Understanding and managing end-user presence in messaging (Closed EAP)

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End-user presence is currently in a closed Early Access Program (EAP). See About end-user presence and the EAP for information on joining the EAP.

End-user presence can help businesses identify and prioritize tickets where users are still actively waiting in the queue versus those who have abandoned the conversation. By detecting when a user closes a website or disconnects, agents can focus their capacity on engaged customers rather than abandoned conversations.

This article contains the following sections:

About end-user presence and the EAP

Turning on end-user presence

How messaging session states are determined

How user presence affects routing and capacity

About end-user presence and the EAP

End-user presence provides a signal to determine if a customer is still active on your website.

Because it is not always possible to perfectly identify presence, Zendesk uses specific signals combined with a buffer to prevent false negatives. For web messaging, the following signals indicate a user is no longer present:

The end user closes the website.

The end user closes the browser.

The end user's internet connection is lost.

Requirements and limitations

Note the following when signing up for the EAP:

Accounts need to have messaging turned on.

This feature works only for users initiating conversations via the Web Widget. It is not supported on mobile or social messaging channels.

We will be introducing ticket triggers conditions for user presence on ticket updates soon, to give you the flexibility to create processes to handle change in user presence.

Signing up for the EAP

You can sign up for the early access program using this form. After you sign up, we’ll send you a confirmation email, and you’ll be able to turn on the feature for for your account.

Turning on end-user presence

If you’re accepted into the EAP, you can turn on the end-user feature in your messaging settings.

To turn on end-user presence

In Admin Center, click Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging.

Click Messaging settings.

Expand the Capacity release section.

Under End user presence, click Mark messaging sessions as inactive when end-users leave and opt into the terms and conditions.

Again, click Mark messaging sessions as inactive when end-users leave and opt into the terms and conditions.

Click Save.

Considering that the feature impacts routing and agents’ capacity, our recommendation is to turn on the feature in your sandbox first. Enable the feature on production/live accounts during low traffic periods, then turn the feature on in your production/live accounts during low traffic periods.

How messaging session states are determined

User presence is embedded directly into the definition of the messaging session state. There is no separate indicator; instead, the presence status toggles the session state shown on the ticket.

When the feature is turned on, the session states behave as follows:

Active: The ticket has received an end-user response in the last 10 minutes OR the user presence is detected as online.

Inactive: The ticket has not received a response in the last 10 minutes OR user presence is offline OR the ticket status is set to Pending, On-hold, or Solved.

How user presence affects routing and capacity

User presence directly impacts how tickets are queued and how agent capacity is calculated.

Routing Queue

Messaging Routing: Only tickets with an active messaging session stay in the queue. Inactive or ended sessions are removed from the queue and can only be accessed through Views. See Routing messaging tickets and notifying agents for more information on messaging routing.

Omnichannel Routing : If you are counting inactive conversations towards agent capacity, the queue includes both active and inactive tickets. Otherwise, inactive tickets are assigned directly to agents rather than staying in the queue. Essentially, there is no change in the expected behavior , except that user presence may move a greater percentage of your tickets to the inactive state sooner. See Understanding how omnichannel routing uses queues to route work to agents for more information on omnichannel queues.

Agent Capacity

Messaging Routing: Agent capacity is released as soon as a messaging session becomes inactive or is ended.

Omnichannel Routing: If you are counting inactive conversations towards agent capacity, the queue includes both active and inactive tickets. Otherwise, inactive tickets are assigned directly to agents rather than staying in the queue. See Managing your omnichannel routing configuration for more information.

Auto-release Capacity: If you are automatically releasing agent capacity for inactive conversations, capacity is released when the session becomes inactive due to the end user leaving the website, or the auto release capacity timer elapses—whichever happens first. See Automatically releasing agent capacity for inactive messaging conversations for more information.

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