If you have enabled the messaging widget for everyone, anonymous site visitors who aren't logged in to your site can also message you. This will allow you to answer questions from your visitors and help convert the anonymous visitors into customers.
Replying to visitor messages
When a visitor without a customer account messages you, they are assigned a random name and given a visitor badge with their current location. Similar to replying to customers, you can reply to their messages and answer questions from the visitor. Once the visitor leaves your site, your messages won't be received until they come back on the same device and browser without clearing their cookies.
Email elicitation for visitors
If a customer messages you and they do not receive a reply within 2 minutes, they are automatically asked for their email to get notified of future responses. When their email is submitted, a confirmation message is displayed.
Once the visitor has provided their email address, the visitor's name will change to reflect the email provided. You will also see the system messages in Podia messaging, displaying when the visitor was prompted for and provided their email address.
Any new messages you send can be viewed from the same browser and device that the visitor messaged you on. However, if the visitor was to navigate away from the page and have unread messages, they will be notified of those messages by email (if provided in the messaging widget). This email will also include links to view the messages from any device or browser and also unsubscribe from future messaging emails. Alternatively, they can also reply to the email, where the reply-to will be set to the email on your Podia account.
Converting visitor messages to customer messages
If the visitor you are messaging happens to convert to a customer by either purchasing a product or signing up for a membership plan, the visitor conversation will be converted into a customer conversation with both of your messages intact. If, however, the visitor logs in to an existing account created before the visitor messaged you, the two sets of messages will be treated as separate conversations.
This means that customer messages will not be merged with the visitor messages, in this particular case. The customer can, however, log out and access the old visitor messages, as long as it's the same device, browser and the cookies have not been erased.