Managing Messages
Getting here
This module can be accessed from the side navigation menu under the menu item, Messages.
Navigation
The Messages Module has 7 components:
- Inbox Sidebar
- Contact Search, Sort & Filter
- Contact List
- Messaging Console
- Conversation Action
- Vertical Sidebar
- Contact Drawer
Inbox Sidebar
The Inbox Sidebar is where you can search for an inbox or select your preferred inbox view.
There are 3 possible inboxes to choose from:
- Standard Inbox
- Team Inbox
- Custom inbox
Standard Inbox
There are 3 displays within the Standard Inbox:
- All: Shows all conversations on the platform.
- Mine: Shows Contacts and conversations assigned to the User only.
- Unassigned: Shows conversations that haven’t been assigned.
- Agents with restricted Contact Visibility can only see the Mine Inbox. Owners, Managers and Agents with unrestricted access are able to view all Standard Inboxes.
Team Inbox
This displays the inboxes of the various Teams in your Workspace, such as Sales, Marketing and Support.
Access to the Team Inbox is granted as below:
- Agents with the “View Contacts assigned to User only” restriction are not able to view any Team Inbox.
- Agents with unrestricted access or with the “View Contacts assigned to User’s team” restriction are able to view their own Team Inbox.
- Owners and Managers are able to view all Team Inboxes.
Custom Inbox
This section shows all the Custom Inboxes created by the User or shared by other Users. There are two sub-sections:
- Created by me: Shows all Custom Inboxes created by the User.
- Created by others: Shows all Custom Inboxes shared with the User.
- Only the inbox creator can make changes to the settings.
New Message Indicator
The blue dot indicator indicates a new incoming message in the relevant inbox. It disappears when the inbox is opened.
- This feature only applies to Standard and Team inboxes.
The blue dot indicator prioritizes inboxes as below for specificity:
Mine > Team > Unassigned > All
When a new message arrives in the Mine inbox, the blue dot will mark it accordingly without alerting the Team or All inboxes. The same principle applies throughout using this hierarchy.
Open Conversation Count
The Open Conversation Count indicates the number of open conversations in an inbox.
- This feature only applies to Standard and Team inboxes.
Contact Search, Sort & Filter
By default, the Contact List is filtered by All Status and sorted by Newest Message first. The filter options are:
- All Status:
Shows all conversations in the Contact List of the selected inbox.
- Open:
Only shows conversations that are open in the Contact List of the selected inbox.
- Closed:
Only shows conversations that are closed in the Contact List of the selected inbox.
- Snoozed:
Only shows conversations that are snoozed in the Contact List of the selected inbox.
By default, the Contact List is filtered by All Status and sorted by Newest Message first.
The filter options are:
- Newest message
Sorts Contacts by newest messages to oldest messages.
- Oldest message
Sorts Contacts by oldest messages to newest messages.
- Longest (Open/Closed/Snoozed)
Depending on which filter is chosen, Contacts are sorted from the longest to the shortest conversation duration that were opened, closed or snoozed.
- Shortest (Open/Close/Snoozed)
Depending on which filter is chosen, Contacts are sorted from the shortest to the longest conversation duration that were opened, closed or snoozed.
- The “All Status” filter option is not applicable to the Longest or Shortest sorting options.
Search Behavior: Contacts, Messages and Comments
Use the search bar at the top of the Contact List to search your Contacts, Messages and Comments. Your recent searches are listed in the same dropdown.
- You cannot search Broadcasted Messages.
- The search results are not case sensitive. For example, the search result for SAMANTHA include samantha, SAma and SAM.
Search for Contacts
To search for a particular Contact, click the Contacts button in the search dropdown.
- You can only search for First Name, Last Name, Phone Number and Email.
- Partial or wildcard search:
The search results include Contacts that are a partial match to the search query. Example: The search result for car includes Carlos and Carter , but not Scarlet and Oscar. Here are the Contact details that are included in the search:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Phone Number
- Strict-searching:
Only Contacts that are an exact match of the search query will be included in the search result.
- Custom fields, except for checkbox type, date type and time type.
- Contact fields that cannot be searched:
- Country
- Language
- Gender
- Assignee
- Conversation Status
- Checkbox type (custom field)
- Date type (custom field)
- Time type (custom field)
- Tags
- For unsearchable contact fields, use filters to find the desired Contacts.
Search for Messages or Comments from All Contact Conversations
To search for a Message or Comment, click the Messages or Comments button, respectively, on the search bar. The search automatically begins once 3 characters are provided in the search bar with the recent messages/comments listed first.
