Pre-Chat Questionnaire Settings

The Pre-Chat Questionnaire Settings feature allows businesses to personalize the chat experience on their website. Before a conversation begins, users can create custom fields in the chat window, such as name, email, preferred service, query type, or any other details based on specific business needs.

This helps capture important information from visitors before the chat starts, allowing your support or sales team to offer faster and more personalized responses. All the data collected is stored as response records in Dynamics 365 CRM, making it easy to manage leads, track interactions, and enhance customer service.

To configure pre-chat Questionnaires, follow the below steps:

Go to configurations.

Click on the “Questionnaire” tab

Under “questionnaire settings,” select “Pre-Chat Questionnaire ” to “Yes”.

Pre-Interval:

Choose "Once" if you want to store the user response only once in Dynamics 365 CRM.

Choose "Every time" if you want to store the user response in Dynamics 365 CRM every time user fill the form.

Pre-Chat Questionnaire Customization:

Go to Configuration.

Open the settings where you manage LiveChat4Dynamics.

Now, click on New Questionnaire from the subgrid below the Questionnaire Setting section.

Set a Name for Your Form

Give your pre-chat form a clear and meaningful name—something like Customer Inquiry Form—so it's easy to identify.

Choose the Form Type

Select custom fields that need to be displayed on the website visitor chat window.

Here, from the options, select “Pre Chat” since this questionnaire form will appear before the live chat starts.

Set as Default (Optional)

To set this pre-questionnaire as the default record

Default Create Record

This field is used to define a default customer record type that will be automatically created if no existing customer matches the selected identifier fields from all the created record types. It displays a list of available record types related to the configuration. If the system cannot find a match from the listed customer identifiers, it will automatically create a new record using the selected record type from this field and link it to the chat conversation. This ensures that every chat is associated with a valid customer record in Dynamics 365 CRM, helping maintain clean and complete data.

Now, click on “New Message Template” below the “General” section and create fields for the pre-chat form.

Each Message Template record created under the Pre-Chat Questionnaire acts as a separate field in the chat form shown to website visitors before a conversation begins.

When you click on “New Message Template”, you can create specific fields for your pre-chat form.

For example, if you add a message like “Enter Your Full Name”, it will appear as a field where the visitor can enter their name before starting the chat.

This allows businesses to design a customized pre-chat form with fields that match their needs—such as name, email, query type, or any other important detail.

Now, click on the field to configure.

Template Type

This field is automatically populated to “Pre Chat” as the template type. This means the form will appear before the user starts the live chat.

Choose Question Data Type

Pick the type of input you want for the question:

• Single Line Text – Used to enter short pieces of text like names, emails, or titles. Example: Name: John Doe Email: [email protected]

• Single Select Option – Let’s the user pick only one option from a list. Ideal when only one answer is allowed. Example: Select Department: [ Sales ] [ Marketing ] [ Customer Rep ]

• Multi Select Option – Allows users to choosMulti-Selectone option. Great for multiple skills or preferences. Example: Select Category: [✔] Electronics [✔] Clothing [ ] Footwear

• Whole Number – Used for number-only inputs with no decimals. Best for things like age or phone numbers. Example: Age: 30 Phone Number: 9876543210

If the user selects either the Single Select Option or Multi Select Option, the corresponding option field will be auto-populated on the form.

a) When the Default Create Record Field is not selected:

Users can manually input comma-separated custom values to populate the option set on the form. For instance, to capture gender-specific information, the user can define the options as: "Male, Female".

b) When the Default Create Record Field is selected:

For example, if the user selects the "Account" entity under the Default Create Record Field and chooses either "Single Select Option" or "Multi-Select Option" for the Question Data Type, a list of fields from the Account entity will be displayed.

The user can then select the desired field based on which the record should be created.

Map Response In

This field lets you link the answer from a pre-chat question to a specific field in the record that will be created (like a Lead or Contact). It only shows fields that match the type of answer you're collecting.

For example, if the question is “Enter your name,” it will only display name-related fields like First Name, Last Name, etc., from the selected record type record.

In short, it helps make sure each response is saved in the correct place inside your CRM, keeping your data organized and easy to use.

Set as Visitor Name

• Select “Yes” if you want this field to show as the user's profile name on the live chat window. • Select “No” if you don’t want it displayed.

When you enable this option, the current Message Template record will act as the Name field in your website's chat window. This means whatever question or field you set here—like “Enter Your Name”—will show up in the chat form before the conversation starts. The answer entered by the visitor will also be shown in the chat record inside your CRM.

For example, if you create a message template with the question “Enter Your Full Name” and enable this setting, it will be used as the name field in both the chat form and the CRM record. This is usually enabled for the Name field, so you can easily identify who is chatting with you.

Set as Customer Identifier

• Choose “Yes” if this field should be used to identify the customer in your CRM. • Choose “No” if it’s not needed as an identifier.

When this is enabled, the field works as a unique identifier, helping the system search through customer records and link the chat to the right person.

For example, if you set the Email or Phone Number field as a customer identifier, the system will use that information to look for a match in your CRM and link the chat to that record. This is usually done for fields like Email or Phone Number, since they are unique to each customer.

Similarly, you can configure other fields that need to be displayed under website visitor chat as given below: