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AurionAI

Reply on WhatsApp

5 min readBy Emmanuel Yazbeck

Who sees this: Inbox — profiles Helpdesk and AI Voice + Helpdesk, when your organization has connected a WhatsApp account. Roles: Agent, Supervisor, Admin and Owner can reply. Read-only users cannot type in the reply box.

A WhatsApp conversation has its own reply box: it has no recipient list, no signature and no translation bar. WhatsApp also has a rule about time. You can write a free message only within 24 hours after the last message of the customer. After that, you can only send a template that WhatsApp approved. This article shows both cases. Chat and web widget conversations use the email reply box: read Reply by email.

Prerequisites

  • Your organization uses the Helpdesk or AI Voice + Helpdesk profile and has a connected WhatsApp account.
  • Your base role is Agent, Supervisor, Admin or Owner, or an additional role gives you Manage conversations. Read What your role allows in the inbox.
  • You opened the conversation from Inbox, not from a link that ends in shared=1.

Read the banner above the reply box

A colored banner above the reply box tells you what you can send:

  • Green — Free-form messaging open. You can type a free message. The banner also shows the time left before the 24 hours end.
  • Amber — 24-hour reply window expired — send an approved template to re-engage. The 24 hours have ended. You can send only an approved template. Below the text box, the list Approved template shows the approved templates of your organization.
  • Red — sending is blocked. The banner says that sending is blocked and gives the reason, for example that the WhatsApp account is disconnected, or that the 24 hours ended and your organization has no approved template. You cannot send anything. Ask your administrator.

The 24 hours count from the last message of the customer. When the customer writes again, you can send free messages for 24 more hours. When the time ends while the conversation is open, the banner changes by itself.

Steps

Reply within 24 hours

  1. Open the WhatsApp conversation. Check that the banner is green.
  2. Check that the tab Reply is selected.
  3. Type your message. You can add files with Attach.
  4. Select Send reply.

If your organization has approved templates, a template list is also shown, marked Use a template (optional). Leave it on No template (free-form text) to send your own text.

Reply after 24 hours

  1. Open the WhatsApp conversation. The banner is amber.
  2. Below the text box, find the list Approved template and select Select a template…. Choose a template.
  3. If the template has blanks to fill, a field appears for each blank. Fill in every field. For example, type the name of the customer or a ticket number.
  4. Select Send reply. You do not need to type text: WhatsApp sends the template with your values.

Send reply stays grey until you choose a template and fill in all its fields.

Ask for the phone number of the customer

When AurionAI knows the WhatsApp account of the customer but has no phone number, the button Ask for phone number appears. Select it to add a short question that asks for the number, then select Send reply. AurionAI sends it as a WhatsApp request for the phone number. To cancel the request, select the button again and delete the question. This button works only within the 24 hours.

Result

  • Your message appears at the end of the conversation. A label below it shows the WhatsApp status, for example Delivered when the message reached the phone of the customer.
  • If the conversation is still being worked on (for example open, pending or snoozed), you become its assignee. Read Claim or assign a conversation.

If something goes wrong

  • The banner is red and says that the 24-hour window has closed with no approved templates. Your organization has no template that WhatsApp approved. Ask your administrator to add one in the WhatsApp channel settings. Read Connect WhatsApp. Until then, wait until the customer writes again, or contact the customer another way.
  • The banner is red. Sending is blocked for the reason in the banner. If the WhatsApp account is disconnected, ask your administrator to connect it again. Read Connect WhatsApp.
  • The message Reply saved but not delivered appears. Your message is saved, but WhatsApp did not deliver it. The message shows Failed to deliver. Point at the label to read the reason, fix it, then select Retry on the message.
  • The tab Forward is missing. You cannot forward a WhatsApp conversation.
  • The reply box shows only a grey placeholder for a long time. The conversation details are still loading. Reload the page.

Still stuck? Submit a request or .