24/7 Lead Capture
Capture enquiries around the clock — even at weekends, on bank holidays, and in the middle of the night. Every visitor gets a chance to reach you.
Offline Message Form
Never Miss a Visitor Enquiry
The Offline Message Form captures visitor messages when no live agents are available. Instead of showing a cold "We're offline" notice, present a structured form where visitors leave their name, email, and message — ensuring you never lose a lead, even outside business hours.
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What Is the Offline Message Form?
The Offline Message Form is a workflow module that presents a structured contact form to visitors when no live agents are available to chat. Rather than abandoning the conversation with a blunt "We're currently offline" notice, the form invites visitors to leave their details and enquiry so your team can follow up as soon as they're back online.
Every submission is stored in your IMSupporting dashboard and — optionally — forwarded to your team via email in real time. This ensures that after-hours visitors, weekend browsers, and international time-zone enquiries are all captured in one place. The form collects name, email address, and a free-text message by default, but you can add custom fields such as order numbers, company names, or phone numbers to gather exactly the data your team needs to reply effectively.
The Offline Message Form is the cornerstone of a 24/7 lead capture strategy. When paired with conditional routing modules like Time of Day and Queue Gate, it creates a seamless experience where visitors are served by live agents during business hours and by a structured form outside of them — all without the visitor needing to know the difference.
After-Hours Enquiries
When your team logs off for the day, the Offline Message Form steps in automatically. Visitors feel looked after instead of ignored.
Never Miss a Message
Every submission is stored and optionally emailed to your team, so no enquiry slips through the cracks — regardless of when it arrives.
Structured Data Collection
Collect name, email, message, and any custom fields you need. Structured data means faster, more accurate follow-ups by your team.
How the Offline Message Form Fits Into a Workflow
The Offline Message Form is rarely the first node in a workflow — it's the safety net. In a well-designed chat workflow, the form sits behind a conditional check that determines whether any agents are currently online. If agents are available, the visitor is routed straight to live chat. If nobody is available, the workflow guides the visitor through a friendly explanation and then presents the offline form.
This conditional approach means your visitors never see an offline form when they could be speaking to a real person. It also means your agents never miss enquiries that arrive outside business hours. The result is a seamless 24/7 experience that converts more visitors into leads and keeps your support quality consistently high.
Example: Office-Hours Routing With After-Hours Capture
A professional services firm routes to live chat during the working day and captures structured offline messages outside office hours.
START
Time of Day
09:00 – 17:30?
In hours
Human Chat
Live agent
After hours
Offline Message
Name, email & message
Step-by-Step Breakdown
- Welcome Message: A friendly greeting fires the instant the widget opens, setting a professional tone regardless of the time of day.
- Time of Day Check: The workflow evaluates the current time against the firm's office schedule (Monday–Friday, 09:00–17:30 GMT). This happens behind the scenes in milliseconds.
- In-Hours Branch: If the visitor arrives during business hours, they're routed straight to a live agent with full context from the greeting step.
- After-Hours Branch: Outside business hours, the visitor sees the Offline Message Form. They enter their name, email, and a description of their enquiry. The submission is saved to the dashboard and emailed to the duty inbox. The team replies the next working morning.
Best Practices & Tips
A well-configured Offline Message Form converts more after-hours visitors into actionable leads. Follow these guidelines to maximise submission rates and team efficiency.
Explain Why They See the Form
Always place a Message node before the Offline Message Form to explain that your team is currently away. A brief note like "Our team is offline right now, but leave a message and we'll get back to you" dramatically increases form completion rates compared to showing the form without context.
Keep Required Fields Minimal
Every additional required field reduces completion rates. Stick to name, email, and message as your core fields. Only add extras — such as order number or company name — if they are genuinely needed for your team to triage the enquiry before replying.
Set Response-Time Expectations
After the form is submitted, use a follow-up Message node to tell the visitor when they can expect a reply. "We typically respond within 4 business hours" builds trust and reduces duplicate submissions from impatient visitors checking back.
Route to Email Notifications
Enable email forwarding for offline messages so your team receives instant notifications. This ensures someone can action urgent enquiries even outside normal hours — and it means the dashboard isn't the only place messages live.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are offline messages stored?
Every offline message submission is stored in your IMSupporting dashboard under the Messages section. You can view, search, filter, and export submissions at any time. Each entry includes the visitor's name, email address, message body, the page they were on when they submitted, and a timestamp — giving your team the full context they need to reply quickly and accurately.
Can I get email notifications for offline messages?
Yes. You can configure one or more email addresses to receive an instant notification every time a visitor submits an offline message. The email includes all captured fields plus metadata like the visitor's browser and the referring page. This is ideal for teams that need to action urgent enquiries outside of the dashboard, or for routing messages to a shared inbox or ticketing system.
What fields does the offline form collect?
By default, the Offline Message Form collects the visitor's name, email address, and a free-text message. You can customise the form to add additional fields such as phone number, company name, order reference, or any other data point relevant to your business. Each field can be marked as required or optional, and you can reorder them in the visual workflow builder.
Does it work with the Time of Day module?
Absolutely — this is one of the most popular combinations on the platform. Use the Time of Day module to check whether the current time falls within your business hours. If it does, route to live chat. If it doesn't, route to the Offline Message Form. You can also combine it with the Queue Gate module for even finer control — routing to the form only when agents are offline and the queue is empty.
Related Modules
The Offline Message Form works best alongside these workflow modules to create a complete around-the-clock visitor experience.
Capture Every Enquiry — Even While You Sleep
Add the Offline Message Form to your workflow in minutes. No code, no missed leads — just drag, configure, and publish.