About 8x8 Co-browsing

8x8 Co-browsing allows customer support agents to assist customers remotely via a shared browser. Agents can guide customers through tasks via phone or chat while viewing the customer’s screen. If needed, agents can request control of the customer’s cursor to demonstrate actions directly, allowing the customer to observe and learn in real time.

With Co-browsing, you can offer customers live, hands-on assistance with minimal delay, for a smoother experience and reduced support time.

To begin, the agent must initiate the Co-browsing session with the customer. After the customer accepts to share their browser window, the agent can join the session to provide visual, real-time guidance until the session is ended by either party.

Features

  • Visual, real-time web page assistance: Monitor and assist customers in real time through browser session initiated by the agent and accepted by the customer.
  • Mouse tracking: Customers can easily follow along by viewing the agent’s mouse movements on their screen.
  • Platform details: Access information about the customer’s platform to better understand their environment..
  • Multi-domain and sub-domain support: The Co-browsing session continues to work as customers navigate to different domains or sub-domains, as long as Co-browsing is enabled on those pages.
  • Form co-filling: Agents can assist customers by co-filling form fields during the session.
  • Customer privacy and security: During a Co-browsing session, if the customer is required to fill in sensitive form fields, such as those collecting Social Security Numbers, these fields can be encrypted and hidden from the agent.
  • Highlighting: Agents can use the Edit Icon to highlight and call attention to specific content on the web page during Co-browsing.
  • Auto-fit: Agents can automatically scale the browser view to match the customer’s screen size. This reduces the need to scroll or zoom manually and ensures a consistent view.
  • Privilege control: You can control the extent of remote help agents can offer using Co-browsing mode. It varies from a basic view only mode to complete control of the browser instance. Take control of the customer’s screen, with their permission.

Limitations

  • Co-browsing can only be enabled in one mode at a time. It can appear as a link in the website interface or within the embedded chat window. These modes cannot be used together. Administrators must choose one per implementation.
  • Co-browsing only supports an in-browser zoom level of 100% (default value) from the customer or agent. Any other value from the customer or agent may cause unexpected behavior, such as scrolling issues.
  • Co-browsing only works on secure (HTTPS) web pages.
  • Adobe Flash components, including videos, and Java applets are not supported.
  • Anything that is external to the current page is not supported. This includes the file browser window that is open when selecting a file to be uploaded.
  • Native tooltips are not visible between the two parties.
  • Web pages with iframes from different domains are not supported, though web URLs from multiple domains are supported.
  • If the web page opens a new browser window and the content has Co-browsing, this new window replaces the content on the agent side.
  • A web page must have the correct HTML syntax/markup for Co-browsing to work properly; for example, there can be no duplicated HTML IDs on the same page.

Supported browsers

Co-browsing is supported on the following browsers:

  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Apple Safari

You can test your current browser's security standard compatibility. For information about agent workstation technical requirements, see your contact center supervisor, or refer to the Technical Requirements for agents.

Note: Mozilla Firefox requires the QuickTime plug-in for audio features.

Use case

The following example demonstrates how a website can be empowered with 8x8 Co-browsing.

Let’s say a travel company website is visited by customers looking to book their dream vacations. The site offers a variety of travel packages and options to choose from. To proceed, customers are asked to identify themselves by filling out a form. The travel company wants to provide real-time, remote support to guide users through this process if they need help. To enable this, the company uses 8x8 Co-browsing.

With Co-browsing website visitors can connect with a customer support agent and receive live, hands-on assistance. When an agent initiates a session Co-browsing session, the system generates a session ID number. During support calls, the customer communicates this session ID number to the support agent on the call. If the interaction takes place via chat, when the agent starts a Co-browsing session, the customer automatically receives an invite in the chat panel to accept sharing their screen. After the Co-browsing request is accepted, the agent is prompted to join the session and assist the customer. This feature leads to a smoother customer experience and reduced support time.

Use Co-browsing modes

By selecting one of three Co-browsing modes, you can control the extent to which agents can assist customers remotely. Co-browsing can be enabled in one of the following modes via code snippet. If you do not provide a mode in the code snippet, full-control is the default mode:

  • Full-control (default): In this mode, agents have full control of the customer's browser session, including synchronized navigation and the ability to highlight and co-fill a form on the web page. The agent's cursor movements and mouse clicks can be viewed by the customer and vice-versa.
  • Partial-control: In this mode, agents can highlight and control the browser navigation, but do not have the privileges to fill any forms on the co-browsed page. All HTML form elements are disabled on the agent side, alerting agents with the message "Forms cannot be edited on the agent side".
  • No-control: This is a view-only mode. Agents can only observe the customer navigating the web page, highlight items on the page, and offer guidance verbally or via chat depending on the media type.

Notes:
- The highlighter works in all modes.
- In the full-control and partial-control modes, we cannot prevent agents from controlling form elements that are not native to the browser, such HTML drop-downs.