See Understanding multi-conversations for messaging for information about considerations to be aware of before turning on multi-conversations, the feature’s limitations and requirements, and its impact on user experiences.
Zendesk customers who have access to the Sunshine Conversations API can set custom titles and avatars for multi-conversations.
This article includes the following topics:
Turning on multi-conversations
You can turn on multi-conversations for Web Widget, Android SDK, or iOS SDK in Admin Center.
To turn on multi-conversations
- In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- At the top of the page, click Manage settings.
- Under Web Widget and Mobile SDKs, expand Multi-conversations.
- Click Set up multi-conversations.
- Click Turn on multi-conversations for your account, then select the channels on which you want to offer multi-conversations.
Note: Turning on multi-conversations for one messaging channel updates all web, iOS, and Android messaging channels. Any channels not selected during this step will perform as described in Removing the New conversation button.
- Click Save.
After you have turned on multi-conversations for a channel, you can manage settings on the Manage channels page or from the Basics tab configuration for Web Widget or mobile SDKs.
Removing the new conversation button
You can remove the New conversation button from a channel to prevent end users from creating new conversations.
However, when you remove the New conversation button, it’s important to understand that end users will not completely revert back to the single-conversation experience.
After the New conversation button is removed, end users:
- Won’t be able to create additional conversations.
- Will see the conversations list when clicking or tapping the launcher button, if they have started multiple conversations.
- Will be able to access all conversations from the conversations list.
- Will raise new issues in their existing conversations from the conversations list.
End users will continue to receive push notifications (for mobile channels), and proactive messages will be appended to the latest updated conversation.
To remove the New conversation button from a channel
- In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.
- At the top of the page, click Manage settings.
- Under Web Widget and Mobile SDKs, expand Multi-conversations.
- Click Manage channels.
- On the Manage channels page, deselect the channels where you want to remove the New conversation button.
- Click Save. The New conversation button is removed from those channels.
10 comments
Francis Morissette
Cannot enable on my instance.
0
Viachaslau
We've been using this feature in early access and find it useful for brands when customers need to have multiple conversations. For example one chat is on hold, so the problem is still being solved. And a customer has a new question and with the new feature they can now ask it.
However, for companies that want to enable this feature, you need to keep in mind limitations, namely you have no control over the number of chats a customer can create. A small number of customers abuse this feature and can create dozens of chats. The only workaround is to merge chats automatically using a third-party solution or manually by agents (and they will be very unhappy). But this is not visible on the client side, which is hardly a good experience.
We also see that clients often get lost in chats. Although the article states that a customer sees the last message and the agent's name. But all chats end with a customer satisfaction request. And in fact, on the client side, 99% of the time the conversation list will contain a list of chats with the brand name and a “form sent” message. That is, without opening each chat, you won't understand which one you are looking for. At the same time, alternative solutions with multi-conversation feature offer a better experience on the client side. For example, you can see which chat is active and which one is closed. Which one is waiting for a customer response and which one is still being resolved by the brand. You can also choose to display the ticket name rather than the agent's name, which can help customers find the chat they're looking for
These are the feature requests we've passed on to Zendesk, but I see that there is no changes in the public release:
5
Ulysses Bakolias
Please see the following article for requirements: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8195486407706-Understanding-multi-conversations-for-messaging#topic_lmh_hmy_1dc
If you're still having trouble enabling this feature, I would suggest opening a ticket with customer Advocacy so that we can give you a hand!
0
Gintare Remeikė
Does this feature work with 3rd party bots - Ultimate?
0
Onur Okutan
Hi Viachaslau,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback! We’ve added these suggestions to our backlog, and we’re already planning to work on these points in our future improvements. While we can’t provide timelines at the moment, we’ll be actively enhancing the feature as we move forward.
Thanks again for your feedback!
Best regards,
Onur
1
Onur Okutan
Hi Gintare,
Yes, the feature works with Ultimate or any 3rd party bot.
Regards,
Onur
0
Henderson Pinto
Hey!
Thanks for such a cool feature, this is definitely a dealbreaker in our current migration from the competitor company.
However, I would like to also confirm all of the issues that Viachaslau is facing. Especially the “archive folder” or being able to hide conversations that are solved would be extremely helpful!
1
Onur Okutan
Hi Henderson, thanks for your comment, and we are glad that you like the new feature. The ability to archive old conversations is in our backlog, however, we are not able to provide a timeline at the moment. Once we have it planned with a clear timeline, we will be happy to share more information here.
Thanks,
Onur
0
Romil Svaikovskij
Hey, I think if we could restrict new messages to closed conversations it would be a game changer.
1
Onur Okutan
Hey Romil, thanks very much for the feedback. We are happy to in form you that this capability is in our backlog. We are not able to share any delivery timelines at the moment, but once it is planned, we will be able to share more info here.
Regards,
Onur
0