Contact center overview
One inbox for every chat customers start with you, filed on the right lead, contact or deal.
The Contact center is one inbox for the conversations customers start with you: WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger through TicAte Inbox, the chat on your website through TicAte ChatIQ, and any other messaging app you connect. You answer from the CRM, and the reply goes back on the channel the customer wrote on.
Every conversation is filed under a lead, contact, company or deal, so its start and close appear on that record's timeline.
The three parts of the screen
Open Contact center in the left menu.
- Left: the queue. The conversations waiting for you. Pick a box at the top: Mine, Unassigned, All open and Closed. The number beside a box is how many are in it. Narrow the list by channel, or type in Find to search.
- Middle: the conversation. The messages, and the reply box at the bottom.
- Right: the customer in the CRM. Who they are, and the lead, contact, company and deal the conversation is filed under.
When you have more than one app connected, a row of buttons under the boxes lets you see one app at a time, each with the number waiting.
Answer a conversation
- Click a conversation in the queue. It opens in the middle and is marked as read.
- Type your reply in the box at the bottom and send it.
- When you are done, press Close. A closed conversation moves to Closed; press Reopen to bring it back.
The reply box has a few helpers:
- Switch from Reply to Internal note to write a note for your team. The customer never sees it.
- Attach sends photos, videos or documents. You can also drop a file on the box or paste a picture.
- Type / to pick a saved reply. Saved replies are kept under Settings → Contact center → Saved replies, and anyone can add one.
{{name}},{{first_name}}and{{agent}}are filled in for you.
Hand a conversation to someone else
Use the list at the top of the conversation, which shows Unassigned or the person answering, to pick who takes it. Anyone can reassign from the inbox. Whoever answers an unassigned conversation takes it.
To bring a colleague in without handing it over, use Add a colleague… at the top. They can read and reply too.
File the conversation on the right record
On the right, under In the CRM:
- Create a lead makes a new lead from the conversation, if it is not filed under a contact or lead yet.
- Contact, Lead, Company and Deal let you pick the records the conversation belongs to, or change them.
Most conversations are filed by themselves when they arrive, by the customer's phone number or email. How that works is set on each open channel. See Connect channels and set up open channels.
Where the channels come from
The Apps link at the top of the queue opens the gallery of every way a customer can reach you: website chat, messengers, telephony, payments and lead sources. A tile with a tick is connected.
If the queue says No channels yet — connect one from Apps., nothing is connected. Ask an owner or admin to connect one.