Live Assistant Agent FAQs

Modified on Fri, 6 Sep at 3:43 PM

This section of the user guide is focused on FAQs related to being a live assistant agent. To help you navigate the article we have broken it down into the following sections:

Technical FAQs
Live Agent FAQs
Transferring FAQs
- Does the live conversation history transfer to the new agent when I reassign it?
- How do I transfer the live conversation to another live agent?

Technical FAQs

Should I use a specific browser with the live assistant?

In general, you may engage the live assistant using any browser including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge; however, Chrome is the preferred browser for live assistant performance.

Can I log back on after a timeout and pick up a conversation in progress?

You can log back on after a timeout and pick up a conversation in progress. You can make yourself available with the toggle in the upper right-hand corner and pick up where you left off in your conversation.

As a best practice, if the live chat participant has left the conversation, the live agent should end the conversation to close it out. The live chat participant will always be able to come back and re-engage with an active live agent.

How long are the timeouts?

Within the admin portal's Behavior Settings, any user granted Live Assistant - Admin role has the ability to configure an automatic timeout that allows live agents to be timed out after the designated time period (this setting is not available per-office). The default setting is one hour.

When a live agent times out, the availability status light will change from green to orange and the status will indicate "Away".

A live conversation will be closed if it meets one of the following criteria:

After 12 hours of non-activity by the live conversation participant or live agent in a live conversation, the live conversation will be automatically closed.
If a live conversation participant leaves a live conversation (disconnects), the live agent is provided a user went offline message within the conversation panel. This live conversation will be closed automatically after 5 hours.
If the live conversation participant is still able to return to the same live conversation (in the case that the live agent hasn't ended the live conversation) the live agent will be notified if/when the live conversation participant returns to the live conversation. After 12 hours of non-activity, the live conversation will be automatically closed.
A live conversation that began at least 24 hours ago, will be closed.

Is there a character limit for live agent responses?

There is a character limit of 5000 characters exists for responses to live chat participants (e.g. a student). If the character limit is exceeded, the character counter will display in red and the "send" button is disabled and displays in gray.

It is recommended to split your response into multiple responses if you need to exceed the character allowance.

When inserting suggested content, be sure to only insert suggested content one at a time to avoid exceeding the character limit.

Live Agent FAQs

What words or phrases prompt live conversation?

When the following words or phrases are sent by the end-user while using the virtual assistant, the live assistant feature will be prompted.

Words:

Live agent
Customer service
Service
Live person
Real person
Contact
Representative

Phrases:

How can I get a staff member?
How can I speak with a staff member?
How can I chat with a live advisor?
I want to talk to a human
I want to talk to a live chat
Need live chat
I need to talk to a real person
I don't want to talk to a chatbot
I don't want to talk to a virtual assistant
I want a real person not a chatbot
I want a real person not a virtual assistant
I need a live agent
How do I speak with a live agent?
Are live agents available?
I want a live person
I'm looking for a real person to help me
Can a live agent help me?
How do I contact a live person?
Can I speak with real person?
May I speak with someone?
Is there someone I can speak with directly to answer our questions?
Who can I ask?
Can you put me in touch with a real person?
How do I talk to someone?
Can someone help me?
Contact the office
How do I talk to a human?
Can I chat with a real person?
Meet with a counselor
I would like to talk with a live person

Do live conversations support any languages other than English?

The Live Assistant can only be prompted by English words and phrases at this time. Additionally, the Suggested Content Panel is driven solely by the recognition of English words and phrases. However, if you have a live agent who can communicate with students in another language, they could transition to that language after the live conversation has been initiated.

How do I attach documents and/or images?

To attach an image or a document, select the paperclip “insert file” icon above the text box of the conversation.

Select the file to insert. The file size should not be an issue, as it allows for loading of files 1G or higher. Select the send button.

This feature is one-directional -- only live agents can send attachments. Live conversation participants cannot submit attachments through live conversations.

Why does the suggested knowledge base content not populate while the user is typing?

