The conversation page is where you read a customer's messages and answer
them. It needs the Growth plan. For the list of conversations, filters and
status, see The Inbox.
Opening a conversation
Click any row in Inbox → Messages, or any conversation on a customer
profile's Inbox tab. The page shows:
profile in a new tab, or Unknown • and the number or address for an
unmatched sender), the status badge, the channel badge, the ticket number
(Ticket #…), the phone number or email address on a computer, and the
portal category if the customer picked one.
Conversation while it's open, plus an ⓘ button for customer details
on screens narrower than a wide desktop. On a phone they are all in the
⋮ menu: Customer details, Assign to a teammate, Snooze and
Close conversation.
Opening a conversation marks its messages read for you.
The customer details panel
On a wide desktop screen the customer's details sit in a column beside the
conversation. On smaller screens, open them with the ⓘ button (or
⋮ → Customer details on a phone). The panel shows:
they have been a customer.
past due and how many days the oldest is late. Click it to open the
customer's Financial tab.
channel, with their ticket numbers. Click one to open it.
For a sender PortaPro couldn't match, the panel shows Unknown sender and
a Link to customer button. Pick the right customer and the conversation
is filed under them from then on.
Reply or internal note
Two pills sit above the message field:
conversation's channel. You never choose the channel: a text conversation
replies by text, an email conversation by email, a portal conversation in
the portal. The field's placeholder says which: Text the customer...,
Reply by email... or Type your reply....
amber, the line Only your team sees notes. appears, and the note shows
in the thread labelled Internal note, not visible to the customer. It
is never sent.
Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter for a new line. The blue up-arrow button
appears once there is text. The microphone inside the field dictates a
message, and the + button adds an emoji.
Replying in a call conversation
A Call conversation can't take a written reply on the phone line. The
pill reads Reply by text and the message goes out as a text, continuing
in the customer's text conversation, which then opens. On a phone the
header also has Call back.
Reply tools: saved replies, suggested reply, AI summary
The ⋮ button beside the message field (Reply tools) holds three
tools. They're available while Reply is selected.
Saved replies
Saved replies are your company's shared canned answers. Pick one to put
it in the message field (added after anything you've already typed), then
edit and send.
Save current draft, name it and click Save.
fills in the customer's and your company's name when you insert it.
Suggested reply
Suggested reply drafts an answer from the conversation and the
customer's account. Anything already in the field is used as direction
("tell them Tuesday works"), and the draft replaces it. Nothing is sent: you
review, edit and send it yourself. It needs at least one message to answer.
AI summary
AI summary reads the conversation and adds a short handoff summary as an
internal note in the thread, so a teammate picking it up can catch up
quickly. The customer never sees it.
If your company reaches its daily AI limit, both tools say so and work again
the next day.
Attachments
Files a customer attaches to an email they send you appear on that message:
pictures show inline and other files open or download. The Inbox reply field
doesn't attach files. To send a file, attach it to an email from the
customer's profile or your own mailbox.
When a message doesn't go through
Sent texts and emails carry a delivery status beside the time, such as
Sent, Delivered, Bounced or Failed. A failed or bounced
message shows Retry, which sends it again using the customer's current
details, so you can fix a wrong address on the customer and retry without
retyping. See
Starting a new conversation (New Message)
From the Inbox
phone).
where it will go, for example Texts (555) 123-4567, or warns
This customer has no phone number on file.
characters.
A portal or text message joins the customer's existing conversation on that
channel. An email joins the email conversation with the same subject, and a
new subject starts a new email conversation. Either way it appears in the
Inbox and on the customer's Inbox tab, and replies land back in it.
From a customer profile
Open the customer, go to the Inbox tab and click New Message. Choose
Email, Text or Portal Message. The email address and phone number
fill in from the customer and can be changed for this one message.
Write with AI
Under the message field, Write with AI opens a small panel: for email an
Email type (Service Update, Reminder, Follow-up, Thank You, Promotional),
a Tone (Professional, Friendly, Casual, Urgent, Appreciative) and What
should it say? Click Generate draft and the message field fills in.
For email it also fills an empty subject; for text it keeps to 160
characters. Review and edit before you send. Nothing sends by itself.
Real-time updates
reloading.
composer.
example Susan is also viewing this conversation, or Susan is writing a
reply right now while they type, so two people don't answer the same
customer.