Displaying and Triggering Email Forms Within Chat Widgets

This function can be actioned by Talkative account admin/supervisors. 

There are two main areas in which you can create, edit, or trigger email forms: 

1. Talkative’s Widget Config Editor -  for creating email buttons or setting up in-queue email triggers, discussed in-depth below. 

2. Google’s Dialogflow - for creating chatbots that can guide users to an email form. For more on this option, either visit our article on Configuring Dialogflow  or get in touch with your Talkative Account Manager. 

Creating and displaying email forms within the Widget Config Editor

In the following sections, we’ll review how to display email forms from within the Widget Config area. The below guides include: 

1. Creating an email button for your chat widget

2. Creating an in-queue email option for waiting customers

3. Triggering an in-queue email option after a set time period

Creating an email button for your chat widget

To create an email button in your chat widget, navigate to the Chat Widgets section of the left navigation bar. 

Once clicked, create your chat widget or edit your previous widget by clicking the right-hand blue edit icon. 

Next, scroll down to choose the widget version that you’d like to edit. Alternatively, create a new draft.

Remember: You can only edit widgets in draft mode. You are unable to edit a live widget. 

Once you’ve selected your chosen draft, scroll down to the Widget Configs area. 

You can either add a new widget config, or edit an existing one by selecting the dark blue icon. 

Now that you’re in the Edit Widget Config area, navigate to the Card Editor section. 

If you’ve already set up Queue Actions within your widget, select the three dot icons to view the options for adding a new action. 

Select the plus icon to view your options. Choose Email. 

Once chosen, you’ll see a new email action in the editor. 

Note: The ‘2 Errors’ badge at the top of the Cards section. 

Also note how the Start Email button is ringed red. 

These error messages are put in place to make sure you fill in the appropriate Target Queue and Data Collection Form sections, as seen below. 

A quick sidenote: You can edit your data collection forms in the Data Collection section within the Edit Widget Config sidebar. The data collection form should typically include an email address (or means of contacting the customer) and a comments field so they can leave their question. 

Also, it’s worth noting that the email the form is sent to is set on the queue pages. To change the email address, go to the queue pages and edit the queue. 

However you choose to edit your data collection forms, here’s how it should look once you’ve chosen the appropriate queue and the appropriate data collection form. 

Remember to save your draft, and you’re done! 

Here’s how it should look in the preview area, next to a standard Live Chat button.

Creating a permanent in-queue email option for waiting customers

Next up, let’s review how to display an in-queue email option for customers waiting to chat with a support agent. 

For triggering an email form after a given time period, please read this section and then review the following section beneath. 

To get started creating an in-queue email option for waiting customers, navigate towards the Edit Widget Config area once again. 

Next, select the Wait Messages option in the sidebar, as shown below: 

Once open, locate the Current Messages section and select the Show Email Option. 

Note: This toggle will be set to off as its default position. You can also add custom wait or queue messages in this section.

Once you’ve toggled the Show Email Option, you can review the in-queue email button within the widget preview area. It should look like the example below. 

Selecting the Email us instead button will then take customers to a separate email form within your widget! 

Remember: Hit save draft before exiting or trying to publish your new widget! 

Triggering an in-queue email option after a set time period

To trigger an in-queue email button after a set time-period, repeat the above steps but remain in the Wait Messages section of the Widget Config Editor. 

Scroll down to the Current Messages section again. 

Important: To trigger an email form after a set amount of time, you’ll need to have two wait messages open. Click the blue bar to set up another wait message. 

In your first wait message, you can enter your desired wait messages and the duration period for this first message. The duration period is measured in seconds. 

Below is an example of such wait message, using Talkative’s dynamic text feature. 

(To learn more about this feature, visit our guide on using dynamic text to Display Average Waiting and Open/Close Times .)

In the above image, note how the Show Email Option is toggled off. 

The Duration field is set to 30 seconds. 

This means that your secondary wait message will display after thirty seconds. 

Remember: To make sure your second wait message displays an email field, make sure the Show Email Option is toggled within the second wait message only. See below for an example. 

Note: In the above example, we’ve copied over the first two wait messages from the first wait message section. This includes the same dynamic text. 

This means that the wait messages won’t change when the email button appears after the 30 second period we previously set. This will help create a more seamless crossover within your chat widget. 

However you choose to set up your wait messages, with these settings put in place, you can click save draft and review your updated widget in the Preview section. 

Just remember to test your stated wait duration in the Preview area too! 

Below is a before and after of the chat widget to demonstrate the difference. 

First, the standard wait message. 

Second, the wait message with the email button option, triggered after a 30 second wait. 

Tracking email interactions

To learn more about how to track your customers’ email interactions or their use of your email forms within the context of their customer journey, please review: 

1. Our guide for Talkative’s Interaction Logs  - for tracking email interactions within the Talkative platform. 

2. Our guide for Google Analytics Event Integration  - for tracking email interactions within Google Analytics.