This article explains how to migrate your live chat settings to messaging so you can deploy a messaging Web Widget on your website or help center that closely matches your current Chat configuration. It covers tasks you should complete before turning on messaging at the account level, which Chat settings are automatically copied to messaging, which settings need to be reviewed or reconfigured, and how to complete the migration by turning on the messaging Web Widget.
Any account using the Web Widget (Classic) or chat widget to deliver live chat support can begin the migration to messaging. This includes accounts that:
- Have never turned on messaging or attempted a migration
- Attempted to migrate to messaging previously but didn’t complete the process
- Completed the process and later turned off messaging and reverted to their live chat configuration
This article includes the following topics:
About the migration process
When you turn on messaging, many core features of your live chat configuration are automatically migrated to your new messaging settings. Some messaging-specific settings are turned on by default, and other features must be configured manually in Admin Center.
This section includes the following topics:
Automatically migrated settings
The following live chat settings are automatically migrated to messaging when you turn on messaging at the account level:
Triggers
When you migrate from live chat to messaging, Zendesk reviews your active and inactive Chat triggers and moves them to Admin center for use in your messaging setup.
Each Chat trigger is converted into one or more messaging-compatible triggers:
- If all trigger conditions and actions map to current messaging conditions and actions, the trigger becomes a messaging trigger. The new messaging trigger keeps the activation status of the original Chat trigger.
- If the trigger fires when an end user loads a page, and the trigger doesn't include a routing action, it becomes a proactive message. The new proactive message trigger is inactive by default.
- If the trigger includes a routing action, it becomes both a proactive message and a Support ticket trigger. Both new triggers are inactive by default.
Any Chat triggers that include conditions or actions not supported in messaging aren’t migrated automatically. You’ll need to review and reconfigure these triggers manually in messaging.
- Chat triggers created after your previous migration attempt will be automatically migrated to triggers that are compatible with messaging.
- Updated Chat triggers that are migrated to messaging triggers will overwrite previously-migrated triggers with the same name.
- Chat triggers that were not migrated successfully in your prior migration attempt will be migrated again.
For detailed information about working with migrated (and unmigrated) triggers, see Migrating triggers from live chat to messaging.
Operating hours
Messaging uses schedules, which are similar to Chat operating hours. As part of the migration, your operating hours are converted to one or more schedules in Admin Center.
You can access, configure, and create schedules in Admin Center > Objects and rules > Business rules > Schedules. See Setting your schedule with business hours and holidays. You can later apply one or more schedules to your Web Widget channel to deliver different automated responses based on when end users contact you.
Pre-chat and offline forms
Messaging collects end-user information as customer details in the Web Widget’s default messaging response. The request is sent after the end user responds to the widget’s First message.
If you use pre-chat or offline forms, the default messaging response is configured to collect the same end-user information. After the information is submitted, messaging sends the same follow-up message. The same configuration is applied to messages sent outside business hours if you’re using operating hours.
Satisfaction ratings
If you’re using a satisfaction survey to gather customer feedback, customer satisfaction (CSAT) ratings are activated in messaging. When a messaging conversation ends, customers will be prompted to leave feedback.
Banned visitors
IP addresses you have banned from live chat will be banned in messaging as well.
Goals and conversion tracking
Your live chat business goals are converted to messaging goals as part of the migration. Messaging goals allow you to track customer actions and see which agents are responsible for driving those actions. See Tracking customer actions with messaging goals.
On-by-default settings
Some messaging settings don’t have exact live chat equivalents, but are turned on by default to help create a familiar experience for your end users and agents.
These settings include:
- End chat: Messaging’s end session setting works similarly to the end chat feature. It lets agents end the messaging session and release agent capacity. Allowing end users to end messaging sessions isn’t on by default, but you can activate it manually. See About ending messaging sessions.
