Help with Live Agent Handoff: Operator messages not appearing in chat UI
Hi everyone,
I'm struggling with a live agent handoff integration and could use some expert advice. My goal is to allow a user in the Voiceflow web chat to have a real-time conversation with an operator from Zoho SalesIQ.
The core question is: Is it possible for two different parties (the end-user and a live operator sending messages via the API) to have a back-and-forth conversation within the standard Voiceflow chat widget?
Here is my current setup:
A user in the Voiceflow chat is handed off to a Zoho operator.
I'm using Make.com as middleware. When the Zoho operator sends a message, it triggers a webhook to my Make.com scenario.
The Make.com scenario then calls the Voiceflow Dialog Manager API (/state/user/{userID}/interact) to push the operator's message into the chat.
The Problem:
I can't get the operator's message to appear in the chat UI. I get a 200 OK response from the API, but nothing shows up for the user.
I've tried two main approaches for the API payload:
Using a "request" payload: This makes the Voiceflow agent reply to the operator, which I don't want.
Using an "action": { "type": "speak" } payload: This correctly stops the agent from replying, but the message still doesn't appear in the UI, even when I specify the versionID: "production" header.
I've been working on this for a while and have hit a wall. I'm starting to wonder if this kind of two-way live chat is only possible with a custom-built front-end, rather than the standard web widget.
Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
18 Replies
not today, we're working on live agent handoff where the live agent can chat inside the vf chat widget
when will be ready , we are desperate for that
what platform are you using? it's very platform dependant, we have it live today for a few customers but we needed to build custom integrations to each platform, each time @Behzad
@Braden We are using Voiceflow in Tokyo, and live agent handoff inside the widget is essential for our customers. We have an expo next week and would really like to showcase this feature if it is available.
I meant what platform though for live agent handoff? What I mean is, where do the live agents work from? Genesys, Zendesk, etc
@Behzad
Oh, we want to use Zendesk.
Our plan is to have the Voiceflow widget switch to live mode and let the human agents reply from Zendesk.
Our plan is to have the Voiceflow widget switch to live mode and let the human agents reply from Zendesk.
Got it, yeah we're going to add Zendesk live agent hand-off soon! Right now we have Ujet, DialogFlow, and Genesys
@Braden (Voiceflow CEO), I have one more request. This functionality (refresh rate) is not available in the API yet,
but we need it in order to integrate Voiceflow properly into our platform.@@alikian
but we need it in order to integrate Voiceflow properly into our platform.@@alikian
We are also considering using Chatwoot.
The API though is a POST to voiceflow, not a syncing GET request @Behzad
what is chatwoot for? @Behzad
It is an open-source platform for live-chat handoff to human agents.
We are considering using one of these platforms for live-chat handoff:
https://www.chatwoot.com
https://www.rocket.chat
got it!
My developer has question @alikian
https://discord.com/channels/@me/1234010254900068456
We're exploring integrating chatwoot in to FlowBridge Connect (https://flowbridge.app) to support conversational management on social channels. We don't have a custom webchat component right now so it's more difficult to get done for webchat.
Do you have a custom webchat component or are you using the Voiceflow provided chat component?
Currently we don’t have a custom web chat widget. We are planning to develop our own widget shortly.
Ok. I’m currently actively exploring the whole conversational manager part of the platform, potentially could be useful for you depending on the direction we go
Thanks, Mike. Please keep me posted on your progress. Since we’re building our own webchat widget, your conversational manager could fit very well with our direction.