Sending a reply in a conversation

Short answer: click the conversation open, type your message in the Reply tab at the bottom, and click Send. The reply goes to the customer through the channel they got in touch on (the web chat, for example).

Step by step

1. Open the Inbox and click the conversation you want to answer. It appears in the middle.
2. The reply box at the bottom has the Reply tab open. Above that box on the right you see who you're writing to and through which channel, for example To Gele Vos · via chat.
3. Type your message. The buttons at the bottom let you make text bold or italic, or add a list.
4. Click Send.

Answering means taking over from Sarrai

If you answer a conversation Sarrai is still handling herself, you take it over by doing so: the conversation gets assigned to you and moves to In progress. That's a one-way door. From your first reply on, the AI no longer answers this conversation. A later, new conversation from the same visitor simply gets the AI again.

The customer sees your message with your name and profile photo. If your profile has no name, the customer sees the neutral label Agent, so fill in your profile name if you want customers to see a recognisable name.

Good to know

The Reply tab goes to the customer. If you want to note something the customer must not see, use Internal note next to it. That one is for your colleagues only.

Next to Send is a small arrow with two extra options: Send + close (answer and close right away) and Send + snooze (answer and let the conversation sleep for a while). One warning: answering a closed or snoozed conversation pulls it back into the active queue. Every reply sets the status to In progress first.

Who's allowed to answer depends on the assignment: if it's assigned to nobody, anyone can (whoever answers claims it); if it's assigned to a person or team, only that person or team can. An admin always can. If you can't answer, the reply bar is switched off with a message telling you who's handling it.

Also searched as

"how do I respond to a customer", "answer chat", "send a message back", "type and send a reply"

See also

• Adding an internal note (for colleagues only)
• Forwarding a conversation to a colleague or team
• The conversation statuses explained