Inbox: Answer Customer Messages in One Place

Overview

Customers → Inbox collects the messages customers send you, so you can answer them from one screen. A conversation opens with the customer's profile beside it: their orders, what they have spent, their last order and their loyalty points.

The Inbox is on the Growth plan and above.

What lands in the Inbox

• Messages sent from the contact form on your storefront.
• Mail to your store's support@ address, once your own email domain is set up. See Custom domains and branded email.
• Text messages to your store's phone number, and calls the call assistant answered.
• Data requests shoppers make from their account.
• WhatsApp chats, if you have connected a number under Settings → WhatsApp (rolling out). See WhatsApp numbers below.
• Storefront chats you made into a ticket from Customers → Shopper chat. See AI Chat.

Each conversation is a ticket. Tickets that are open or waiting on the customer stay in the Inbox however old they are; resolved ones show for 30 days. WhatsApp messages show for 30 days.

One conversation, one ticket

When a customer answers your reply by email, their answer joins the same ticket instead of starting a new one. Every email you send from the Inbox carries the ticket's reference at the end of its subject, for example [#T-7K3M9QXA], and is marked as part of the customer's email conversation, so their answer finds its way back:

• An answer from the same customer joins the ticket. A ticket waiting on the customer goes back to Open, and one resolved in the last 30 days opens again. An answer to a ticket resolved longer ago starts a new ticket that names the old one.
• An answer from a different address joins only if its subject still carries the ticket's reference (a colleague replying to the thread, a forward). Their message is marked with who sent it.
• Out-of-office replies, bounces and mailing-list mail are kept on the ticket but never reopen it.
• Mail is only ever matched to tickets of your own store.

Each new text message from the same number joins that number's open ticket in the same way, including after you have replied. Each WhatsApp number has one ticket while it is open or waiting on the customer: the messages, photos and receipts stay as described under WhatsApp numbers, and the ticket adds the assignee, priority, tags and status.

Possible duplicates

Conversations that were split before this, and emails that answered a ticket from a different address, are offered to you: a line at the top of the list says how many possible duplicate conversations there are. Each shows both tickets. Merge moves the messages into the older ticket; Not the same keeps them apart and the pair is not offered again. Nothing is ever merged without you. A merged ticket shows Merged in in the ticket it joined, with Undo, which moves its messages back.

Assign, prioritise and tag

At the top of a ticket:

• Assignee. Anyone on your team whose role works the Inbox (owner, admin, manager, staff, accountant).
• Priority. Urgent, High, Normal (the default) or Low. It picks the response-time targets below. Urgent and High show on the ticket in the list.
• Tags. Type a tag and press Enter; click the cross to remove one. Tags are lower case, up to 10 per ticket.

Every change is recorded in your audit log with who made it. A team member who can only view (the viewer role) can read tickets but not change them.

Response-time targets

Each ticket runs two clocks from the moment it arrives: first reply (stops at the first reply that actually reached the customer, not one saved but not sent) and resolution (stops when it is resolved). The targets depend on its priority:

Change them under the settings button at the top of the Inbox. The clocks count every hour, nights and weekends included, and a change applies to every open ticket straight away. A ticket shows Reply overdue or Overdue in red once a target has passed, and how long is left in amber when under a quarter of the time remains. The number beside the title counts the overdue tickets.

Step 1: Find the message

Filter by All, Open, Tickets, WhatsApp or Resolved, or search (by name, subject, text or ticket reference). Below those, narrow the list by status (including Waiting on customer), assignee (Assigned to me, Unassigned or a person), priority, channel, tag, or response time (Overdue, Due soon).

Save view keeps the filters you have set under a name, for example "Urgent and unassigned". A view is yours alone; an owner, admin or manager can also share one with the whole team. Clear filters shows everything again.

Step 2: Reply

Select a message, type your reply and click Send reply.

• A reply to an email or contact-form conversation is sent by email from your store's own address, so your own email domain must be set up first. Until it is, the reply is saved on the conversation and the Inbox tells you it could not be sent.
• A reply to a WhatsApp chat is sent on WhatsApp from the number you connected. On an official WhatsApp Business number, a reply can go only within 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that the Inbox says so, and you send an approved template from the customer's page instead.
• A reply to a text message, or to a call, is sent as a text from your store's number. A customer who texted STOP is not sent it, and the Inbox says so.
• If the customer left no email address or phone number, there is nowhere to send a reply, and the Inbox says so.

A conversation moves to awaiting the customer only when your reply was actually sent.

• Canned responses keeps the answers you give often. Create one with a title and the text, then click Use to put it in your reply.
• Internal note switches the box to a note your team can see and the customer cannot; Save note adds it to the ticket.
• Draft reply writes a suggested answer for you to read and edit. Nothing is sent until you send it.