- Automatic idle: In messaging, capacity release and conversation inactivity settings determine how long a conversation remains active and what happens when it becomes inactive. By default, the inactivity timer is set to 10 minutes, and agent capacity is released when that limit is reached. See Automatically releasing agent capacity for inactive messaging conversations.
- Wait time: You can show estimated wait time and queue position so end users know when to expect an agent reply. Wait times are managed in Admin Center with messaging triggers. See Displaying estimated wait time in messaging conversations.
- Inactivity reminders: You can configure up to three reminders to end users when a messaging conversation becomes inactive, based on your inactivity period and capacity release settings. These reminders are turned on by default and use the default configuration. See Sending conversation inactivity reminders to end users.
Unmigrated settings
- Mobile SDKs: You can create and deploy messaging for your iOS, Android, or Unity channel. See Working with messaging for your mobile channel.
- Chat APIs: Chat APIs, Real-time APIs, and Incremental APIs are not supported in messaging. See Zendesk Web Widget and SDKs in our developer API documentation for alternatives.
- Third-party bots: Most third-party bots can be used in messaging. See Managing third-party bots in Admin Center.
- Skills-based routing: Messaging tickets continue to route using your current chat routing rules after migration, but skills-based routing is not part of the standard messaging routing configuration. It is available with omnichannel routing. See About omnichannel routing.
- Reporting: The Messaging dashboard in Explore can be customized to meet your reporting needs. See Overview of the Messaging dashboard.
Before migrating to messaging
Before you start, admins should audit the live chat elements they use before migrating, to make it easier to confirm that everything transferred correctly.
Check the following Chat settings:
- Active Chat triggers: Remove or deactivate any unnecessary triggers, and clean up the rest. Note whether each trigger will become a messaging trigger, a Support ticket trigger, or a proactive messaging trigger.
- Goals: Review chat goals and remove duplicates, redundancies, or goals you no longer need..
- Chat tags: Special characters and capitalized letters aren’t allowed in messaging tags, and will be replaced with an underscore. They won’t break your triggers or other business rules they're used in, but it’s a good idea to clean them up first.
- Operating hours: Check your current operating hours setup so you can confirm it is converted correctly to a Support schedule. If you have more than one set of operating hours for a department, they’ll be merged into a single schedule.
- Banned IP addresses: Make sure your Banned Visitors list is current so unwanted visitors can’t access your new messaging channel.
Also, give your agents plenty of notice before moving to messaging. The migration will change their workflows and workspace.
At a minimum, make sure agents can:
- Set their status for the standard routing configuration.
- Use the notifications list to manage multiple conversations.
- Work with messages, including responding to support requests, reassigning tickets, and use automatic translation.
Helpful resources for agents:
Turning on messaging and migrating your chat settings
When you’ve completed the preparation steps you can begin the migration process, which includes the following steps:
Turning on messaging
When you turn on messaging, your live chat settings are converted to messaging settings in Admin Center as described above. Messaging is turned on at the account level, and will give you access to messaging settings. Chat settings and your current support widget are not impacted by this action.
To turn on messaging for your account
-
In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social >
Messaging.
- On the Get started with messaging page, click Get started.
-
On the Messaging settings page,
select
Turn on
messaging.
The migration can take up to 10 minutes. When it’s complete, the Get ready for messaging pane appears.
Reviewing the new messaging settings
Next, review the messaging settings and features that replace your migrated, on-by-default, and unmigrated Chat settings in Admin Center.
The automated migration is usually straightforward, so a quick review is often enough. If a setting has an Action needed label, inspect it more carefully. That usually means the setting didn’t migrate successfully or needs additional configuration.
-
In the Get ready for messaging
pane, click Review.
The
Review changes from your Chat settings
pane
opens:
-
Expand each section and click the button to access
that
feature’s Admin Center page in a new tab. After
reviewing
each
feature, return to the
Messaging and social - Channels
tab
to continue your settings review.
