Choosing and implementing your conversational style

<div class="col-md-9">
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
With messaging, you can choose the conversational style that
best fits your business and customer experience. A conversational
style determines how long messaging conversations stay open
and how customers continue an existing conversation.
</p>
<p class="p">
Use this article to compare the available conversational
styles and understand the high-level workflow for implementing
each one. For detailed setup instructions, follow the linked
configuration articles.
</p>
<p class="p">This article covers the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_choosing_and_implementing_your_conversational_style__ul_article_topics">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_comparing_conversational_styles">Comparing conversational styles</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_choosing_the_right_style_for_your_workflow">Choosing the right style for your workflow</a>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_choosing_and_implementing_your_conversational_style__ul_related_articles">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6088892450586" target="_blank">Conversational styles in messaging</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6088983050138" target="_blank">Configuring the live chat conversational style</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6088999921434" target="_blank">Configuring the live chat conversational style for returning customers</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_comparing_conversational_styles">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Comparing conversational styles</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_comparing_conversational_styles__table_conversational_styles" rules="all" summary="" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto;">
<colgroup>
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<col>
</colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d79e160" style="vertical-align: top;">Conversational style</th>
<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d79e163" style="vertical-align: top;">Best option for</th>
<th class="entry cell-norowborder" id="d79e166" style="vertical-align: top;">Basic workflow</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d79e160" style="vertical-align: top;">
<strong class="ph b">Live chat</strong>
<p class="p">
<em class="ph i">Single set of synchronous live interactions
with a clear start</em>
</p>
</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d79e163" style="vertical-align: top;">
Transactional businesses, simple support
issues, organizations using the Web Widget
as their primary conversational channel,
and teams migrating from Chat.
</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d79e166" style="vertical-align: top;">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886797466" target="_blank">Create a Support ticket trigger</a>
that closes messaging tickets soon after
they’re solved. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6088983050138" target="_blank">Configuring the live chat conversational style</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d79e160" style="vertical-align: top;">
<strong class="ph b">Returning customer/reopened conversations</strong>
<p class="p">
<em class="ph i">Multiple
sets of live interactions</em>
</p>
</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d79e163" style="vertical-align: top;">
Businesses whose customers often return
within a short period of time to continue
the same conversation, and teams that
want a short reopen window after a conversation
is solved.
</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d79e166" style="vertical-align: top;">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883801626" target="_blank">Create a Support automation</a>
that closes solved messaging tickets
after a short delay, such as one hour.
See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6088999921434" target="_blank">Configuring the live chat conversational style for returning customers</a>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d79e160" style="vertical-align: top;">
<strong class="ph b">Social messaging/asynchronous conversations</strong>
<p class="p">
<em class="ph i">Multiple
live and non-live interactions</em>
</p>
</td>
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d79e163" style="vertical-align: top;">
Less transactional businesses, complex
issues that take longer to resolve, and
workflows that require coordination with
other teams or third parties.
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d79e166" style="vertical-align: top;">
Use the standard Support automation that
closes solved tickets after several days,
or adjust the timing to fit your workflow.
See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835051546" target="_blank">About the standard Support automations</a>
and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883801626" target="_blank">Creating and managing automations for time-based events</a>.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_choosing_the_right_style_for_your_workflow">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Choosing the right style for your workflow</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Choose a conversational style based on how your customers
typically interact with your business and how long you
want conversations to remain open.
</p>
<p class="p">Use the following guidance:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_choosing_the_right_style_for_your_workflow__ul_workflow_guidance">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Choose the live chat conversational style</strong>
if your support interactions are short, transactional,
and usually resolved in a single session.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Choose the returning customer conversational style</strong>
if customers often come back shortly after a conversation
is solved and need to continue discussing the same
issue.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Choose the social messaging conversational style</strong>
if conversations often continue over a longer period
of time or require follow-up across teams.
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">
If you're migrating from Chat, the live chat conversational
style or returning customer conversational style is often
the best starting point.
</p>
</div>
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