Website Chat: Only create contact when Message is received (not on open)
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Viktor Nagornyy
I noticed anonymous users are created when they open widget, they don't need to write anything.
It would be nice if chat widget had an option to change this behavior. I would prefer to create a contact when they write something, so I don't have empty contacts filling up Respond. We can select either Open or Conversation events to trigger contact creation when using chat widget.
Thanks.
Gerardo Salandra
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Gerardo Salandra
Hey Viktor Nagornyy, this is an interesting point. Let me explain you why is behaves the way it does.
Some of our users like given website visitors a greeting message as soon they open the widget. Could be a simple "Hey, how can I help you?" or even an advance onboarding flow with surveys.
The only way for us to create this experience is for the contact to be created as soon the widget is opened.
I see where you are coming from, you are probably collecting lots of contacts that open the chat but didn't interact with it, and as soon they leave the site then they are basically useless contacts. This is you main pain, correct?
If our pricing wasn't based on contacts, I am assuming this wouldn't be a problem, you would just close the conversation and forget about them (until they come back). So would it be fair to say that changing our pricing (e.g. to something like Monthly Active Contact) would also reduce the pain? That way you wouldn't really care about about all these contacts being collected, as you wouldn't be charge based on them.
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Viktor Nagornyy
Gerardo Salandra: I honestly didn't even think about contact limit, but that is a good point. ActiveCamapign has fair pricing, they only charge for active contacts, which means a contact has to be subscribed to at least one list. If they are unsubscribed completely, they can't receive emails, so they are not billed for those contacts. I think if a contact is anonymous and has no conversation, it can be considered inactive and not billed.
However, I don't like seeing new contacts show up in my inbox and they haven't messaged anything. I assume they would also send out notifications? I'm having a problem with notifications (which I messaged about), so I can only assume creation of a contact and conversation would send a notification.
I would either prefer my original option to change that behavior or maybe you could simply hide them until conversation is started? Keep track of them internally, hide from UI and no notifications, but when they start actual conversation, that's when they become visible in the UI. If they don't start conversation, you can silently delete them when session ends. Automatic deletion of these ghosts is a good option for billing, so you don't have to change billing if you don't want to.
Gerardo Salandra
Hey Viktor Nagornyy:
I would either prefer my original option to change that behavior or maybe you could simply hide them until conversation is started?
this is something we are planning for Q1 next year :)The contact will still be created in the platform but they will not have an open conversation, which would mean that they will only appear in the inbox if you specifically are searching for Un-assign contacts with Closed Conversation.
I guess you don't mind they are created as long you don't pollute your view? Contact would still appear in the contacts table though, just not in the inboxes.
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Viktor Nagornyy
Gerardo Salandra: I think that will work. Cluttering up inbox and unnecessary notifications are 2 things I would want to avoid. Also, if possible, it would be nice if there was an option to enable automatic deletion of anonymous contacts without conversation. I would prefer to delete them when their session ends. I think this would be a good option for anyone worried about this affecting billing.