Migrating from Chat analytics to messaging reporting


When you migrate from Chat to messaging, you can use real-time monitoring dashboards, the Explore Messaging dashboard, or both to monitor ticket volume, agent activity, and customer experience. There’s no automated way to migrate your Chat analytics setup, so you need to recreate your reporting manually in the messaging tools you plan to use. This article explains the available reporting options, how to prepare for the transition, and how common Chat analytics metrics map to messaging reporting.


When you migrate from Chat to messaging, you can use real-time monitoring dashboards, the Explore Messaging dashboard, or both to monitor ticket volume, agent activity, and customer experience. There’s no automated way to migrate your Chat analytics setup, so you need to recreate your reporting manually in the messaging tools you plan to use. This article explains the available reporting options, how to prepare for the transition, and how common Chat analytics metrics map to messaging reporting.
This article includes the following topics:

About the messaging reporting options
Preparing to migrate
Setting up real-time monitoring
Setting up the Explore Messaging dashboard
Comparing Chat analytics and messaging reporting
Understanding common reporting changes after migration

For more information on messaging reporting and analysis, see the following articles:

About real-time monitoring dashboards
Accessing the real-time monitoring dashboards
Overview of the Zendesk Messaging dashboard
Analyzing your messaging tickets
Metrics and attributes for Zendesk messaging



About the messaging reporting options

You can use one or both of Zendesk's reporting options for messaging:


Real-time monitoring dashboards, which provide live, operational, omnichannel visibility and recent historical data for up to 30 days.

The Explore Messaging dashboard, which provides historical reporting for messaging tickets and performance trends. It doesn’t include live performance data.

These options offer different views into how, and how well, your messaging configuration is
working, and you can use them in tandem. Use real-time monitoring to manage current and
recent workload and agent activity. Use the Explore Messaging dashboard to analyze
historical performance and trends.


Real-time monitoring

Real-time monitoring:

Organizes reporting by workflow instead of by channel, which can make it easier to monitor day-to-day support operations.
Shows live data that helps you make immediate staffing and queue management decisions.
Includes recent historical data for many reports, so you can review trends over the past 30 days.

By default, real-time monitoring includes these dashboards:


Incoming tickets (requires omnichannel routing)
Ticket progress
Agent productivity

For more information, see About real-time monitoring dashboards.



The Explore Messaging dashboard

The Explore Messaging dashboard:

Provides historical reporting for messaging tickets and agent performance.
Includes reports for metrics such as first reply time, agent activity, and messaging goal conversions.
Shows historical data from the date Explore was enabled for the account, as far back as August 2021.

For more information, see Overview of the Zendesk Messaging dashboard.




Preparing to migrate

Currently, reporting settings from Chat analytics are not included as part of the automated migration tool. You need to recreate your reporting setup manually in real-time monitoring and the Explore Messaging dashboard.
To prepare for the transition from Chat analytics to messaging reporting

Review the reports you use today. Identify which reports are still useful, which metrics matter most, and which dashboards you don’t need to recreate.
Learn how messaging reporting differs from Chat analytics. Review the metric comparison section in this article. Some Chat metrics don’t have direct messaging equivalents, so you may need to adjust how you measure performance.
Review the available reporting tools. Familiarize yourself with real-time monitoring and the Explore Messaging dashboard, including the filters, dashboards, and reports available in each.
Make a reporting plan. List the queues, teams, filters, and key metrics you want to monitor in each tool.
Review how messaging changes performance metrics. See Metrics that matter: Measuring success when migrating from live chat to messaging to understand how messaging workflows can affect the way you evaluate team performance.




Setting up real-time monitoring

Use real-time monitoring if you need live visibility into queue backlog, in-progress work, and agent activity.
To set up real-time monitoring

Access the real-time monitoring dashboards. See Accessing the real-time monitoring dashboards.
Review the available dashboards:
Incoming tickets
Ticket progress
Agent productivity


If you want to use the full set of real-time messaging dashboards, make sure omnichannel routing is configured where required.
Apply filters and drill into the dashboards to focus on the brands, groups, channels, and agents you want to monitor.

You can’t create custom reports in real-time monitoring. However, you can use filters and drill-ins to review ticket and agent activity in more detail.



Setting up the Explore Messaging dashboard

Use the Explore Messaging dashboard if you need historical reporting for messaging performance and trends.
To set up the Explore Messaging dashboard

Open the Zendesk Messaging dashboard in Explore.
Review the prebuilt reports available in the dashboard.
Identify the reports that match the metrics you tracked in Chat analytics.
If needed, create custom reports in Explore to support your reporting requirements.
Validate your filters, date ranges, and datasets so your reports reflect the messaging activity you want to measure.

For more information, see Analyzing your messaging tickets.



Comparing Chat analytics and messaging reporting

Many Chat analytics metrics have equivalent or near-equivalent metrics in messaging reporting. In some cases, there isn’t a direct match because messaging workflows differ from chat workflows.
Use the following tables to identify where common Chat analytics metrics appear in real-time monitoring or the Explore Messaging dashboard.


Monitoring data











Chat metric
Real-time monitoring
Explore messaging reporting
Notes




Chat Analytics or Chat engagements dataset
N/A
Messaging dataset and Messaging engagement dataset
Messaging reporting may require a different dataset than the one you used for Chat.


Monitor or Live data dashboard in Explore
Real-time monitoring dashboards
N/A
Use real-time monitoring for live operational visibility.


