Many customers ask us how they can request customer name or email before customer is able to start a chat. Answer is pre-chat form. This feature can be enabled for each LiveAgent chat button. Navigate to Configuration->Chat->Chat buttons and either click Create in order to create a button or click Edit in order to edit an existing chat button.
After you edit your chat button you have to check the check-box for: Request information by pre chat form, when chat button is clicked. that can be found on the Overview tab. After it's checked a new Pre chat from tab is added to your chat button configuration.
Pre chat form tab allows you to configure the main attributes of the actual pre-chat form. The logo displayed on the form, form title and form confirmation message that would be displayed after the form is submitted. You can also enable if this form should contain a knowledgebase suggestion section. In this section customer can see a list of your knowledgebase articles suggested to him based on the content of his actual message.
This Pre chat form tab has two additional sub-tabs. First one being the Design tab. On this tab you can select one of the predefined form styles and also customize form colors and CSS.
Second tab is the Fields tab. On this tab you can add or remove form fields, change their order and of course titles of these fields. On the right side you can see the actual preview of your pre chat form. You can also enable option Let visitors choose department. This option will include another field in your form that will allow visitor to choose the department he wants to contact. When form is submitted the chat is automatically routed to the department selected by the visitor.