How does the Chat trigger condition Account status > Offline work?

Question

Can I set a chat trigger to fire when my agents are offline? What is the Account status condition, with Online and Offline options, used for?

Answer

It is not possible to create a chat trigger that fires when all agents are offline. Chat triggers that send proactive messages will only fire if at least one agent is online.

Sending messages via triggers is meant to start prompt a chat conversation that ultimately connects with a live agent if the visitor chooses to respond. For this reason, at least one agent must be online to be ready to take the live chat conversation that results from a customer responding to a triggered message.

Triggers were not designed to handle offline proactive conversations. Offline messaging to customers can be handled in either the offline form, or through contact forms in the Web Widget.

Then why does the Account status condition exist?

The Account status trigger condition, that includes Online and Offline options for triggers to fire, is designed for triggers that do not send messages but do other things like add tags or set departments on widget load.