How does video and audio chat work?
Video chat allows your business to connect with your users directly when they are browsing your website. Crisp lets your company start a video chat with anyone who's online and actively browsing your website. Your visitors receive calls directly in their chatbox. You can call them without time limit, as Crisp doesn't bill you based on how much time you spend in call.
Video and audio calls are available from the Crisp Essentials plan
Open your Crisp dashboard and start a chat with an user , or resume an existing chat.
Click on the Call with Crisp™ button in the user information sidebar (on the right) — if the button cannot be clicked, the visitor doesn't support video chat, see below for more.
Your user will receive a video chat request , directly in their browser, which they can accept or reject.
Once the user accepts, the call will be started and you will start receiving audio and video from each other.
You can stop the call anytime , or disable / enable audio or video (ie. you need to mute your camera or microphone at some moment during the call).
Since Crisp V3, you now have the ability to start a screen sharing session with your website visitor. Whether it's you or your customer, you can decide to share your screen or your browser while doing a video or an audio chat.
That's why video and audio chats have become so popular among businesses. It's because it's a really convenient way to improve customer service .
If the Call with Crisp™ button cannot be clicked:
The visitor browser may not support video chat (using WebRTC). Browsers such as Safari, as well as Internet Explorer do not support calls. Tell your visitor to use Chrome or Firefox instead.
Your website is still using insecure HTTP . Browsers do not allow calls on HTTP websites. You need to upgrade your website to secure HTTPS to allow calls.
If you don't see the Call with Crisp™ button at all:
The visitor you want to call must be online in order to be called. If the visitor is offline, the button will not show.
Your browser must support calls (using WebRTC). Some browsers, do not support in-browser calls. Use our Desktop apps instead.
Calls require your website to be subscribed to Essentials or Plus . See the full feature here for more on this.
If you are not subscribed to Essentials, you will still see the Call with Crisp™ button, but you will be prompted to upgrade your plan subscription to Essentials to enable the feature.
video and audio chats are encrypted end-to-end . Encryption is handled directly by your browser. In the event your browser needs to use Crisp servers to relay call streams (ie. your network is restrictive), Crisp still cannot read the call stream as it is encrypted before it enters our relay servers (only the recipient browser is able to decrypt the stream).
In some rare cases, calls may fail to be initialized or be dropped. This can be due to:
Your website is not supporting HTTPS. Crisp Video calls require TLS.
Temporary network connectivity issues on our side or yours.
Video or audio encoders / decoders (codecs) not supported between the caller browser and callee browser.
Visitor or operator network bandwidth is too low .
Call connections not allowed between users (should not happen, as Crisp provides a relay server as a fallback, if browser-to-browser call connections cannot be established).
If you encounter an issue with video chats, please get in touch with our support . We'll work on spotting and fixing the issue.
Video and audio calls are available from the Crisp Essentials plan
How do I start a video chat?
Open your Crisp dashboard and start a chat with an user , or resume an existing chat.
Click on the Call with Crisp™ button in the user information sidebar (on the right) — if the button cannot be clicked, the visitor doesn't support video chat, see below for more.
Your user will receive a video chat request , directly in their browser, which they can accept or reject.
Once the user accepts, the call will be started and you will start receiving audio and video from each other.
You can stop the call anytime , or disable / enable audio or video (ie. you need to mute your camera or microphone at some moment during the call).
Start a screen sharing session while doing audio or video chat
Since Crisp V3, you now have the ability to start a screen sharing session with your website visitor. Whether it's you or your customer, you can decide to share your screen or your browser while doing a video or an audio chat.
That's why video and audio chats have become so popular among businesses. It's because it's a really convenient way to improve customer service .
Requirements on visitor / operator browser
If the Call with Crisp™ button cannot be clicked:
The visitor browser may not support video chat (using WebRTC). Browsers such as Safari, as well as Internet Explorer do not support calls. Tell your visitor to use Chrome or Firefox instead.
Your website is still using insecure HTTP . Browsers do not allow calls on HTTP websites. You need to upgrade your website to secure HTTPS to allow calls.
I don't see the Call with Crisp™ button
If you don't see the Call with Crisp™ button at all:
The visitor you want to call must be online in order to be called. If the visitor is offline, the button will not show.
Your browser must support calls (using WebRTC). Some browsers, do not support in-browser calls. Use our Desktop apps instead.
Required plan for calls
Calls require your website to be subscribed to Essentials or Plus . See the full feature here for more on this.
If you are not subscribed to Essentials, you will still see the Call with Crisp™ button, but you will be prompted to upgrade your plan subscription to Essentials to enable the feature.
Security of audio and video chats
video and audio chats are encrypted end-to-end . Encryption is handled directly by your browser. In the event your browser needs to use Crisp servers to relay call streams (ie. your network is restrictive), Crisp still cannot read the call stream as it is encrypted before it enters our relay servers (only the recipient browser is able to decrypt the stream).
Troubleshooting call issues
In some rare cases, calls may fail to be initialized or be dropped. This can be due to:
Your website is not supporting HTTPS. Crisp Video calls require TLS.
Temporary network connectivity issues on our side or yours.
Video or audio encoders / decoders (codecs) not supported between the caller browser and callee browser.
Visitor or operator network bandwidth is too low .
Call connections not allowed between users (should not happen, as Crisp provides a relay server as a fallback, if browser-to-browser call connections cannot be established).
If you encounter an issue with video chats, please get in touch with our support . We'll work on spotting and fixing the issue.
Updated on: 04/11/2024
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