Live chat when nobody's online: office hours and away messages that work

The most common worry we hear about live chat is "but I can't be online all day". You don't need to be. Visitors don't expect a two-person business to answer at midnight. What they don't like is writing into a chat that looks open, then hearing nothing.

So the goal isn't to be always online. It's to be clear: when you answer, what happens outside those times, and how people will hear back. Here's how to set that up.

Set office hours

Start with the hours you can really cover, not the hours you'd like to. If you answer chats between appointments from 9 to 5 on weekdays, those are your hours. You can always add more later.

In Quarito, turn on office hours and set them in your own time zone. You can give a day two blocks of hours, for example around lunch. Outside them, the chat shows you as away, even if someone happens to be signed in, and tells visitors when you'll be back, in their own time.

Tip: if your hours change for a holiday, update your away message too, so it names the day you're back.

Hide the chat, or keep taking messages?

When nobody's around, you have two honest choices. Neither is wrong; they suit different businesses.

Most small businesses do best keeping the chat open: a question at 10pm is still a customer, and a reply at 9am is often fine. You choose this once for office hours and once for when nobody is online.

Write an away message that sets expectations

A good away message answers three questions: are you there, when will you reply, and how will they hear back?

• Too vague: "We're offline. Leave a message."
• Better: "We're away right now. Leave your message and email, and we'll reply first thing tomorrow."
• Best for busy days: "Everyone's helping other customers. Leave your question here and we'll reply within the hour."

More ready-made versions are in our message templates.

Ask for an email, so you can reply later

A message from someone who has closed the tab is hard to answer if you don't know who they are. Asking for a name and email before the chat starts fixes that. You can make it optional with a Skip button, or required. Required is the safer choice when you're away a lot; optional feels friendlier when you're usually around.

Visitors can also send themselves a copy of the conversation by email, so they have your answer even after they leave.

Let your help center answer at night

Many after-hours questions have the same answers as daytime ones: prices, opening times, how to book, what's included. Put those answers in a help center, and people can find them at 2am without waiting for anyone. Then mention it in your away message: "While you wait, our help center might have the answer: [link]".

Use your status during the day

Even inside office hours, you won't be free every minute. Set yourself to Away during a meeting and back to Online after, and new chats go to whoever is available. With a team, chats can be shared out automatically to the online person with the fewest open chats, so nobody's buried while someone else sits idle. More about status and notifications.

Pick up where you left off

1. Open the inbox and answer overnight messages first, oldest first.
2. Use the visitor's name and refer to their question, so they know a person read it.
3. If a chat needs a colleague, assign it to them in one click.
4. Mark chats that wait on the customer as Pending, so Open shows only what needs you.

In short

Be honest about your hours, say when you'll reply, ask for an email so you can, and let a help center cover the easy questions. That's all it takes for live chat to work for a business that isn't online all day. Try Quarito free: office hours, away messages and a help center are on every plan.