Visitor list for monitoring agents
Agent productivity real-time dashboard
Agent productivity reporting



Visitor list for monitoring queues

Incoming tickets and In-progress tickets

Incoming tickets reporting








Metrics for ticket volume











Chat metric
Real-time monitoring
Explore messaging reporting
Notes




Chats
Active conversations in queue
Messaging tickets
Messaging tickets count tickets created from messaging channels, not chat sessions


Completed chats
Solved tickets
Solved tickets



Missed inbound chats
Missed conversations
Missed conversations (workflow-dependent)



Dropped chats
N/A
No direct equivalent
Messaging conversations are persistent, so dropped chats don’t map directly.


Transferred chats
Reassigned messaging tickets
Reassigned messaging tickets



Offline messages
Messaging tickets created outside of business hours
Messaging tickets created outside of business hours








Metrics for customer experience











Chat metric
Real-time monitoring
Explore messaging reporting
Notes




% Chat satisfaction score
Satisfaction (overall)
Good satisfaction tickets
The calculation method may differ between tools.


Chat duration (sec)
Chat duration
Full resolution time (min)
These metrics are related, but they don’t measure exactly the same behavior.


Chat wait time (sec)
Wait time
First reply time (sec)



Chat first reply time (sec)
Response time
First reply time (sec)
In messaging, first reply time doesn’t include bot replies in the same way Chat can.


Chat average reply time (sec)
Response time
Requester wait time average (sec)



Chat agent messages
N/A
Agent messages



Chat visitor messages
N/A
Requester messages



Assignments
N/A
Assignee stations, Assignee changes, or assignment-related metrics








Metrics for agent and queue monitoring











Chat metric
Real-time monitoring
Explore messaging reporting
Notes




Chat wait time
N/A
Assignment to first reply (sec)



Engagement duration (min)
Average and longest handle time
Handle time (min)



% Assignment acceptance rate
Agent productivity metrics
Acceptance rate



Time spent online/away/invisible
Agent availability views
Agent time in state



Average concurrency
Capacity in use
Agent average used capacity







Monitoring queues and agents in real time

If you used Chat Monitor, Live data dashboard, or Visitor List in Chat, the following real-time monitoring dashboards are the closest messaging equivalents:








Chat metric
Real-time monitoring equivalent




Queue
Incoming tickets


Wait time

Incoming tickets and Ticket progress



Response time
Ticket progress


Chat duration
Ticket progress


Currently served chats
Agent productivity


Chats per agent
Agent productivity


Drill down into agents
Agent productivity


Drill down into queues
Incoming tickets









Understanding common reporting changes after migration

After you migrate from Chat to messaging, you may notice changes in reported volume, wait time, first reply time, and handle time. These changes are often caused by differences between chat and messaging workflows rather than by a reporting error.
This section includes the following reporting changes:

Increase in first reply time for messaging tickets vs chat tickets
Increase in ticket volume after migration
Increase in agent handle time



Increase in first reply time for messaging tickets vs chat tickets

Issue: You notice an increase in first reply time after moving to messaging.
Possible causes include:


Account uses custom bot in Chat

In Chat, first reply time can include the AI agent’s first response.
In messaging, first reply time measures the time from handoff to the first human
agent reply.



Messaging ticket volume has increased

More tickets in queue can increase first reply time.



Wait time in queue has increased

Reopened or unassigned messaging tickets can affect response times.



Agent handle time has increased

If agents hold capacity longer or tickets are reassigned frequently, first reply
time can increase.



For a more accurate comparison, compare Chat engagement-based first reply metrics with messaging assignment-to-first-reply metrics where appropriate.
Recommended actions:

Create reports with the following KPIs for messaging and Chat:
Messaging ticket volume.
First assignment or queue wait time.
Reassignment volume.
Agent acceptance rate.
Agent handle time.






Increase in ticket volume after migration

Issue: You notice more messaging tickets than you previously saw in Chat reporting.
Possible cause: Messaging reporting can include conversations that were handled differently in Chat, including tickets created outside business hours and conversations that remain active across a longer lifecycle.
Recommended actions:

Review how your reporting handles:
Tickets created outside business hours.
Reopened conversations.
Workflow-driven conversation handling.


Use business-hours-based metrics where appropriate to exclude time spent waiting outside scheduled support hours.
Review your routing and workflow configuration if you want messaging behavior to more closely match your previous Chat workflows.



Increase in wait time due to agent capacity

Issue: Agents aren’t releasing capacity quickly enough.
Recommended actions:

Turn on automatic capacity release.
Adjust the inactivity timeout to match your support workflow.
Review whether agents are setting ticket status appropriately when work is complete or waiting on the customer.

Issue: Tickets are being reassigned frequently.
Recommended actions:

Review agent acceptance rate.
Turn on automatic conversation acceptance if it fits your workflow.
Review your skills and capacity rules.

Issue: Reopened messaging tickets are holding agent capacity.
Recommended actions:

Turn on omnichannel routing if you haven’t already.
Configure omnichannel routing to reassign reopened messaging tickets to available agents.




Increase in resolution time

Issue: Resolution time increases after migration.
Possible causes include:

The same ticket stays open longer and is reused for multiple customer interactions.
Your account uses a returning-user conversational style, which can extend the lifecycle of a messaging ticket.

Recommended actions:

Review your ticket lifecycle and solve workflow.
Make sure agents solve tickets when the issue is resolved.
Adjust your reporting expectations to account for the longer-lived nature of messaging conversations.





Increase in agent handle time

Issue: Agent handle time increases after migration.
Recommended actions:

Review whether agents are releasing capacity promptly.
Turn on automatic capacity release.
Review whether agents are moving tickets to Pending, On-hold, or Solved when appropriate.




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