Suggested content (knowledge base answers, videos, and/or links) will not be generated in the right-side pane until the live conversation participant fully submits their question/comment/response.

Once the live conversation participant submits their question/comment/response, the suggested knowledge base/video/link content will then populate.

What videos will be displayed in the live conversation suggested content pane?

When you are engaging in a live conversation, you will notice suggested content on the right side pane including these content types:

Knowledge base - suggested answers to the question from the Ocelot knowledge base
Links - suggested helpful links from the client's webpage
Videos - suggested helpful videos from the video library

If you have created custom videos in your video portal, this content will not display in the suggested content pane unless you have created a custom question in your virtual assistant and the video has been attached to that question by an Ocelot team member.

Will the student be notified if I set my agent status to "Away"?

Best Practice

At the end of your shift as a live agent, it is best to set your status to "Away" 15-30 minutes prior to your shift ending so you can finish any live conversations that are assigned to you. Once your status is set to "Away", you will not be able to take new conversations and the option to engage with a live agent will not be offered if your status is set to "Away" and no other live agents are available for your office.

If a live agent sets themself to "Away" mid-conversation

If a live agent has picked up a conversation and the live agent sets their status to "Away" mid-conversation, the live conversation participant will not be notified. The live conversation participant will be able to continue to engage in live conversation with the live agent until the live agent re-engages and selects "End Conversation" or the student, otherwise goes offline/ends the live conversation on their end.

If a live agent sets themself to "Away" with an active live conversation in the queue that has not been picked up

If a live conversation participant is waiting in the live conversation queue, and no live agent has picked up that live conversation and if the live agent sets themselves to "Away" (from "Available"), within about 5 minutes, the live conversation participant will be notified that there is no longer a live agent available to connect.

The live conversation participant will be able to "Keep Waiting" for another live agent to become available, "Leave a Message" to send information to the office the live conversation participant was trying to connect with, or the live conversation participant can select "Take me back to [virtual assistant name]" to return to engaging with the virtual assistant.

Can I make myself available in the live assistant for one office if I have access to multiple offices?

A live agent can select to set themselves to “Available” within an individual office instead of site-wide:

Similarly, live agents can set themselves “Away” within an individual office:

Live Assistant administrators can set live agents to “Away” for an individual office as well as set all live agents in an office to “Away” for just that office.

Transferring FAQs

Does the live conversation history transfer to the new agent when I reassign it?

Within a live conversation, if a conversation is transferred to another live agent, the conversation history may or may not be viewable to the new live agent, depending on that live agent's assigned permissions.

If the live agent receiving the transferred live conversation has access to the same office that you (or the live agent) have, the live conversation history will transfer.

If the live agent receiving the transferring the live conversation does not have access to the same office that you (or the initial live agent) have, the conversation history will not transfer.

For example, if a live agent is associated with Financial Aid and transfers the live conversation to Admissions, the new Admissions live agent's permissions do not include Financial Aid, the new live agent will not see the previous live conversation. 

If a live agent is associated with Financial Aid and transfers the live conversation to another live agent within the Financial Aid department, the new Financial Aid live agent will see the previous conversation that occurred between the initial live agent and the live conversation participant.

How do I transfer the live conversation to another live agent?

A live agent can transfer an active live conversation to another live agent when necessary.

During the live conversation, a live agent can open the "Assignee" dropdown and choose another live agent to assign the live conversation to a different live agent.

The dropdown menu displays a list of live agents will appear who are "Available" to accept the live conversation.

The dropdown list will not display live agents who are set to "Away".

The dropdown list is listed by office.

After the original live agent assigns the live conversation to a new live agent, the new live agent will be listed in the "Assignee" field. The original live agent will no longer see that conversation in the "Assigned to Me" list of live conversations.

After the original live agent assigns the live conversation to a new live agent, the new live agent will receive notification(s) that a new live conversation is assigned to them if they have notifications enabled.

For information about notifications, review the Enabling Notifications and Alerts article.

The new live agent can transfer the live conversation again, as needed.