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Question

Understanding Proactive Messages

  • June 22, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 4 views
BBopper
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Hi everybody, 

We’ve just come across from Zendesk which was surplus to needs for us. We used proactive messages there, but they behave differently here. Any help would be appreciated. To explain:

  • We would have a msg pop up after 10 secs or so offering a free mockup. This would be whatever entry page they used to come into our large site (using “.” in any url to achieve this in Front).
  • During business hours if the customer responded, it would open a chat.
  • If after business hours, it would offer a link to the free mockup page, or then capture info via a form.

So the problems we have with Front Proactive Messages:

  • Can’t set time of day
  • The proactive message appears on EVERY page the visitor then visits no matter how many pages they visited or how they interacted with the widget.
  • I don;t want just for 1st time visitors. We get repeats out of this all the time.
  • The proactive message also doubles as a welcome message, so if a user clicks “start a new conversation”, they get my whole mockup offer spiel again.

Is there a way around this may be using rules as auto responses instead? Or is there something I’m missing. Seems a bit limited at the moment, and we really need it.

1 reply

suzy_falvey
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  • suzy_falvey
  • Fronteer
  • June 22, 2026

Hi BBopper,

Thanks for taking the time to outline your workflow so clearly.

You’re not missing anything here, what you’re seeing aligns with how Proactive Messages currently work in Front, and there are a few limitations to be aware of.

At the moment, proactive messages can’t be scheduled based on time of day or business hours. They’re triggered purely by visitor behavior (like URL conditions or audience), not by team availability. A common workaround is to use rules and auto-replies to handle different responses during and outside business hours, but this only applies after a visitor engages with the chat, not at the proactive message stage.

In terms of the message appearing on every page, this is also expected behavior. If you’re using a broad condition like “contains .”, the message will trigger on each page where that condition is met. The only built-in suppression is if the visitor closes the message in that case, it will stay hidden for the remainder of their session.

You can target proactive messages to new or returning visitors using cookies, but there isn’t currently a way to refine this further (for example, limiting it to “once per session” or “once per day”).

You’re also right that proactive messages double as the entry point for new conversations, which can make them feel repetitive. One way to improve this is to keep the proactive message shorter and use a follow-up message (via rules or manual replies) to deliver the full offer once the visitor engages. You can also configure a separate welcome message in the chat widget settings for a cleaner default experience.

Using rules is a good instinct here, they can help you control responses after a visitor replies (including business hours logic and preventing repeat messages), but they don’t control when or how the proactive message itself is shown.

In short, what you’re trying to build is more of a behavior-driven, session-aware experience, and Front’s proactive messaging is currently more static and trigger-based.

That said, you can get fairly close by using the proactive message as a light entry point, and then handling the more advanced logic with availability settings and rules once the conversation starts.

Suzy F
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