Custom fields prior to starting chat session needed badly!!!!!

[Doug I.]

Hi,

I have repeatedly mentioned the importance for Kayako to offer the ability to set up custom fields that must be filled in by the web visitor prior to starting a live chat session. Varun has acknowledged this and it was supposed to be available with this last stable build. All I can tell about this last stable build is that the program is now working in a more stable manner. Other than that, there really has not been a significant change in the online chat since V3 was released.

We desperately need to pre-qualify web visitors before even connecting to a chat session. Being able to see these custom fields before beginning a chat session with a visitor would open the door to many things like:

A. I wish I could create custom fields that asked for a serial no., account no., telephone number, etc. This would provide me a unique identifier of the customer that can be looked up by the operator to know who they are truly dealing with before the chat starts. An email address is simply not secure enough to know who you are chatting with.
B. I wish I could create a custom field that would allow the web visitor to enter a short description of their problem before the chat session even connects. This would allow my operators to determine who is best at responding to the issue at hand. Then, the operator could transfer the chat to the appropriate tech without the web visitor even knowing.
C. I wish I could create custom fields that would allow me to ask the customer about the specific product they are interested in. This would allow my sales people to transfer the chat session to the operator that is most familiar with a particular model or product, before the chat session starts.


The above are just some of the many uses of being able to create custom fields that can be viewed by the operator prior to the chat session starting. These custom fields should have the option of being required entries or not.

As it currently stands, the only workaround is to ask these questions during the chat session. This is a big waste of time and frustrates the web visitor. Especially when they might have been sitting around in the chat queue and would have had plenty of time to get these questions in order if the system would have asked them.

PLEASE!!!! Consider adding this soon. As I've said in the past, Kayako's has added a bunch of new modules that probably only help 10-15% of its customer base, while neglecting the fact that the ticket system and LiveResponse is what got 80% of customers to buy SupportSuite.

Stop neglecting these areas, as many other systems are way ahead of Kayako in terms of online chat and ticket system features at this point.

Doug

[Jamie Edwards]

Hi Doug,

Thank you for your comprehensive request. I apologise if it has in the past been overlooked, but I will talk to the developers for you and see what the plans are - obviously, for some reason it has been reprioritised and not included in 3.10.

[CPWNJE]

HI.

Is there any news on when this may be available yet?

This is something that we need to introduce ourselves as we use Kayako to manage a busy Helpdesk and need a way to get as much information as we can from the user as quickly as possible.

Thanks

[Jamie Edwards]

It is likely to be included in Version 4, and not before.