Step 3: Resolve and ask for feedback

Click Resolve when the conversation is done, and Reopen to open it again. On a resolved conversation, Send CSAT emails the customer a link to rate how it went, from your own email domain. If it cannot be sent (no email domain set up, or the address bounced or complained), no survey is kept and the Inbox tells you why.

Emails customers get automatically

Under the settings button at the top of the Inbox, an owner, admin or manager can switch on, each on its own (all are off until you do):

• Acknowledge new emails. One reply to each new email ticket saying you got the message. Never sent to an out-of-office, a bounce or a mailing list, and never twice for one ticket.
• Tell customers when a ticket is resolved or reopened by your team.
• Send the satisfaction survey when a ticket is resolved, once per ticket. With the option above also on, the survey comes in the same email.

They are sent from your own email domain, in the customer's email conversation. What was sent appears in the ticket; anything that could not be sent (for example, no email domain set up yet) is added to the ticket as an internal note saying why. Acknowledgements are for email only; the contact form already confirms on screen.

Inbox report

The report button at the top of the Inbox shows, for the last 7, 30, 90 or 365 days: tickets received, resolved, open and waiting on the customer; the median time to first reply and to resolve, with the share inside your targets (out of the tickets answered or resolved, which it names); how many are overdue now; tickets and median first reply by assignee; and satisfaction surveys sent and answered, the average score, the scores one to five and the share scoring 4 or 5. Merged tickets are counted separately and left out of the rest. The report is open to owners, admins, managers and accountants. Customers → Care metrics measures the actions Suggest a resolution proposes, not the conversations themselves: how many were suggested, approved, carried out (executed) or declined, the share carried out (Resolution rate, leaving declined ones aside), how many tracking updates were sent, and the average time from a suggestion to it being carried out (Avg time to resolve).

WhatsApp numbers

Settings → WhatsApp connects WhatsApp to your Inbox in one of two ways. A store uses one or the other, never both.

• Official WhatsApp Business number. Your own number on Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, with your verified business name, delivery and read receipts, and message templates. While BestWebby is still setting this up with Meta, the card shows Not available yet.
• WhatsApp app number. A number linked by scanning a code with the WhatsApp app on the phone, as with WhatsApp on a computer.

Connect the official number

1. Go to Settings → WhatsApp and click Connect with Facebook. Only the store owner and admins can do this.
2. Sign in with the Facebook account that manages your business, choose your business portfolio, then pick or create a WhatsApp Business account and the number to use. Confirm the number with the code Meta sends to it.
3. Add a payment method in WhatsApp Manager. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account directly for messages, not your BestWebby plan.

The WhatsApp Business account stays yours. Disconnect stops its messages reaching your Inbox; the account itself is untouched in WhatsApp Manager.

What the official number can send

• Replies. Within 24 hours of a customer's last message, you can write anything, from the Inbox or the customer's page. Each new message from them restarts the 24 hours.
• Templates. After 24 hours, or to start a conversation, only a template Meta has approved can go. Write templates in WhatsApp Manager, then click Sync from Meta. On the customer's page, choose WhatsApp, pick a template, fill in what it asks for (see Template parts) and send; a preview shows the whole message as the customer will see it. If Meta pauses, rejects or disables a template, it stops being sendable straight away, and you get the notification Meta paused, rejected or disabled a WhatsApp template with Meta's reason. A template Meta flags for low quality can still be sent; the same notification warns you before Meta pauses it.
• Opt-in. A template goes only to a customer who agreed to WhatsApp messages from your store. They agree by ticking Message me on WhatsApp at checkout or in their account on your storefront, by sending START to your number, or you record it on their page with how and when they agreed (in person, on a paper form or on a phone call). The storefront box shows only while the official number is connected and is never ticked for them; the sentence beside it names your store, says they will get updates about their orders and news and offers, and says how to stop. A tick is recorded for the phone number they entered at checkout (or the one on their account), with that sentence, the time and their browser. A customer who sends STOP, or unticks it in their account, gets no more templates; ticking the box again does not undo that, they send START instead. A WhatsApp opt-in is separate from email and text consent.
• Marketing templates must give a way to opt out, such as a "Stop promotions" button or "Reply STOP" in the text, and are not sent at night where the customer is (the hours from Settings → Calling rules).

