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Administration

Visitor privacy and consent

This page explains what the chat widget stores about visitors, and how Cliedesk records whether a customer agrees to get messages from you.

Visitors

A visitor is someone who uses the chat widget but is not a contact yet. Visitors are kept apart from contacts and are not counted as contacts. Visitors who never start a conversation are deleted after 90 days without a visit. Change this under Settings → Privacy & security → Security → Widget visitors. Contacts → Clean up data… lists the same visitors (see Import and clean up contacts).

Privacy mode of the widget

Admins choose the mode in Settings → Channels → Chat widget → Privacy. Each product can have its own mode.

  • Standard: the widget starts when the page loads.
  • Private: store nothing until the visitor opens the chat: no session and nothing in the browser until the visitor opens the chat.
  • Wait for consent (WP Consent API): the widget starts only after the visitor agrees in your cookie banner. Choose the Consent category: Functional, Preferences, Statistics or Marketing. A site without the WP Consent API can call Cliedesk('consent') when the visitor agrees.

Visitors whose browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control are never tracked: Cliedesk keeps no referrer, campaign or country for them. The widget never uses cookies.

Pages a visitor saw

When a returning visitor has a chat session, Cliedesk keeps the pages they open. Agents see them in the Web visit card of the conversation, the current page first.

Pages are never kept in private mode, with Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, or before consent in consent mode. Cliedesk keeps at most 20 pages per visitor (widget.page_views, 0 turns it off), and none older than 30 days (Days page views are kept under Widget visitors). A nightly job removes older pages. See the Settings reference.

Open a contact and go to Consent to see Consent per channel. For each channel (Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Browser push) there are two purposes:

  • Updates: messages you start, such as a reminder. Allowed unless the customer withdrew it.
  • Marketing: news and offers. Needs an opt-in. Without one it shows No opt-in.

Replies to the customer’s own conversations never need consent. Each entry shows where it came from and when.

Cliedesk records consent from:

  • Your consent plugin. When a customer agreed to marketing in a plugin that uses the WP Consent API (for example Complianz or CookieYes), Cliedesk stores it when they start a conversation. It never overwrites an earlier unsubscribe.
  • WooCommerce checkout. Turn on commerce.checkout_opt_in. The checkout then shows an unticked box Email me news and offers. When the customer ticks it, Cliedesk stores the consent.
  • The unsubscribe link. Cliedesk’s signed unsubscribe link withdraws the consent. It also works as one-click unsubscribe in mail apps. Messages you start then stop. Replies to the customer continue.

The WordPress privacy export and erase tools include consent. Stop words for SMS, such as STOP, come with Cliedesk Pro.