Live chat while you sleep.

Say it in the widget

When nobody is online, the widget should say so before the visitor types a word. Tell them three things: nobody is here right now, when you’re back, and how they’ll get an answer.

Give a real time with a time zone. “We’ll get back to you soon” means one thing on a Tuesday morning and another at 23:00 on a Friday. “We’re back Monday at 9:00, Amsterdam time” leaves no doubt.

Check that the status is right. A widget that shows the team as online while everyone is asleep leaves every visitor waiting for an answer they expected in minutes.

Ask for an email address

Someone who leaves a question at night has usually closed the tab by the time you read it. Without an email address, your answer has nowhere to go. Ask for it in the offline form, next to the question.

Say what you’ll use it for: answering this question. Don’t add the address to a newsletter unless they ask for that.

Keep the form short. A question and an email address are enough, and a name can be optional. If a customer is signed in to your site or app, you may already know who they are. Then ask only for the question.

Answer by email, in the same conversation

Your reply goes out by email, but keep it in the same conversation as the chat. Whoever answers sees the original question, and when the customer replies or opens the chat again, the whole history is in one place.

Repeat their question at the top of your email. A chat from last night is easy to forget, and an email that starts with “You asked whether your order ships before Saturday” needs no further context.

Send it from an address the customer recognizes, with your brand as the sender name. In Flagbell, this is how the chat works outside office hours: the visitor leaves a question, and your answer arrives as an email, in the same conversation in your inbox.

The first reply the next morning

Start the day with the questions that came in overnight, oldest first, before you pick up new chats. Those people have waited the longest.

Answer the question in that first reply if you can. If you can’t yet, say what you’re doing and when they’ll hear from you. An empty “we’ve received your message” at 9:00 helps nobody if the real answer could go out at 9:15.

Keep it short and personal: their name, thanks for waiting, the answer, and your own name.

Office hours across time zones

If your customers live in other time zones, “9:00 to 17:00” doesn’t tell them much. Name a city: “Amsterdam time” stays right all year, while “CET” is an hour off in summer, when the Netherlands is on CEST.

If a brand sells mostly to another region, look for hours that overlap with its customers’ day, even if that’s one late shift a week. Run several brands in different markets? Each can have its own hours and its own offline text, in its own language.

Put everything a visitor needs to know about your hours in one place:

• The days and times, with a city or time zone
• Public holidays and other days you’re closed
• When to expect an answer outside those hours, such as “by 11:00 the next working day”

Point to help articles first, where it fits

Some questions get the same answer every time: delivery times, returns, how to reset a password. At night an article gives that answer right away, while an email gives it the next morning.

Show matching articles before the offline form, and keep the form one click away. An article should save the visitor time, and never stand between them and a person.

Questions about one specific order, an account or a complaint need a person. Send those straight to the form.

Don’t leave anyone waiting

The worst outcome is a question nobody answers. A few habits prevent it:

• Send an automatic email right after the offline form that confirms the question and says when you’re back
• Answer overnight questions before anything else in the morning
• If an answer needs more time, send a short update that day and set yourself a reminder
• Only promise weekend answers if someone checks the chat at the weekend
• Close a conversation once the customer has their answer