Chat Forms: Set Up Pre-Chat, Post-Chat & Offline Forms

Chat forms collect customer details automatically — before a chat starts, after it ends, or when nobody's around to answer. Text gives you four of them: pre-chat, post-chat, no-response, and offline forms, each configured per team from Settings > Forms.

What are chat forms?

Chat forms are short, automated questionnaires built into your website widget that collect customer information without an agent needing to ask for it directly. Text uses them at different points in a conversation — before it starts, after it ends, when it goes unanswered, and when your team is offline entirely — so there's always a way to capture the basics, whatever the timing.

Setting up the pre-chat form

Setting up the pre-chat form

The pre-chat form appears before a customer starts chatting. Use it to collect context upfront — a name or email, for example — so agents (or your AI agent) don't have to ask for it once the conversation begins.

In the Pre-chat form tab under Settings > Forms, add and reorder the fields you want customers to fill out before their message reaches your team. There are eight field types to choose from:

• Information — a short text, like an introductory message or a description of the pre-chat form. It doesn't collect anything from the customer; it's purely there to set expectations before the questions start.

• Name — collects the customer's name (can only be used once per form), so agents can address the customer by name from their very first reply.

• Email — collects the customer's email (can only be used once per form), useful both for identifying returning customers and for following up if the chat gets disconnected.

• Question — collects short, open-ended answers, for something like "What can we help you with today?" where you want the customer's own wording rather than a preset option.

• Choice list — lets visitors select one answer from a defined list of choices you set up in advance, good for narrowing down a topic (e.g., Billing, Technical issue, General question).

• Dropdown — lets visitors choose one answer from a list in a dropdown menu, which works well when the list of options is long and you don't want it taking up space on screen.

• Multiple choice list — lets visitors select more than one answer from a defined list of choices, for cases where more than one option can apply at once.

• Group selection — lets visitors choose which department they want to talk to, automatically routing the conversation to the group assigned to that option, so the chat lands with the right team without an agent having to reassign it manually.

You can also mark any field as required, so a customer can't start a chat without filling it in first — useful for information you absolutely need before the conversation begins, like an email address or a topic selection.

Once your fields are set up the way you want, turn the form on by enabling the Show in widget switcher.

If you're collecting personal details this way, pair the form with a privacy note so customers know how that data will be used — see collecting customer details and adding a privacy note

Setting up the post-chat form

The post-chat form appears once a conversation ends. It's the place to ask for a rating or a quick line of feedback while the interaction is still fresh, rather than relying on customers to reach out separately with comments.

From the Post-chat form tab in Settings > Forms, add and reorder the fields you want to appear once the chat closes. There are seven field types to choose from:

• Thank you message — a short closing text (can only be used once per form), a simple way to sign off before asking anything.

• Question — collects short, open-ended answers, for something like "What could we have done better?"

• Message — collects long, open-ended answers, for feedback that needs more room than a one-line question.

• Choice list — lets customers select one answer from a defined list of choices you set up in advance.

• Dropdown — lets customers choose one answer from a list of choices in a dropdown menu.

• Multiple-choice list — lets customers select more than one answer from a defined list of options.

• Chat rating — lets customers rate the chat, the quickest way to get a satisfaction signal without an open question.

Once your fields are set up the way you want, turn the form on by enabling the Show in widget switcher.

Setting up the no-response form

The no-response form collects customer details when a new chat gets no response. It's meant for chats that start during your team's regular hours but sit unanswered — a different situation from the team being offline outright, which is where the offline form takes over instead.

From the No-response form tab in Settings > Forms, add the fields you want to capture so you still have a way to follow up even if the first message was missed. Once your fields are set up, turn the form on by enabling the Show in widget switcher option.

Setting up the offline form

The offline form collects customer details when your team isn’t available. Under the Offline form tab, start by picking a Form type:

• Contact form — customers can chat and leave an email.

• Ticket form — customers leave a ticket instead of chatting.

What the contact form collects

With the Contact form selected, build the flow field by field. A typical setup asks for:

1. Email — with its own Message text (what's displayed to the customer when asking for their email) and a Confirmation message shown once the customer submits it.

2. Phone number — for customers who'd rather get a callback than wait for an email.

3. Name — collected last

Each field's message text supports basic formatting — bold, italic, and links — using the toolbar under the text box, so you can point customers to a help article or policy page without leaving the field.

Once your form type and fields are set up the way you want, turn on Show in widget to make the form appear automatically for visitors who reach your widget while you're offline.

In the widget, this plays out as a short back-and-forth: the visitor taps a prompt like "I'd like to ask something," answers each field in turn, and lands on a closing message once all required fields are filled in.

Ticket form vs. contact form

Pick the Ticket form instead if you'd rather customers file something you can triage later than start a chat-style exchange. Contact form fits teams that want to keep the conversational feel even while offline; ticket form fits teams that want a cleaner intake queue when nobody's watching the inbox live.

Good to know

• Each form type — pre-chat, post-chat, no-response, and offline — is enabled and configured per team using the team selector at the top of the Forms page. A team with an AI agent covering chats may not need the same offline form as one that goes fully offline overnight; 

• Offline forms only show inside the website widget when Show in widget is on; toggling it off hides the form without deleting your field setup, so you can turn it back on later. Widget appearance is controlled separately — see customizing your website widget.

• If you collect personal data through any of these forms, check your consent language against current requirements — see preparing your website widget for GDPR.