In this article, you'll learn what a targeted chat (or trigger) is and how to configure this widget to interact with your customers. 

What is a targeted chat?

Targeted chats, also called triggers, are a great tool to maximize the number of sales and/or leads, as well as minimizing bounce rate. They allow you to to contact a customer proactively via a chat window, as soon as they have a problem according to different conditions.

They are tools that help you easily define conditions and actions that will allow you to trigger a chat or send a message to a customer at a specific time. Targeted chat are also the starting point of any chatbot scenario.

In Brevo we’ve created default templates for some of the most important triggers, so all you need to do is enter a few details to start using them (How to customize default triggers?)

You can also create your own triggers from scratch as we explain it in How to create a new trigger? below.

When triggers might be useful?

Depending on the webpage your visitor is on, you might need to assist them and adapt your message. On Conversations you can find default triggers:

• Front or landing page greeting
  Visitor stuck on the first page and not moving anywhere? Contact them before they leave to ask how can you help and provide links to the popular pages of your website.
  
• Assistance on complicated pages
  Certain pages on your website seem to trip people up or leave them confused? Maybe there’s a long form visitors need to fill in? Offer your help before they leave the page or get frustrated.
• Open chat window on a "contact us" page
  Visitor looking for the easiest way to contact you? Pop up a chat window and they can contact you in a breeze, rather than having to wait for an email back
• Cart saving and checkout assistance 
  According to research, customers abandon around 68% of shopping carts (source). You can generate significantly more orders just by inviting visitors who have been on the cart page for some time to chat.
  

How to customize default triggers?

1. Go to Conversations > Settings > Targeted chats & triggers.
   
2. The first step is to finish configuring your trigger. Indeed, the default templates already have conditions and actions set up but you usually need to add the URL of your website and can also edit the other settings to fit your needs.
   Click the trigger's title to edit it.
   
3. Choose the conditions of your triggers:
   1. WHEN
      Choose when you want your chat to open to visitors: whether when agents are online or offline. For example, you can open a live chat if your agents are online, or a chatbot scenario if they are offline.
      
   2. IF
      Set the condition(s) to define in what cases the chat should open according to one or several conditions. You can pick the conditions in blue next to ADD A CONDITION and then fill the different required fields. You can remove a trigger by clicking the x next to the trigger name.
      
      For example:
      • Current URL: enter the URL of the webpage you want you chat to be triggered.
        
      • Time spent on current page: define after how many seconds the chat should be triggered. For example, you can open a chat after 1 minute on a page if you think your client is struggling with a complex form or action.
      • Exit intent: you can trigger a chat if your client is about to leave to website to retain them.
        
        
   3. THEN
      Define the action of your trigger and how often the action should take place
      

      Expand the chat widget This action will simply open the chat window without a specific message from your end Send a message on behalf of an agent This action will open the chat window with a message from your end. Hide the widget completely This option will hide the chat window on the chosen page

      • Assign visitors to a group
        You can assign chat conversations to a specific group or team (e.g. your support team on specific pages and sales teams on others). By clicking this option, you will be asked to pick a group. If no agent groups are set up you can manage them there Set up groups
      • Start a chatbot scenario
        By clicking this option, you will be asked to pick a chatbot scenario. Click Set up chatbot scenarios to configure scenarios.
4. Enable the trigger if you want to use it right away, you can always enable it later from the Trigger page.
5. Click Save.

How to create a new trigger?

You might also wish to create a trigger from scratch and configure the conditions by yourself.

1. To do so, go at the bottom of the page in Conversations > Settings > Targeted chats & triggers below the defaults triggers and click the button New trigger.
2. Give a name and description to your trigger
3. Define the conditions like explained in the above procedure How to customize default triggers? > 5. Choose the conditions of your triggers
4. Enable the trigger if you want to use it right away, you can always enable it later from the Trigger page.
5. Click Save.

Our recommendations to implement a successful chat

• We advise using polite informal text for the welcome message. Actually helping customers find what they want is much more effective than bombarding them with corporate buzzwords. Try personalizing your message according to your website content rather than throwing away a generic “How can I help?” 

• In most cases, it’s not a good idea to contact the customer as soon as they land on the page. Many might consider this intrusive, so we’ve set up triggers in a way that avoids that. Chats won’t pop up too often, and there is a delay before they do. If you creating triggers from scratch, we advise you to add a delay before having the chat window pop up.

• When sending triggers while offline, we advise you to add something like “We’ll be in touch soon” to let the visitor know this is an offline message.