How do I customize the pre-chat form?

Question

What information can I collect about my customers on the pre-chat form on the Chat widget?

Answer

Tip: If you need help determining which widget you're using, see the article: Which Zendesk widget do I have with my account and website?

The pre-chat form collects information about your customers before a chat is initiated. This feature requires the Web widget (Classic). There are five customizable elements on this form.

A: Greeting

B: Identity

C: Phone number

D: Department

E: Message

To edit the pre-Chat form

Open Admin Center and select Chat.

In the Chat dashboard,under Settings, go to Widget.

Select Forms > Pre-chat form.

A: Greeting

The greeting message appears at the top. Use it for instructions or welcome notes. Plain text only.

B: Identity

Collects Name and Email. Allow social login through Facebook or Google by selecting the option Allow social login under the Visitor profile.

If you do not wish to collect your customer's name and email on the pre-chat form, toggle Visitor profile off. Disabling this means there will be no record of your customer's name or email in the chat history so you will not be able to follow up with them after the chat session ends.

C: Phone number

To create a phone number field, select Allow phone number under the Visitor Profile section. This field is optional and to make this a required field, select Require phone number under the Pre-chat form.

D: Department

If you have departments set up in Chat, this field will automatically show up on the pre-chat form. Choose to make this field required and customize the field label under Pre-chat form. If you want to keep your chat departments but do not want this field to appear on your widget, see the article: Can I hide the department field on the pre-chat form?

E: Message

Zendesk adds the message field automatically for your customers to describe their issue. The label Message isn't customizable. Select Require question to make this field required.