Sessions vs. Conversations
This article explains the difference between conversations and sessions in Re:amaze. AI and chatbot metrics are calculated at the session level rather than the conversation level, so understanding this distinction is important for interpreting your data accurately. Sessions only exist in conversations where a bot participates.
What is a conversation?
A conversation is simply the communication thread between you and a customer. Conversations can be:
- An email thread
- A live chat interaction
- A messaging conversation
If a customer continues replying within the same email thread or chat, all messages remain part of the same conversation.
What is a Session?
A Session is a single support interaction within a conversation. They help separate customer interactions that happen within the same conversation thread but at different moments. A session can include multiple customer and agent replies. All messages exchanged before a session ends belong to the same session.
Think of a session as the reason the customer reached out, but they are not determined by message topic. Instead, they are created based on system events such as:
- A period of inactivity (time cutoff)
- A session being resolved
- An immediate escalation
These rules are designed to approximate when one interaction has ended and another has begun.
How conversations and sessions work together
One conversation can contain multiple sessions.
For example, a customer may continue replying in the same email thread over several days. Even though the communication channel stays the same, separate interactions may occur at different times.
Example:
Session 1
Customer asks about a return policy.
Agent provides instructions.
Session resolved.
Session 2 (3 days later)
Customer reopens thread to ask about a promotion.
Agent responds.
Session resolved.
Session 3 (later in the same email thread)
Customer reopens thread again to ask about a separate product
Agent escalates the request.
This conversation contains three sessions, with a containment rate of 66% (2 of 3 sessions were contained).