What's New: Beacon and Live Chat
Chat notification updates
Rejoice! In addition to a bunch of notification bug fixes and reliability updates:
- We added a new browser notification and notification sounds whenever a customer sends a new message during an ongoing chat. Only the User assigned to the chat will hear the sound, and itâll only play when youâre not viewing the chat, so things donât get too noisy.
- We also updated the color of the in-app chat notification from blue to yellow so that it stands out a bit more.
- Based on popular demand, we doubled the volume of sound notifications.
Beacon API updates
Weâve added a couple of notable methods to the Beacon JavaScript API:
Beacon('suggest')
can now be called with no parameters to refresh content suggestions based on the current URL. This is super helpful if youâve got Beacon in a single page app, where the URL changes, but the page doesnât reload.- Introduced the
Beacon('article')
method. You can use this to open a specific Docs article within Beacon, using the articleâs ID. If the Beacon is closed when this method is called, it will also open the Beacon automatically. Huzzah! - Weâve also added a new data attribute to the
Beacon('article')
method mentioned above, so you can now link to an article within a standardhref
. To see how it works, head over to the developer docs for an example. Beacon('identify')
can now be used to delete custom attributes. You might use this if a customer updates or removes profile or account information, and you just want to clear that stuff out from the Beacon sidebar app.
Beacon release notes
Curious about what weâve been tinkering with on the Beacon front? From bug fixes to new features, the Beacon Release Notes Doc is a great way to stay in the loop on all things Beacon.
MORE NEW STUFF
All Channels report
The Conversations report has been renamed to the All Channels report, in preparation for some other reporting updates we have in the works. Nothing about the report has changed except for the addition of a new Volume by Channel chart, which compares your daily volume between Email, Phone, and Chat Conversations.

Attachment scanning
Security updates are important updates. Weâre now scanning all incoming attachments for viruses and malware. If an attachment is flagged, youâll see a new red notification banner in the thread that contains the attachment. You can see the file name, but you wonât be able to click to open or download the attachment.

Customer Team Roundup đŞ â¨
In support, little things can make a big difference â even seemingly small changes can save your whole team some precious time. In this section, we highlight the maybe-overlooked (but very powerful!) changes that are making our own customer champions cheer.
Up this month: Kelly

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Rocket: Are you a big emoji fan like I am? Rocket is a Mac app that you can use to add emojis to, well, pretty much anywhere. Itâs easy to use when replying to customers, and allows you to quickly search for just the right one to jazz up that email. đâ¨
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âGet Started with Beacon and Live Chatâ Classes: Heard about this Beacon thingy, but not quite sure how to make it work for you and your team? Come along to one of our classes to learn more about its nifty features, and how Beacon truly is better than bacon đ
Before you go
Upcoming events
Get started with Beacon and Live Chat
Beacon makes it easy to be helpful. Itâs instant answers, live chat, and conversation history all rolled into one customer companion. Weâll show you how to create your first Beacon â improving customer satisfaction and reducing conversation volume along the way.
- Thursday, November 15
1 p.m. ET
- Wednesday, November 28
10 a.m. ET
Getting started with Help Scout
New to Help Scout? Get a full tour of the app and get all your questions answered with one of our resident customer champions.
- Twice per week, every week