Chat Channels

Digital chat channels are separate from their NiCE CXone counterparts. In Digital Experience (DX), chat interactions route to the agent's digital inbox Area where cases appear in the digital interaction workspace in an agent application. and not the agent application's chat or email workspaces. Also, routing of Digital Experience (DX) chat messages happens through digital skills or routing queues Digital Experience (DX) equivalent of a skill; routes each contact to an agent assigned to handle that type of contact. and filters.

Digital Experience (DX) offers two options for chat channels:

Live chat allows customers and agents to interact in real time.
Chat messaging is asynchronous. Customers can send a chat message at any time and wait for a response from an agent. The experience is much like a private direct messaging channel. Chat messaging also supports multiple threads. This means that customers can have more than one chat, potentially with more than one agent, happening simultaneously.

Supported Features in Chat

Digital live chat and chat messaging support the following features:

Contact authentication through your OAuth provider, using:
- The authorization code flow, optionally with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE).
- The implicit flow, which doesn't use a client secret.
You can set up authentication by configuring the point of contact The entry point that an inbound contact uses to initiate an interaction, such as a phone number or email address. and customizing your chat channel with JavaScript. To set up a channel for the implicit flow, ask your NiCE CXone to enable it for your system.
Contact authentication using secured cookies.
Text preview, customizable pop-ups, customizable common phrases, and custom fields.
Rich messaging content, such as HTML, rich links, list pickers, and quick replies.
Customizable restrictions on attachment file size and type.
A placeholder icon for images sent in the chat not supported by the browser.
Generating links from other channels.
Escalation to chat from digital email.
An in-chat game (Snake) that customers can play while waiting for agents to respond by chat (requires script customization).
Helper View, where others can view and comment on chats.
Video calls and co-browsing (requires integration with Surfly; contact your account representative for more information).
Satisfaction surveys.
Advanced customization using script commands.
Bot integration with structured rich content such as rich links, galleries, and quick replies. For messages delivered by Cognigy AI virtual agents, digital chat channels support xApps.
A persistent navigation menu that gives contacts quick access to common options while they chat with a Cognigy AI virtual agent. The menu is available in the redesigned chat window when the channel's virtual agent is Cognigy AI. Selecting a menu item sends its text to the conversation. NiCE CXone must enable this option for your system. Contact your account representative. You set up the menu items in your Cognigy AI system.
Streaming responses for conversations with bots. The contact sees the bot's response line by line as it happens, rather than the entire message at once.
Group chat, where agents as well as contacts can invite other people into a chat conversation.

Support for xApps

For messages delivered by Cognigy AI virtual agents, digital chat channels support xApps. This allows you to run interactive micro-web applications within the same chat window. For example, you can capture documents, accept payments, or making bookings without requiring the contact to leave the chat window.

Cognigy AI sends the xApp content to digital chat. The chat window shows the xApp as a message the contact can open in an overlay, or it opens the overlay automatically depending on how the virtual agent is configured. The contact works with the xApp inside the overlay. NiCE CXone does not process the overlay's content.

Using xApps requires digital chat channels set up with Cognigy AI virtual agents. You must use the redesigned chat window. For conversations in the classic chat window, contacts receive a text link instead. Configure xApps in your Cognigy AI management portal.

Integration with Other Applications

If your organization offers an app for your customers to use, you can integrate your chat channel into your app so your customers have the option to chat with your organization from within the app.

Digital live chat and chat messaging integrate with several NiCE CXone WEM products:

Recording Management (CXone)with screen recording: If your organization uses this feature, you can record agents' chats, then search for and play the recordings.
QM: If your organization uses this feature, you can you can evaluate chats along with other interactions.
Interaction Analytics (CXone): If your organization uses this feature, you can use it to analyze sentiment in digital live chat and chat messaging. The sentiment indicators in digital chat cases are also based on Interaction Analytics (CXone) sentiment analysis.

Key Facts about Digital Chat

Currently, live chat channels support Adaptive Cards Platform-independent method of sending rich media content. in MAX, but not in Agent Workspace (Agent).

Digital Experience (DX) chat uses cookies by default.
Customers waiting in the queue can send messages before an agent connects. These messages display below the queue counter. If multiple messages are sent, their content may not be fully visible to the agent.
In compliance with digital regulations, the interface explicitly indicates when a contact is interacting with an AI-powered application or bot versus a live agent. You can toggle this on or off at the channel level depending on your regional needs.
Each messaging session has a total limit of 200 messages. If the agent and the contact exchange more than 200 messages, the chat closes automatically. This may prevent end-of-chat actions from happening. For example, WFA jobs may not get triggered, surveys or forms may not get shared, or APIs may fail to pass chat data to third-party platforms like a CRM Third-party systems that manage such things as contacts, sales information, support details, and case histories.. This applies to all types of messaging channels.

Chat Channel Setup

The process of setting up a chat channel differs slightly depending on which type of chat you want your channel to use.

Set up your live chat or chat messaging channel.
Configure the chat channel. You can customize the appearance of the chat widget, add a precontact survey form to the chat experience, modify common and automated chat phrases, and so on. To further fine tune the appearance and behavior of chat, you can use JavaScript customization.
Determine how to enable digital chat on your website:
- Use Digital Experience (DX): If you already enabled chat using Digital Experience (DX), you can continue with that approach or switch to using Guide.
- Use Guide: If you started using digital chat in the fall of 2024 or later, you must enable chat by using Guide engagement rules. Additionally, to enable a chat channel to use the redesigned chat UI that supports the entire chat process when displayed in Guide, you must enable the redesign at the channel level.
  When using Guide to display chat, the Guide settings have a higher priority for evaluation than the digital chat settings themselves. In particular:
  - Engagement Rules: Engagement rules determine how Guide appears and interacts with users, similar to how Workflow Automation can control behaviors for chat channels. Guide engagement rules override conflicting Workflow Automation triggers and jobs as well as any other conflicting chat settings.
  - Language Variants: You can modify labels for chat interface elements. If you edit these with Guide, whatever you change there may override similar settings configured for chat from the Points of Contact Digital page.
  - Precontact Survey: When you create a Guide entry point, you can select a precontact web survey to assign to that channel. This overrides any other precontact survey forms assigned to the same channel from ACD > Digital > Forms.