---
schema_version: "1"
id: 6a118804dcf44679c957e959ee60192648c736274f632facb848bdf63b673cda
title: Use Fallback Message to Help Customers During an Enhanced Chat Downtime
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/service/264-0-0/messaging_fallback_message.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.messaging_fallback_message.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 524f6ca343c47dc802dd2577ece0372d1fd6042a63ad592df180931e3b563d3c
description: Write a fallback message to send customers in the messaging conversation window in the event of a service downtime.
products:
  - Service Cloud
  - Digital Engagement
release: "264"
---
# Use Fallback Message to Help Customers During an Enhanced Chat Downtime

Write a fallback message to send customers in the messaging conversation window in the event of a service downtime.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:50%">
          <col style="width:50%">
        </colgroup>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.messaging_editions.htm&amp;type=5&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">View supported editions.</a></td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">
              <a name="messaging_fallback_message__d251e335"><!-- --></a><span style="vertical-align:text-bottom;display:inline-block;"><img style="margin-bottom:0;" id="messaging_fallback_message__d251e335" src="https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/resources-global/_corporate/images/checkmark.png" alt="Checkmark"></span>
              <strong>This article applies to:</strong>
            </td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Enhanced In-App Chat and Enhanced Web Chat channels</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">
              <span style="vertical-align:text-bottom;display:inline-block;"><img style="margin-bottom:0;" src="https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/resources-global/_corporate/images/crossmark.png" alt="X icon"></span>
              <strong>This article doesn’t apply to:</strong>
            </td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Enhanced WhatsApp, Enhanced Facebook Messenger, Standard and Enhanced SMS,
              Enhanced Apple Messages for Business, Enhanced LINE, and Bring Your Own
              Channel</td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

1. In Setup, enter Messaging Settings, and then select **Messaging Settings**.
2. To the right of your messaging channel, click the downward arrow and select **Edit**.
3. In the Fallback Message section, select **Add Fallback Message**. ![All Fallback Message checkbox](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/support_channels/images/miaw/miaw_fallback_message_2.png)
4. Save your changes.
5. Back in Setup, enter Embedded Service Deployments, and select **Embedded Service Deployments**.
6. From the Custom Labels card, click **Set Custom Labels**. ![Set Custom Labels link](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/support_channels/images/miaw/miaw_fallback_message_3.png)
7. Use the dropdown menus to navigate to the Fallback Message editor. ![Dropdown menu selections for navigating to the Fallback Message page](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/support_channels/images/miaw/miaw_fallback_message_4.png) 
    1. From the Language dropdown menu, select a language that you’d like to display your pre-chat form in. Repeat these steps for each language that you’d like to translate your Fallback Message into.
    2. From the Chat Group dropdown menu, select **Fallback Message**.
    3. From the Label Group dropdown menu, select **Message**.
    4. From the Label Type dropdown menu, select **Standard**.
8. Create a placeholder and paste it into the Fallback Message field, then craft your fallback message around it. The placeholder links customers to your fallback support channel, such as a phone number, email address, or website URL. ![Fallback Message editor](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_channels-264-0-0-production-enus/f3c4b3d2-ff86-4f7c-9fe2-3d8b23d35109/support_channels/images/miaw/miaw_fallback_message_5.png) 
    1. Select a Fallback Channel Type, such as Email, Phone, or Website.
    2. In the Placeholder Link Text field, enter the phrase that gets hyperlinked to your communication channel. In this example, we’ve entered “we’re just an email away”.
    3. In the Contact Method field, enter the contact information for your fallback channel. If you selected Phone, enter a phone number with a country code and an area code, formatted as tel: +x-xxx-xxx-xxxx. If you selected Email, enter an email address, formatted as mailto: example@example.com. If you selected Website, enter a website URL that starts with https://.
9. When you see the placeholder appear below these fields, click **Copy**.
10. Paste your placeholder into the Fallback Message field, then write your fallback message around it. In this example, we wrote, “We can’t display the messaging conversation right now. If you need us, \[we’re just an email away\]{ursa\_major@example.com}. Note that Fallback message doesn't currently support multiple paragraphs. All sentences entered into the Fallback Message field will present to the end user as a single paragraph.