Replying, assigning, and resolving conversations

This is the day-to-day flow of working the shared inbox: pick up a conversation, reply, and close it out when you're done.

Claim a conversation

So two people don't reply at once, a conversation is handled by one person at a time.

• Open a conversation and select Claim to take it. It moves into your Mine scope.
• If it's already handled by someone else, you'll see who has it. Select Reassign to move it to yourself or another teammate.
• Select Release to hand a conversation back so someone else can pick it up.

If a conversation is assigned to another agent, you'll see an Assigned to … banner — reassign it to yourself before replying.

Reply

Type in the composer at the bottom of the thread and select Send. Your reply goes out over the same channel the customer used. Use the composer's shortcuts to insert a saved reply or an article from your knowledge base to answer common questions faster.

Reply windows

Some channels — WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram — only allow replies for a limited time after the customer's last message. When a conversation is outside that window, the composer is paused and a banner explains why. You can reply again once the customer messages you.

Resolve (close) a conversation

When you've helped the customer:

1. Select Close.
2. Pick an outcome that best describes how it ended.
3. Optionally add notes for the next agent.
4. Confirm.

Outcomes help admins understand trends across all conversations. If you don't see any outcomes to choose from, ask an admin to add them in Settings → Outcomes.

Reopen a conversation

Need to pick a closed conversation back up? Open it and select Reopen. It returns to the open queue.

Flag for review

If a conversation needs an admin's attention, use Flag for review in the details panel and set a severity. An admin is notified so they can follow up.

Need help?

Questions about the conversation workflow? Email help@connectbetter.co.