Conversations

Conversations can be with a human agent or an AI agent, or a combination of both when a chat is escalated from AI to a human.

Conversations can be over webchat or WhatsApp - more channels will be added in the future.

Your AI Agent can reply to customer's messages across any channel - more details here.

Conversations over different channels can be viewed in a single omnichannel Team inbox.

Conversations can also themselves be omnichannel, where the same conversation can take place over different channels, eg start a live chat on webchat, with follow up on WhatsApp.

Conversations can contain attachments and emojis, and conversations over WhatsApp can also contain various multimedia assets - please see Meta for further details.

Private notes, which are not viewable by customers but are viewable by the workspace's team members, can also be added by users to a conversation.

A conversation's status may be open, closed or deleted.

Conversations are unique and referenceable, and can be treated like a ticket in a helpdesk system, with all messages and notes contained in one chat for context and easy later reference.

Once the issue has been resolved or question answered, the conversation can be closed. It's possible to easily search for and reference that conversation, which can also be opened again for follow-up with the customer.

Creating a new conversation

A new conversation can be created by receiving a message from a contact over any channel, or sending a new message to a contact via WhatsApp.

A new message can be sent by clicking the New chat button, selecting the relevant contact and channel, and then entering and sending your message.

A new conversation with a unique ID will be created.

WhatsApp is a more effective channel for pro-active engagement. Channels can be chosen via the channel selector in the message box:

Be aware of message sending restrictions specific for WhatsApp - more details here .

Team inbox and My inbox

When a new message is received from a contact, a new conversation is created with a unique ID.

The new conversation is displayed in the Team inbox of the relevant workspace.

The conversation can then be assigned to a user(s) or agent (see below). After the conversation has been assigned, the conversation will then be copied into the separate My inbox of the assignee(s) who is responsible for replying to the message.

In this way, the My inbox acts like a "To do" list for the user, presenting a list of conversations to which the user is responsible for replying.

When a message is assigned to a user, it's still listed in the Team inbox for all users to view its messages and contents for reference. They can also send a message to the contact, if required.

A chat search and filter functionality can be found at the top of the chat list in Team and My inbox:

If you have an AI Agent configured, all new messages will be responded to by the AI Agent.

Unreplied and unread messages

We focus on unreplied messages as a key metric to determine what actions need to be taken by users/agents to keep customers happy.

The number of unreplied messages in an inbox is indicated by the number next to the inbox:

As well as customer messages that have not received a response, unreplied messages also include those messages that have been transferred from AI to a human agent and are still waiting for a reply from a human agent.

These are counted as unreplied as they require a follow up from a human agent.

A closed chat is not counted as unreplied - when you close a chat it will be removed from the unreplied list.

Unread messages are indicated in bold in the chat list.

Unreplied messages have higher importance than unread messages since a message can easily be read with no action required from a specific user (eg another assignee is responsible for replying), however an unreplied message will always need attention from a human agent.

Assigning a conversation

When a message is received, or a new message sent, the subsequent conversation can be assigned to a user, or multiple users, in the group.

Admins and agents have the ability to assign conversations to themselves or user(s) via the manage conversation button at the top of the conversation, by ticking the relevant boxes and click Save:

That member, or members, then has responsibility for replying to subsequent messages in that conversation.

The assignee can transfer the conversation by re-assigning the conversation to another member or agent in the workspace, or to another agent that belongs in another workspace. The conversation will then appear in that member's My inbox.

For instance, a customer's message about their payment options could be transferred from the support workspace to a relevant agent(s) in the accounts workspace.

You can also transfer a chat to an agent in another workspace from My inbox eg if an agent in support wants to transfer a chat to an agent in accounts regarding an unpaid invoice (this transfer can not be done from the Team inbox).

Auto assignment

A conversation can also be auto-assigned to an agent, dependent on the sender. In contacts, you can choose a contact name and set assignment to a user or users via the manage conversations section:

This will auto assign to the selected users subsequent inbound messages from that contact. This feature only applies when it is possible to predetermine the ID of the contact, eg from their phone number.

Closing a conversation

Conversations can be closed by the "assigned to" agent, or an admin, in the webapp.

If the closed conversation is via webchat, the end user will see a "Closed" label appearing on top of the chat, and the message send box will be disabled.

Conversations cannot be closed via the webchat widget, it is only possible to open a new conversation.

If the closed conversation is via WhatsApp, the end user will see no notification in their WhatsApp client. If the end user subsequently sends a new message from their existing WhatsApp chat, it will open a new conversation in the webapp.

To access a closed conversation, just filter for closed conversations in the filter at the top of the chat list.

Once a conversation has been closed, a future message to or from the customer will create a new conversation.

It's possible to open a conversation again, which will allow future messages to and from that contact to be added to that conversation.

Deleting a conversation

A conversation can only be deleted in the webapp by an Admin; agents can't delete a conversation.

When a conversation is deleted, it will delete all messages contained within the conversation in the webapp. The contact will not be deleted.

If the deleted conversation is via webchat, the chat will also be deleted from the end user's widget. It is not possible to delete a chat from the webchat widget.

If a deleted conversation is via WhatsApp, the chat will remain on the end user's phone. If the end user sends a new message from their existing chat, it will open a new conversation in the webapp.

Dashboard overview

The dashboard provides at-a-glance analytics on messages and conversations, contained on tiles with real time updates:

The dashboard is split into two sections: analytics for you, which can only be seen by you the logged in user, and analytics for the workspace, which is viewable by all admins and agents.

You can click on the tile and be forwarded to the relevant list of conversations and messages.

Conversations assigned to me shows the number of conversations that you have been assigned to, and are responsible for responding to. This excludes closed conversations.

My unreplied messages shows the number of messages from contacts in your assigned conversations that you have not replied to - action needed here!

Unassigned conversations is the number of conversations in the whole workspace that have not been assigned to any agent - it's advisable that these conversations are then assigned to a user asap!

Unreplied messages is the total number of unreplied messages from contacts in that workspace.

Unread messages are indicated in bold in the chat lists, and include all conversations including those you have not been assigned to.