What counts as an Ivy conversation

Strathly counts conversations to measure your plan's allowance and nothing else. You're never billed per message, per reply or per resolved chat.

The rule in one line#

One conversation = one shopper visit that Ivy took part in. Conversations only your team answers are unlimited on every plan.

What a visit is#

• A shopper is one browser on your store. The same person on a phone and on a laptop is two shoppers.
• A visit is a stretch of messages with no gap of 24 hours. It ends when nobody writes for 24 hours. The next message from the shopper after that starts a new visit.
• The gap is measured from the last message of anyone in any of that shopper's chats: the shopper's, Ivy's or a teammate's. A reply from your team keeps the visit open too.
• Several chats in one visit count once. A shopper who closes the chat and opens a new one an hour later is still in the same visit.

When a visit counts#

A visit counts only if Ivy really replied in it. Fixed lines in her voice, like her answer to Talk to the team, don't make a visit count. It counts on the day of its first counted message, in your store's time zone.

Long chats#

Every 30 replies from Ivy in one visit add one more conversation: her 31st reply adds one, her 61st another, and so on. The count starts again at each new visit. Most visits are far shorter.

A worked example#

On Monday a shopper asks Ivy about sizing at 10:02, closes the chat, and opens a second one at 15:40 to ask about shipping. Both chats are in one visit: 1 conversation. On Tuesday at 17:45, 26 hours after the last message, she asks about her order. That starts a new visit: 1 more. Marco from your team answers her last question; his reply costs nothing.

More cases:

What never counts#

• Your team's replies, and visits only your team talked in (including a shopper who pressed Talk to the team before Ivy replied).
• Fixed lines in Ivy's voice: her Talk to the team answer and her fallback messages.
• The Playground and the test chat in setup.
• Chats in Spam, and chats Ivy flagged as likely spam.
• Chats the abuse protections sent to your team: more than 3 new chats from one visitor or 10 from one IP address in 24 hours, or a failed bot check. See spam and abuse protection.
• Chats that went to your team while Ivy was paused or out of conversations (if Ivy replies in one later, that visit counts).
• Messages sent with the contact form.
• A greeting nobody answered.

Where to see your count#

Open Settings,Billing (owner and admins). The first card, Usage this cycle, shows:

• Conversations, for example "312 of 1,000 on Scale", with a meter that turns amber from 80%.
• The share used and how many are left.
• A line that explains the count (1), when it applies: "Counted per shopper: everything a shopper asks Ivy within 24 hours is one conversation.", how many chats didn't count again because they were in a visit already counted, and how many long chats counted again.
• Where your pace leads, for example "At this pace you'll use about 940, well within your plan."
• Your Extra conversations balance.

Why Billing and Analytics show different numbers#

Billing counts visits. Analytics counts chats: every thread a shopper opens. Two chats in one visit are 1 in Billing and 2 in Analytics. Analytics also includes chats only your team answered. See Analytics.

Warnings and running out#

• At 80% of your allowance plus your extra conversations, the owner and every admin get a notification in the app and an email, "You've used 80% of your conversations", once per cycle. These alerts go out whatever each person's notification settings are.
• At 100% Ivy finishes the conversations she's in. New shoppers see a contact form and reach your team, and those messages don't count. The store's status turns Paused. Ivy takes new conversations again as soon as you add some or the cycle renews.

Extra conversations and auto top-up explains how to add more, by hand or automatically.