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Live takeover: jump into a chat yourself

Get alerted when a shopper wants a person, take over the chat, reply live and hand back to the assistant.

A shopper asks for a person. The assistant tells them the team may join, and takes their details just in case.1/7
  1. A shopper asks for a person. The assistant tells them the team may join, and takes their details just in case.
  2. You get an email straight away with a Join the chat button.
  3. In Conversations, live chats have a Live badge. Open it and click Take over this chat.
  4. The assistant pauses. The shopper sees that you've joined.
  5. Type your reply. It appears in their chat within a few seconds.
  6. Their replies show up in your dashboard as they arrive.
  7. All sorted? Click Hand back to the assistant and it picks up where you left off.

Sometimes a shopper wants a real person, or a big order is on the line. Live takeover lets you answer in the same chat window, with no extra app or chat tool.

When a shopper asks for a person

  • The assistant tells them the team may join shortly, and asks for their contact details in case nobody's free.
  • You get an email straight away: “A shopper wants to talk to someone now”, with a Join the chat button.
  • It goes to your Handover email (Assistant & widget), or your account email if that's empty.

Take over a chat

  1. Open Conversations. Chats active in the last 10 minutes have a Live badge.
  2. Open the chat and click Take over this chat.
  3. The assistant pauses. The shopper sees that you've joined, and the chat header says, for example, “You're chatting with Mia from the team”. The name comes from Your name in Settings & billing; if that's empty, it says your store's team.
  4. Type your reply and click Send. It appears in their chat within a few seconds, and their replies show up for you as they arrive.
  5. When you're done, click Hand back to the assistant. It picks up where you left off and remembers what you said.

Staff in your Team can take over chats too. Shoppers see the same team name.

More guides

Order questions in the chatNewShoppers check their order status and tracking any time. Change and return requests come to you.Reorder remindersNewA friendly email just before each customer usually runs out, with their last order one tap away.Google review requestsNewAsk every customer for a Google review a few days after their order is completed.Results and your Monday reportNewSee the chats, leads and sales your assistant brings in, and what it missed.