What is an USER?
All users who visited the website or app where Channel Talk plug-in is installed (including anonymous users, leads, and members)
Anonymous User
Users who have visited the site or app but have no registered information
Includes an unspecified number of people who have never had a chat conversation nor entered their information.
Lead
Users with previous chat history or have contact information
Includes user information transferred from external messenger integration without creating a new chat.
This does not include users who have not replied back after receiving messages from the marketing or support bot.
Member
Users who have member ID(memberId) information on the website or app.
After an anonymous user or lead logs in or signs up, they will become a member.
When an anonymous user visits our site, we store information regarding the user's browser's cookie(wikipedia) and local storage and identify each anonymous user.
Each user's cookie has a veil ID (key) and contain unique value information. A cookie value called ch-veil-id and is used to identify users individually.
Yes, we collect anonymous user information.
However, anonymous user information cannot be viewed on the Channel Talk desk until an anonymous user starts a chat conversation, enters contact information to become a lead, or logs in and becomes a member.
Anonymous user information is stored for 90 days.
Anonymous users can reset cookie values directly in their browser settings at any time if they wish. (Clear Browser History menu)
If one year has passed since the boot time of the last page a user accessed on the site, it will be automatically reset.
When a chat opens and they have a chat history
When a user responds to a marketing message
When a user makes a chat inquiry without entering any contact information on the site
When a user makes a chat inquiry through external messengers (Line, Instagram) without contact information
When user contact information is entered
When a user enters a mobile phone or email address in the contact form for follow-up notification
When the user has linked information with external messengers (Instagram messenger and others)
When the user logs in by clicking the external messenger icon in the chat lounge (even without user chat)
When the manager manually inputs user information into the Contacts (via open API, CSV upload, etc.)
Lead is another word for a potential customer.
From the moment of contact, anonymous users begin to have a connection with your business and this becomes an opportunity to turn them into customers that can lead to actual purchases.
Turning anonymous users passing by our service into leads is the starting point for finding VIP customers.
Why is it good to have more VIP customers?
80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, asserting an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs.
- Pareto Principle -
The cost of acquiring new customers is increasing. That is why each anonymous user who voluntarily visits your site is very precious. You need to convert them into leads and turn them into repeat customers!
Channel Talk provides a chatbot function that helps you collect customer contact information easily. (→ Learn more about Follow-up Notifications)
If your leads have left their contact information, Channel Talk's powerful follow-up feature allows you to send a message back to customers who have left your site, encouraging them to come back.
Don’t miss any customers by setting up follow-up notifications.
You can also sent marketing messages targeting those that have left your site and has not visited since. (→ Learn more about Marketing messages)
Channel Talk classifies customer contact information into verified information and unverified information, giving priority to reliable (verified) information.
Unqualified: Non-verified customer information
Contact information entered directly by the user
E.g.)
Information entered by the user from the contact form for follow-up notifications or the workflow form
Qualified: Verified customer information
All customer profile information except information entered by the user
E.g.)
Contacts directly edited by the agents in customer information
Data integrated from your own website via integration scripts
Information entered through the API
Contact details updated by uploading a CSV file
Why do we need verified information?
If the verified information matches the existing member information, it can be unified immediately.
Channel Talk unifies both profile information into one profile. (→ Learn more about Unification)
How long is the lead's information kept?
Lead information will be automatically deleted once the retention period has passed, starting from the last interaction with the lead.
Interaction criteria: chatting, website visits, receiving marketing messages, updating customer contact information, etc.
Category
Retention Period
Automatic Deletion Criteria
Leads stored before 8/14/2024
2 years
Deleted 2 years after last interaction
Leads after 8/14/2024
• Existing leads with interactions
• Newly stored leads
3 years
Deleted 3 years after last interaction
Yes, you can delete saved lead information if needed.
If the CSV file data does not include memberId, the information will be saved as a lead in customer contacts.
To ensure this, check whether the data includes memberId when uploading the file.
When uploading a file, please check whether the data contains memberId.
If any of the uploaded information matches an existing member, a manager can review and merge the user information. (→ Unification)
It’s not possible with Excel files, but you can do it through a CSV file.Add multiple new user information at once or update existing user information. (→ Learn more)
Yes, you can install it in the app and track leads using Channel Talk mobile SDK (iOS, Android, React Native).
However, even if the lead saved on the web and the lead saved on the mobile app are the same person, Channel Talk cannot automatically recognize the same user.
If different leads log in with the same member ID, they are viewed as one member and unified. (→ Unification)
Members are identified through memberId value in user information.
The memberId is a value given if the user is logged in when Channel Talk is booted. This is the value used as the member ID in most websites and mobile apps. If a user has member ID information, the user is recognized as a specific member.
For websites built by web builders, it is installed to identify members by default.(Developer guide)
For custom websites, please install it by referring to the developer guide. (Developer guide)
When a user or lead registers or logs in, memberId information is identified as a member.
Member information will be automatically deleted once the retention period has passed, starting from the last interaction with the lead.
Interaction criteria: chatting, website visits, receiving marketing messages, updating user contact information, etc.
Category
Retention Period
Automatic Deletion Criteria
Leads stored before 8/14/2024
2 years
Deleted 2 years after last interaction
Leads after 8/14/2024
• Existing member with interactions
• Newly stored member
3 years
Deleted 3 years after last interaction
To protect customer information safely, we provide a customer information encryption(Member Hash) feature.
For custom websites, you can encrypt and secure customer information by referring to the developer guide.
In an environment where security is important, use the following method (requires developer’s assistance)
In your browser’s cookies, there is one named ch-session. When a user logs out of the website, if this cookie is deleted and the site is re-booted without the memberId information, the Channel Talk data will be reset.
However, this method is not the default setting for Channel Talk and is not recommended.
If you reset immediately, when a customer logs out, they are immediately identified as a new anonymous user, which may increase the MU level unnecessarily.
Channel Talk user information is maintained for a 30-minute session after logging out and this provides a natural experience for customers.