- Triggers: The Chat triggers migration review page lists includes tabs for migrated triggers needing review, activated triggers, and unmigrated Chat triggers.
- Operating hours: Review the migrated Operating hours schedule and update or create schedules as needed.
- Pre-chat and offline forms: In messaging, end-user information can be requested in the default messaging response. You can review and update that response later in the setup wizard.
- Satisfaction ratings: Click Get started to view the Customer satisfaction page, then click Edit survey to view the migrated CSAT survey configuration.
-
Default settings:
On the linked
Messaging settings page, expand each
section
to
review and update the following as
needed:
- Downloading transcripts manages messaging transcript visibility for both agents and end users.
- Multi-conversations lets you allow end users to conduct multiple conversations simultaneously.
- Capacity release defines how long a conversation remains active, and what happens to the ticket when the conversation becomes inactive. These settings are on by default.
-
Ending sessions
defines whether agents
can manually
end messaging
sessions,
how ended sessions impact
agent capacity, and whether
ended
sessions can be
used as conditions or actions
in
triggers.
This
setting is on by default.
With additional configuration, you can allow end users to end messaging sessions.
- Email identities manage user authentication rules and settings.
- Conversation control determines when and how messaging conversations are resolved.
- Goals: On the Messaging goals page, review each goal and update it if needed.
- Banned visitors: On the Banned IP addresses page, confirm that the addresses banned from live chat are included here.Chat APIs: Chat APIs are not compatible with messaging. Review the impact and learn about alternatives in the Zendesk Web Widget and SDK developer documentation.
- Reporting: Click Activate Explore to begin creating your dashboards. In the meantime, review the Messaging dashboard documentation.
When you’re done reviewing these features, click Proceed to complete setup.
Completing the setup
The setup wizard walks you through the final steps of the migration:
- Selecting a brand to set up: If you have multiple brands, choose the one you want to use for your initial migration.
- Defining business hours: Choose Always online, or select an existing schedule. If no schedules are available, or if you want to create a new one, click Add or manage schedules.
- Setting up automated responses: Enter a First message to greet customers, and choose which customer details to collect, if any. If you applied a schedule in the previous step, click Outside business hours and configure the automated response there as well.
- Turning on the messaging Web Widget: Close all active chats for the brand you’re upgrading to messaging, then click Turn on messaging widget.
You can return to the setup wizard when you’re ready to add additional brands to messaging.
After completing the migration
You’ve now deployed a fully-functional support channel that closely matches your original live chat setup. You can continue updating the widget's appearance and behavior, and explore additional messaging capabilities.You can also create a sandbox environment to test out any new features before adding them to your live Web Widget.
Updating the messaging Web Widget
The messaging Web Widget has a number of settings not covered by the automated migration that you can update to customize its look and feel, and its automated interactions with your end users.
Customize the messaging Web Widget components on the widget’s settings page, including:
- Basics: Web Widget name, customer permissions for channel switching and multiple conversations, and a privacy notice.
- Style: Appearance-related settings, including frame and text colors, personalized logos, and launcher position and shape.
- Responses: Automated customer greetings, business hours, and requested information are all configured during the migration. Check these settings, and add a follow-up message to be sent after a customer submits their details.
Adding new capabilities
Consider adding these features to improve functionality, increase automation, support your agents, and speed up resolution times:
- Omnichannel routing is a unified routing system to manage incoming requests from email, voice, and messaging channels. Omnichannel routing is far more flexible and extendable than the standard messaging routing options, and is worth considering when you make the move to messaging. See About omnichannel routing.
- AI agents are the next generation of AI-powered bots that automate and resolve your customers’ issues across service channels. Using generative AI, AI agents can have back-and-forth conversations with your customers, potentially resolving requests without ever requiring a human agent. See About AI agents.
- Agent copilot provides AI-powered tools to enhance human agent productivity, such as suggested first replies and macros, ticket summaries, enhanced writing tools, and intelligent triage. See About agent copilot.