Template parts

Settings → WhatsApp lists each template with what it carries. On the customer's page, a template asks only for what it needs:

• Header. A text header may have one blank (up to 60 characters with it filled in). A photo or video header takes a file from your Catalog → Media library: any photo (WhatsApp takes JPEG and PNG, so a WebP photo is converted to JPEG for the message), or an MP4 video up to 16 MB. A photo can be up to 5 MB. A document header takes a PDF you attach there and then, up to 9 MB; it goes to your WhatsApp number for that message and is not kept on BestWebby.
• Body. Each blank is one line, up to 1,024 characters, with no tabs.
• Footer. Fixed text from the template; nothing to fill in.
• Buttons. Quick replies and call buttons are fixed. A link button whose address ends in a blank asks for the end of the address (no spaces). A copy-code button asks for the code to copy, up to 15 letters and digits.

Anything missing or too long is pointed out before the message goes, and nothing is sent until it is fixed. A template with a location header, or a flow or catalogue button, is listed but cannot be sent from the dashboard.

When a customer taps a quick reply, their answer lands in the Inbox in the same conversation as the template, with the customer it was sent to. Tapping a template's opt-out button (such as "Stop promotions" or "Unsubscribe") counts as STOP: no more templates go to them until they send START.

Sign-in codes

A sign-in code (authentication) template sends a one-time code, with a copy-code or one-tap button. On the customer's page, pick the template and send: BestWebby makes the code and nobody in your dashboard ever sees it, and only a scrambled form of it is kept. Ask the customer to read the code back, type it under Check code, and the page tells you whether it matches, which shows they have that phone. A code works once, expires when the template says (10 minutes if it does not say), and stops working after five wrong tries. A number can be sent at most five codes an hour. The same opt-in and STOP rules apply as for any template.

Opt-in confirmation

You can send one WhatsApp message to each shopper who ticks Message me on WhatsApp on your storefront, confirming they are subscribed and how to stop. Write a utility template in WhatsApp Manager, for example You're subscribed to {{1}} on WhatsApp. Reply STOP to opt out., sync it, then choose it under Opt-in confirmation on Settings → WhatsApp. The blank is filled with your store's name. Only an approved utility template that says how to opt out, with at most one blank and no photo, video or document, can be chosen.

• It goes once per opt-in, a few seconds after the tick, and shows in your Inbox.
• It never goes to a number that sent STOP (they must send START first, which needs no confirmation), to someone who was already opted in, or when the official number is not connected.
• Nothing is sent until you choose a template; Send no confirmation turns it off.
• If it cannot be sent (for example, Meta paused the template), you get the notification A WhatsApp message was not delivered with the reason. The shopper's opt-in still stands.

Meta charges per delivered message, by type and by the customer's country: marketing, utility and sign-in code templates, and replies within the 24 hours once a number has sent 1,000 of them in a month. Meta's pricing page has the rates.

Each message you send from the official number shows Meta's receipt in the Inbox: Sent, Delivered, Read, or Not delivered with Meta's reason under the message. Waiting for receipt means Meta has not reported on it yet. A WhatsApp app number sends no receipts, so its messages show none. A message the customer never received also raises the notification A WhatsApp message was not delivered, with Meta's reason.

Photos, voice messages and files

When a customer sends a photo, a voice message, a video, a document or a sticker to the official number, the Inbox shows it with their message: photos and stickers in the conversation, voice messages and videos with a player, documents as a download. BestWebby fetches each file from Meta a few seconds after it arrives and keeps it in your store's private storage, where only people who can open the Inbox can see it. Photos are saved again without their location and camera details.

A file BestWebby does not keep says why under the message, with a pointer to the WhatsApp app or WhatsApp Manager instead: a file type it does not keep, a file over 5 MB for a photo, 16 MB for a voice message or video, or 20 MB for a document, or a file that is not what WhatsApp said it was. If Meta cannot hand a file over, BestWebby tries again for up to a week before the message says it could not be fetched. Files are fetched on the official number only; a WhatsApp app number shows the text of each message.

The Daily Brief and market intel alerts sent to your own phone also go from the official number, so the same 24-hour rule applies: they reach you only within 24 hours of your last message to the store's number. Replying to a brief keeps them coming.

Moving from a WhatsApp app number

Connecting the official number logs out your WhatsApp app numbers; past conversations stay in the Inbox. To use the same phone number, either pick it in the signup when Meta offers to connect a number already in the WhatsApp Business app, or remove it from the WhatsApp app first. To go back, disconnect the official number, then link an app number again.

When you erase a customer

Erase (GDPR) on a customer's page removes their conversations from the Inbox in every channel: WhatsApp on either kind of number (with the photos and files they sent), email, the contact form, text messages, call assistant transcripts and voicemails, and storefront chats they left their email on. They are found by the customer record, the email address and the phone number in any format, in your store only. A conversation that stays counted in a report keeps no name, address or message.

Whether they opted out is kept: a STOP by text or on WhatsApp, an email unsubscribe and the do-not-call list stay in force after erasure, so nobody can message them again by mistake. See Privacy and Quebec Law 25.