If you’re running support, sales, or just trying to understand what your customers are saying, tracking conversations is gold. But most tools bury you in charts you’ll never use. This guide is for anyone who wants real insight from their customer chats—without getting lost in the weeds. We’ll walk through how to track and analyze conversations inside the Tidio dashboard, what to pay attention to, and what’s just noise.
Step 1: Find Your Way Around the Tidio Dashboard
Before you can track anything, you need to know where Tidio hides the good stuff. When you log in, you’ll see:
- Inbox: Where all customer chats land.
- Analytics: Stats and charts about your chats and agents.
- Visitors: Who’s on your site right now.
- Automation: Your bots and workflows.
- Settings: Where you tweak chat, notification, and data options.
You’ll spend most of your time in Inbox and Analytics. Bookmark these.
Pro tip: If you’re new, ignore the bells and whistles for now—focus on how conversations flow and where data shows up.
Step 2: Set Up Tracking That Actually Matters
Tidio tracks a bunch by default, but it’s worth taking a minute to check what’s being captured:
- Conversation volume: How many chats are coming in?
- First response time: How long do customers wait?
- Resolution time: How long does it take to close a chat?
- Agent stats: Who’s handling what, and how fast?
If you care about something specific (like sales conversions or bot handoffs), make sure you set up tags or custom fields:
- Tags: Label conversations (“refund,” “complaint,” “lead”) for easy sorting later.
- Notes: Agents can jot down context you might need for analysis.
What to ignore: Don’t get distracted by metrics you don’t care about (like bot triggers if you only use live chat). Keep it simple.
Step 3: Tag and Categorize Conversations for Better Analysis
Raw chat logs are a mess. Tagging is how you turn chaos into something you can actually use.
How to Tag Chats
- Set up common tags in Settings (think: “Bug report,” “Shipping,” “Feature request,” etc.).
- Train your team to tag every chat—at the end of a conversation works best.
- Use automation to auto-tag based on keywords if you’re flooded with chats.
Pro tip: Don’t go overboard. Five to ten tags is plenty. If you need a spreadsheet to remember your tags, you’ve gone too far.
Why Tags Matter
- Find patterns (Are refund requests spiking after a product launch?)
- Spot agent strengths (Who’s best at handling tough cases?)
- Report up (If your boss asks “What’s blowing up this week?” you’ll have a real answer.)
Step 4: Use Analytics Without Getting Paralyzed
Time to dig into the Analytics tab. Here’s what’s useful—and what’s not:
What’s Worth Your Time
- Conversation volume: Look for spikes or drops. If Mondays are always slammed, maybe it’s time to staff up.
- First response time: The lower, the better. Long waits = frustrated customers.
- Resolution time: Are issues dragging on? It could mean your team needs more info or authority to solve problems.
- Tags report: See which issues are most common.
What’s Usually Hype
- “Engagement” graphs: Unless you’re running a marketing campaign, how many people clicked your chat widget isn’t that useful.
- Bot stats (unless you use bots a lot): If your bots mostly say “Hi,” skip these.
Honest take: Most teams look at way too many charts. Pick two or three metrics, track them for a month, and only add more if you actually use them.
Step 5: Drill Down to Actual Conversations
Numbers are nice, but real insight comes from reading actual chats. Here’s how:
- Go to the Inbox and filter by tag, agent, or date.
- Skim transcripts for recurring complaints, questions, or confusion.
- Copy out examples—the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Pro tip: If you see the same question ten times, it’s time for a help doc or a bot response.
What not to do: Don’t try to read every conversation. Pick a sample: 10-20 random chats per week is plenty for spotting trends.
Step 6: Use Automation and Bots (But Don’t Overdo It)
Tidio lets you build automation—bots that can answer FAQs, collect info, or route chats. This can save time, but it’s not magic.
- Start simple: Have a bot greet visitors and ask basic questions.
- Track bot handoffs: Make sure you know when bots are passing people to humans. If handoffs are messy, customers get frustrated.
- Review bot conversations: Bots can go off the rails or confuse people. Review transcripts to spot issues.
What works: Automate super-common questions (“What’s your return policy?”).
What doesn’t: Complex, open-ended issues. Don’t expect bots to handle angry customers or technical problems.
Step 7: Report and Share What You Learn
Data is only useful if you do something with it. Here’s how to make it count:
- Weekly or monthly summary: Pull out your top three insights (e.g., “Refund requests up 30% after new product launch”).
- Share actual chat snippets: Real messages have more impact than numbers.
- Suggest fixes: (“Let’s add a help doc for shipping delays—it came up 15 times last week.”)
Skip this: Don’t spend hours making pretty graphs unless someone actually wants them. Focus on action.
Step 8: Rinse, Repeat, and Simplify
Tracking customer conversations is never “done.” But it doesn’t have to be a full-time job. Every month or so:
- See which tags, metrics, or reports you actually use.
- Drop anything you’re not acting on.
- Tweak your process based on what’s working (or not).
Real talk: Most teams overcomplicate things. If you’re not using a report, stop making it. If a tag is never applied, kill it. Simple wins.
Keep It Simple—And Get Better Every Month
You don’t need a PhD in data science to get real value from your Tidio dashboard. Start with the basics: tag your chats, look at a few key numbers, read a handful of conversations, and make small improvements as you go. Don’t chase every shiny metric or gadget—focus on what actually helps your team and your customers.
The best tracking setup is the one you’ll actually use. Iterate, keep it simple, and you’ll get smarter with every conversation.