Overview Hide surveys from agents until chat is accepted
The "Hide surveys from agents until chat is accepted" feature prevents agents from seeing pre-chat survey responses while engagements are waiting in the queue. This helps provide fair distribution of chats and prevents agents from selectively choosing which conversations to accept based on the visitor's information (commonly known as "cherry-picking").
Benefits
Fair Distribution - All agents see the same limited information until they accept
Prevents Cherry-Picking - Agents cannot avoid difficult or time-consuming chats
Supervisor Visibility - Administrators and managers maintain full visibility for monitoring purposes
Automatic Reveal - Survey data appears instantly when an agent accepts the chat
How to Enable This Feature
Configuration Location
1. Log in to the Velaro Admin Console
2. Navigate to Workflows > Routing
3. Find the checkbox labeled: "Hide surveys from agents until chat is accepted"
4. Check the box to enable the feature
5. Save your changes
Configuration Scope
This setting can be configured at:
- Site Level - Applies to all groups across your entire site
- Group Level - Applies to specific agent groups (overrides site-level setting)
How It Works
What Agents See When Enabled:
| Chat Status | Agent View | Admin/Manager View |
|----------------------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| In Queue | Survey responses are HIDDEN | Full survey responses visible
| After Accepting | Full survey responses visible | Full survey responses visible
Admin View:
When Disabled:
- All users see survey responses immediately when the chat enters the queue
Role-Based Visibility
The feature applies different visibility rules based on user roles:
Regular Agents (Survey Hidden)
- Agents without elevated permissions
- Cannot see pre-chat or post-chat survey responses while chat is queued
- Surveys appear immediately upon accepting the engagement
Administrators & Managers (Survey Visible)
- Site Administrators
- Site Managers
- Group Managers
- Viewer Role Users
These roles can ALWAYS see survey responses, even when the feature is enabled. This is by design to allow supervisors to:
- Monitor the quality of incoming engagements
- Identify urgent or high-priority chats
- Provide oversight without restricting their view
What Information is Hidden
When this feature is enabled, agents cannot see:
- Pre-chat survey responses (all questions)
- Post-chat survey responses (if visitor previously chatted)
- Custom form fields submitted during chat initiation
- Any visitor-provided information from surveys
Agents CAN still see:
- Visitor's current page URL
- Wait time in queue
- Queue position
- Routing group assignment
- Any system-generated information (browser, location, etc.)
Important Behaviors & Limitations
1. Administrator Bypass (By Design)
Administrators, Managers, and Viewers always see survey information regardless of this setting.
This allows supervisors to:
- Monitor queue quality and visitor intent
- Intervene on urgent or sensitive matters
- Oversee team performance without restriction
- Identify training opportunities
Note: There is currently no setting to hide surveys from administrators. This is an intentional design decision to maintain supervisor oversight.
2. Instant Reveal on Acceptance
The moment an agent accepts a queued chat:
- All survey responses become immediately visible
- The agent can review the information before sending their first message
- No information is permanently hidden - only temporarily during the queue phase
3. Both Pre-Chat and Post-Chat Surveys
This setting affects both types of surveys:
- Pre-chat surveys (completed before starting the chat)
- Post-chat surveys from previous engagements with the same visitor
You cannot configure these separately - both are hidden or both are visible.
4. Interaction with Compliance Mode
If your site uses Compliance Mode (available as an add-on to the Enterprise Subscription) and has disabled pre-chat surveys in that mode:
- Compliance Mode settings take precedence
- Surveys will be hidden for ALL users (including administrators)
- This overrides the "Hide surveys while queued" setting
Common Use Cases
Use Case 1: Prevent Agent Cherry-Picking
Problem: Agents avoid chats that appear complex or time-consuming based on survey responses.
Solution: Enable "Hide surveys while queued" to make agents accept chats fairly without knowing the visitor's specific needs in advance.
Use Case 2: High-Volume Sales Teams
Problem: Sales agents only accept leads that appear most promising, leaving other visitors waiting.
Solution: Hide surveys to create a fair queue where all visitors receive equal response times.
Use Case 3: Customer Support Fairness
Problem: Support agents avoid technical or billing-related issues, creating backlogs in specific categories.
Solution: Hide survey responses so agents accept the next available chat regardless of the issue type.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I hide surveys from administrators?
A: No, administrators, managers, group managers, and viewer-role users always see survey information. This is by design to maintain supervisor oversight and monitoring capabilities.
Q: Will this affect routing rules?
A: No, routing rules still function normally. This feature only controls what agents *see* in the UI, it doesn't change how chats are distributed or routed.
Q: What happens if an agent doesn't accept the chat?
A: The survey information remains hidden. If the chat is reassigned or goes to another agent, that agent also won't see the surveys until they accept it.
Q: Can I configure this differently for different groups?
A: Yes, this setting can be configured at both the site level and the group level. Group-level settings override site-level settings.
Q: Does this hide visitor information from reports?
A: No, this feature only affects the real-time console view. Survey responses are still recorded in engagement history, transcripts, and reports.
Q: Will agents know that information is being hidden?
A: The UI simply doesn't display the survey section while the chat is queued. Agents will see the survey information appear when they accept the chat.
Best Practices
- Enable this feature if you notice agents selectively accepting chats
- Communicate the change to your team so they understand why surveys aren't visible during queue
- Monitor acceptance rates and response times after enabling to measure effectiveness
- Use administrator accounts to monitor queue quality while agents work from queued chats
We recommend that you do not:
- Disable this feature without addressing the underlying cherry-picking behavior through training or policy
- Expect this to hide information from supervisors (they need visibility for oversight)
- Rely on this as a replacement for proper agent training on handling all chat types
Troubleshooting
Problem: Agents still see survey information
Possible Causes:
1. The setting is not enabled in Workflows > Routing
2. The agent has administrator, manager, or viewer permissions (surveys are always visible to these roles)
3. Browser cache needs to be cleared (agents should refresh the console)
Solution: Verify the setting is enabled and that the agent role is configured correctly.
Problem: Administrators want to see a "blind" queue view like agents
Possible Causes:
This is a design limitation - there is no setting to hide surveys from administrators.
Workaround: Administrators can create a secondary "agent-only" account for testing or queue acceptance if needed, but their primary admin account will always show survey information.
Related Features
- Queue Management - Controls how chats are distributed and prioritized
- Routing Rules - Determines which agents receive which types of chats
- Compliance Mode - Enterprise compliance features that may override survey visibility
- Role-Based Permissions - Controls what users can see and do in the console
Summary
| Feature | Status |
Hides surveys from regular agents | Yes
Hides surveys from administrators | No (always visible)
Surveys appear after accepting chat | Yes
Prevents cherry-picking | Yes
Configurable per group | Yes
Works with compliance mode | Yes (compliance takes precedence)