- The messages in text format that can be searched, include WhatsApp Templates, quick replies, and story replies.
- Basic Match
Search for 1 keyword. Example: the search results for “fox” returns all messages with the word “fox” in them.
- Multi-word Match
Searching for multiple words. Example: the search result for “quick brown” returns all messages with “quick” and/or “brown” in them
- Emoji
Search for any emoji. However, 1 emoji is considered one character, therefore, search begins after 3 emojis are entered.
- Email Address
When searching for email addresses, messages/comments that have the exact match, partial match, or domain-specific match are included in the search results. Example: the search for the domain “@gmail” returns all email addresses of the specified domain.
- Number
When searching for numbers, messages/comments that have the exact match or multi-number match will be included in the search results. Example: the search result for “016 014”, includes “…your number start with 016…” and/or “…your number starts with 014…”.
- Message/Comment search is not filtered based on inbox, sorting, or conversation status.
Search for Messages and Comments from a Single Contact’s Conversation
You can also search for a message or comment inside a Contact’s conversation. Select the Contact and click the search icon on top to open the search bar. Enter the keyword that you want to search.
You can use the arrows or the search results dropdown to navigate through the search results in the Contact’s conversation.
Contact List
The Contact List shown is based on the selected inbox. Standard and Team Inboxes refresh in real-time when a new inbox is selected or a new message is received. Custom Inboxes have to be manually refreshed by clicking the refresh button on the “Last updated X time ago” banner at the top of the Contact List.
Selecting a Contact
Any action related to Contacts starts with Contact selection. By default, the Contact List is filtered by Open Contacts and sorted by Newest Message first.
Conversation Indicators
Indicators & Descriptions
The small round logo located at the bottom right of the avatar indicates the status of the Contact. If the Contact does not have an open conversation, a green checked logo will show. Otherwise, it will not show anything.
The small round logo located at the bottom right of the Contact List item indicates which messaging channel the Contact originated from.
If there are unread messages, there will be a count highlighted in a blue box besides the Contact’s name.
The date on the top right of the Contact record shows the last message sent or received. The arrow indicates if the most recent message was outgoing or incoming.
The initial or User avatar on the bottom right indicates which User this contact is assigned to.
- If you need a find a specific Contact or conversation quickly, use the search bar at the top.
Add Contact
Agents can add individual Contacts from the Messages Module. To add a new Contact, click on the +Add Contact icon next to the Contact Sort, Search & Filter search bar.
Messaging Console
This is where you can view, draft and compose messages to communicate with Contacts. When a Contact is selected from the Contact List, their conversation history, inclusive of Message Metadata and Conversation Events, will load here.
Message Metadata
When you hover over a message, the message metadata will be shown in a callout. The metadata consists of the message's sender and its status with a timestamp.
Reply Action Menu
Use the reply action menu (3-dot menu) to reply to specific messages in a conversation, generate replies using AI and translate messages using AI.
The reply action menu consists of 3 options:
- Reply
- Reply with AI Assist
- Translate with Respond AI
Reply
When a Contact replies to one of your messages, the Messages Module will indicate the exact message they are referring to for context. It's important to note that the Reply-To Context feature is available for both incoming and outgoing messages.
Reply to incoming message
Reply to outgoing message
- This feature is only available for selected Channels such as: WhatsApp Business Platform (API) , WhatsApp Cloud API , Telegram
Reply with AI Assist
In the reply action menu, select Reply with AI Assist to draft a response using AI Assist when replying to a specific message.
Translate with Respond AI
In the reply action menu, select Translate with Respond AI to translate specific messages using Respond AI.
Message Status
When you send a message to a Contact, you can check its delivery status by hovering your mouse over the message.
For each message sent to the Contact, there will be an indicator that indicates the status of the message. The statuses are described as followed:
Sent
The message has been successfully sent.
Delivered
The message has been successfully delivered.
Read
The message has been read.
Failed
There was a failure in sending the message.
- - Message Status is only applicable to messages sent within a Channel's messaging window. - If a message fails to be sent to a Contact, hover over the message to view the error message from the platform or the Channel source.
- Some messaging channels have limited coverage of message statuses.
Link Preview Content
The Link Preview content includes image, title, description, and the website link associated with the URL.
Remove Link Preview in the Message Composer
You can remove link previews from the message composer when entering a URL. To remove a link preview, click on the "remove" button.
Link Preview Behaviour
The Link Preview content includes image, title, description, and the website link associated with the URL.
- Incoming Messages
- Link previews will be displayed for incoming messages that contain URLs.
- Incoming Messages
- If you sent a message with a link preview, the Contact will receive the message along with the link preview, provided the Channel supports it.
- If you have removed the link preview in the message composer, it should not be displayed in the conversation window.
- The Contact will receive the message without the preview if it was removed by the sender.
- Only one link preview will be shown per message. When multiple URL links are present in a message, the preview of the first URL will be displayed.
Channel Switcher
The Link Preview content includes image, title, description, and the website link associated with the URL.
Channel Switcher
Messages that are not supported will have a fallback display with Unsupported Message or Custom Payload text and Type (if available). Click Show More to view the JSON payload of this message.
Examples of Unsupported Messages are:
- Contacts
- Ads Events
- Line Flex Message
- Instagram Profile
- Instagram Avatar
- Telegram Poll
Email Channel Composer
- This composer only applies to emails and will not be shown if you switch to other channels.
For email channels, we provide additional functionalities in the message composer and console to assist you in properly formatting and sending messages to your Contacts. These include:
You can utilize the rich text editor in the message composer to format your message by making text bold, underlining it, embedding links, adjusting alignment, changing color, and more.
In the message console, you can view the subject of each email you send via email channels. Additionally, when composing a new outgoing email in the message composer, you have the ability to specify the subject. Please note that a subject is required for new outgoing emails, but you can receive and reply to emails from your contacts that do not contain a subject.
Similar to regular email functionality, you can add additional email addresses to the CC and BCC fields when composing your outgoing email in the message composer.” Note that if the emails that are copied are contacts on the platform, it will not start a new conversation for them.
In addition, you have the ability to reply to specific emails that you have previously sent out. To do this, navigate to the specific message in the message console and click on the reply icon to initiate your reply to the email.
In addition, you have the ability to reply to specific emails that you have previously sent out. To do this, navigate to the specific message in the message console and click on the reply icon to initiate your reply to the email.
- If you edit the subject of the message you are replying to, it becomes a new email.
Conversation Actions
Contact Assignment and Closing a Conversation
Assigning a Contact and closing a conversation work in tandem to help your team stay organized when dealing with an influx of conversations. Assign Contacts to specific agents and archive resolved conversations by closing them.
Contact Assignment and Closing a Conversation are designed to work together to reduce the workload of the agent and manager.
There are a few key actions that happen automatically to achieve this:
- Anytime the platform receives a new message from a Contact with no open conversation, a new conversation will be opened for this Contact.
- Any Agent who responds to an unassigned Contact will automatically assign the Contact to themselves.
- The Agent will remain assigned to the Contact after the conversation is closed.
Workflow Icon
Use the shortcut icon to trigger workflows for a Contact or view the ongoing workflows for a Contact.
Shortcuts Tab
- View and search the available shortcuts for the Contact
- You can trigger the shortcuts to start the Workflow for the Contact
Ongoing Workflows Tab
- View and search the ongoing Workflows for the Contact
- Choose and stop a Workflow for the Contact
- Stop all workflows for the Contact
- Workflows that cannot be stopped for contacts, even though they remain visible (with the stop button disabled) are: 1. Workflows that are published but disabled in the workflow settings. 2. Workflows that are not triggered or in a non-ongoing state.
Vertical Sidebar
In the rightmost column of the Messages Module, you can access the Contact Drawer of a selected Contact by clicking on any tabs in the vertical sidebar.
The vertical sidebar has 4 tabs:
- Contact Details
- Merge Suggestions
- Channels
- Activities
Contact Drawer
The Contact Drawer will display the Contact’s information relevant to the tab you selected.
Contact Details
In this tab, you can access key information about the selected Contact such as their phone number, email, country and language. This information can be updated when necessary.
Merge Suggestions
In this tab, you can find potential duplicate Contacts. All Contacts with the same phone number or email address as the selected Contact will be listed here.
Channels
In this tab, you can find a list of channels connected to the Workspace with different indications.
Activities
In this tab, you can find all the internal comments and conversation events related to the selected Contact.
FAQ & Troubleshooting
How do I turn off the iVA?
You can turn off the iVA manually from the Messages module by clicking the bot button at the conversation action bar for each Contact.
- The Bot button is visible only when the iVA is connected.
Choose this method to turn off the iVA in any of the following cases:
- If you want to talk to a Contact directly
- If your automated conversation is not going in the correct direction or
- Your automated conversation has gone wrong
- Check out the alternate ways to turn off the iVA from the Workflows module and by using the Bot Status Parameter.