel
Step 2: Configuring greetings and customer data capture
Step 3: Showing wait time and queue updates
Step 4: Planning for outside of business hours
Step 5: Configuring CSAT
Additional considerations

Comparing live chat and messaging end-user experience options

The following table maps common Chat configuration options to their equivalents in messaging settings.

Live chat configuration	Messaging configuration
Pre-chat form	AI agent or Collecting customer details in the basic messaging response
Offline form or web form for outside of business hours	Migrating Chat operating hours to business hours in messaging
Branding on SDKs	Viewing and configuring Web Widget settings
Queue position	Estimated wait time and queue position
Proactive messaging using Chat triggers	Proactive messaging
Authentication	Setting up authentication for messaging
Web or Mobile SDKs	API reference for web and mobile SDK
Chat Conversation APIs	SunCo Switchboard APIs

Step 1: Setting up your messaging channel

After you’ve migrated your account from Chat to messaging, you’ll need to set up your Web Widget or mobile SDK channel. You can configure the channel settings that affect the customer experience, such as branding, responses, wait time, authentication, and installation.

Set up and manage these settings for both Web Widget and mobile SDK channels on the Messaging settings page in Admin Center:

Brands connected to your messaging channels
Advanced settings:
- Downloading transcripts, to allow end users to download conversation transcripts
- Multi-conversations, to allow customers to conduct multiple messaging conversations
- Capacity release, to define how agent capacity is managed and conversation reminders are sent
- Ending sessions, to allow users to end messaging sessions
- Email identities, to allow end users to use email addresses to identify themselves
- Conversation control, to manage how conversations are handled when resolved
- AI agent conversations as tickets in Agent Workspace, to allow human agents to see conversations between end users and AI agents in Agent Workspace

Note: If you used the migration wizard to initiate your move to messaging, an embeddable Web Widget or mobile SDK channel appears in the Messaging channels list.

Configure these Web Widget settings by clicking the name of the Web Widget on the Channels page in Admin Center:

Basics: Web Widget name, channel linking, and privacy notice
Style: Web Widget appearance, including colors, logo, widget position, attachment permissions, launcher shape, and text
Responses: Default messaging responses for customers. See Step 2.
Wait time: Display how long end users may wait for agent assistance
Authentication: Security settings for authenticated and unauthenticated visitors
Installation: Code snippet and help center embed

Configure these mobile channel settings by clicking the name of the mobile channel on the Channels page in Admin Center:

Basics: Channel name
Style: Channel appearance, including colors, title, and description
Responses: Business hours, default messaging response, and AI agent activation. See Step 2.
Notifications: Push notification settings
Authentication: Security settings for authenticated and unauthenticated users
Installation: Channel ID and help center embed

For more information, see:

Step 2: Configuring greetings and customer data capture

Your customers’ first interaction with your messaging channel is defined in the Responses settings for the Web Widget or mobile channel.

Use these settings to greet customers, set expectations, and collect basic information before an agent joins the conversation.

You can also use messaging triggers to send queue-related messages, such as:

A confirmation that the request was received
An update when the customer is assigned to an agent

Similarly, if you use AI agents, you can also capture customer details such as name and email before the conversation is handed off.

For more information, see:

Step 3: Showing wait time and queue updates

Estimated wait time and queue position can help customers understand when they can expect agent assistance. This can improve the messaging experience, especially during busy periods.

If you use Sunshine Conversations SDKs, you can also send wait time updates with messaging triggers.

For more information, see:

Displaying wait time estimates in messaging conversations

Step 4: Planning for outside of business hours

Decide how messaging should behave when customers contact you outside of business hours. For example, you can send an automatic response, collect customer information, or direct customers to self-service resources.

For more information, see:

Step 5: Configuring CSAT

Messaging supports a more flexible CSAT experience than Chat. You can choose when to send the survey and align it with your messaging workflow.

In most cases, it’s best to send CSAT when the ticket is resolved.

For more information, see:

Additional considerations

Depending on your current Chat setup, you may also need to review: