Messages

What it’s for

In Messages you see the WhatsApp conversations that the automated assistant has handed over to the restaurant team because they need a person. From here you can read what the customer has written, reply to them on WhatsApp from the dashboard and close the conversation once it’s resolved, so the assistant takes care of that customer again.

The assistant hands a conversation over to the team, for example, when the customer asks to speak to the restaurant, when there’s no availability for what they’re asking for, when the assistant can’t understand them or when a voice note couldn’t be understood.

How to get there

In the side menu, in the Communications group, tap Messages.

Messages only appears if the restaurant has WhatsApp connected. You connect it in the side menu, Settings group, Settings option, Channels and integrations section (WhatsApp Business card). Only admins can see that part of the settings.

What you see on the screen

• On the left, the Conversations list, with the Open (the one you see when you arrive), Closed and All tabs, and the Refresh conversations button. Each conversation shows the customer’s name (or their phone number if it isn’t known), the phone number, the WhatsApp label, the status and the time of the last activity. If there are unread messages from the customer, a blue number shows how many.
• On the right, the selected conversation: the customer’s name and phone number, its status, the reason it was handed over to the team and, after you reply, the delivery status of the last message sent. Below that, the messages: the customer’s on the left, the team’s on the right. At the bottom, the reply box.

When you open Messages, the first conversation in the list opens automatically. The screen refreshes itself every few seconds.

Common tasks

Read a conversation

1. Tap Messages in the side menu.
2. Tap the conversation in the Conversations list.
3. Read the messages on the right. When you open it, its messages are marked as read for the whole team.

Reply to a customer

1. Open the conversation.
2. Type your reply in the Write a reply box.
3. Tap Send.
4. You’ll see the message Message sent and your message will appear on the right of the conversation. The customer receives it on their WhatsApp, from the restaurant’s WhatsApp number.

When you reply, the conversation becomes active (blue label), to show that someone on the team is dealing with it.

Close a conversation (hand it back to the assistant)

1. Open the conversation.
2. Tap Close, at the top right of the conversation.
3. In the confirmation window (Are you sure you want to close this conversation? The customer will no longer receive replies here.) tap Close to confirm, or Cancel to go back.
4. You’ll see Conversation closed. The conversation moves to the Closed tab, the text This conversation is closed appears and you can no longer reply from it.

Once closed, the automated assistant answers that customer again when they write.

View closed conversations

1. Tap the Closed tab (or All).
2. Tap a conversation to read it. Closed conversations have no reply box.

The blue number and the sound alert

• In the side menu, next to Messages, a blue number appears only when there are unread messages from customers. The number is how many conversations have unread messages (not the total number of messages). From 100 onwards it shows “99+”.
• A conversation stops counting as unread as soon as someone on the team opens it, replies to it or closes it. Read status is shared: if a colleague opens it, it stops counting for everyone.
• An open conversation that has already been read doesn’t show a number.
• When a customer sends a new message, a short sound plays. It plays on any screen of the dashboard, including when you have it in another browser tab. It doesn’t play when you open or reload the page for things that were already pending.
• Because of browser rules, the alert can only play after you’ve clicked or pressed a key in the dashboard at least once since you opened it.
• Outside the Messages screen, the number and the alert can take up to half a minute to reflect a new message.

Rules and limits

• Messages only exists if the restaurant has WhatsApp connected. If WhatsApp is disconnected, the option disappears from the menu.
• There’s only one conversation per phone number. If a customer whose conversation was closed needs the team again, the same conversation reopens.
• While a conversation is handed over to the team, the automated assistant doesn’t answer that customer: their messages arrive here for a person to answer. The assistant takes over again when you close the conversation (or, at the latest, about 30 minutes after it was handed over to the team).
• Conversations are deleted automatically 3 days after their last activity, whether they’re open or closed.
• Only text messages can be sent. There’s no button to reopen a closed conversation by hand.
• If the customer hasn’t written for a while, WhatsApp may not allow you to send them a free-form message. In that case you’ll see Failed to send message and it’s best to contact them another way (for example, by calling them).
• The list shows at most the 80 most recent conversations in each tab.

Frequently asked questions

I can’t see Messages in the menu. Why? Because the restaurant doesn’t have WhatsApp connected. An admin can connect it in Settings, Channels and integrations section, WhatsApp Business card.

How do I get rid of the blue number on Messages? Open the conversations that have unread messages. As soon as someone on the team opens them, they stop counting.

Why does the blue number disappear even though nobody has replied? Because the number shows unread messages, not pending conversations. If a colleague has opened the conversation, it already counts as read for everyone. Check the Open tab to see what’s still pending.

When I opened Messages, a conversation I hadn’t looked at was marked as read. Why? When you open the screen, the first conversation in the list opens automatically, and opening a conversation marks it as read.

Does the customer see my name when I reply? The customer receives the message on WhatsApp from the restaurant’s number.

How do I hand the conversation back to the automated assistant? Tap Close in the conversation and confirm. From then on, the assistant answers that customer again.

I get “Failed to send message”. What should I do? Try again. If it keeps failing and the customer hasn’t written for a while, WhatsApp may be blocking free-form messages; contact them by phone.

Why has a conversation disappeared? Conversations are deleted automatically 3 days after their last activity.

I don’t hear the alert when a customer writes. What’s wrong? The browser only lets the alert play after you’ve clicked or pressed a key in the dashboard. Click anywhere and check the volume. It doesn’t play for messages that were already there before you opened the page.

What’s the difference between Messages and Inbox? Messages are WhatsApp conversations you can reply to from the dashboard. The Inbox holds unresolved phone calls that need a call back.