Customer support on WhatsApp with several agents
One company WhatsApp number, five agents. New chats stay unassigned and the first agent who replies takes them; a team lead hands them to a colleague with “Assign”.
Messaging and agents
WhatsApp Business in your phone system: customer chats, agents and AI answerers in one place
Connect your WhatsApp Business number and customer messages land in the operator panel, next to SMS: people reply, an AI answerer replies, or both.
WhatsApp · +44 7700 900917
ClaireHi, my order 4471 still hasn't arrived.
AI answererHi Claire, your order shipped yesterday and arrives tomorrow by 6 pm. Would you like to talk to an agent?
ClaireYes, I need to change the address.
Martha (103)Hi Claire, this is Martha: could you send me the new address?
Conversation taken by Martha · delivered and read
What it is for
You connect the numbers of your WhatsApp Business accounts by logging in with Facebook and picking which ones to use; if you already have your own Meta app you can connect them manually with a permanent token. Only the numbers you pick send messages to the portal.
Conversations arrive in the Messaging section of the operator panel. For each number you decide who takes new chats: nobody (the first agent who replies), one chosen agent, or an AI answerer that an agent can take over from at any time.
Agents send text, photos, documents and voice notes, can have received voice notes transcribed, and see whether each message was delivered and read. More than 24 hours after the customer's last message WhatsApp only allows an approved template: the panel says so and offers the templates.
With a WhatsApp redirect even callers can move to chat: during the call they get a template on their mobile and the conversation carries on in WhatsApp. From the portal you read every conversation in Management › Conversations.
Use cases
AI answerer at night, agents by day
New conversations go to the AI answerer, which replies at any hour. When a person is needed the agent reads the chat live and presses “Take the conversation”: the answerer stops replying.
Taking calls out of the queue
A key in the IVR answerer leads to the WhatsApp redirect: the caller confirms their mobile, gets the message and carries on in chat instead of waiting on the line.
Getting back to a customer days later
More than 24 hours have passed since the last message: the agent picks an approved template, fills its variables and sends it. When the customer replies the chat opens again for free-form messages.
Texting people who do not use WhatsApp
In the same conversation an agent with permission can send an SMS with a sender and a saved text: the whole history with that number stays in one place.
How it works
Connect the number
In Settings › WhatsApp press “Connect with Facebook” and pick the numbers of your WhatsApp Business accounts, or use “Connect manually” with your Meta app's token.
Decide who takes new conversations
For each number choose Nobody, an Operator or an AI answerer. On your agents turn on the Messaging permissions: WhatsApp, SMS, unassigned conversations, assigning and managing the answerer.
Prepare your templates
In Templates › WhatsApp create messages with header, text, variables and buttons and send them to Meta for approval; their status follows Meta's.
Reply from the panel
Agents find chats in Messaging, filtered into Mine, Unassigned and All, and get new messages live.
Bring calls into chat
Create a WhatsApp redirect with number, template and voice messages and use it as the destination of an IVR menu, a queue or a number.
What you can set
Connecting numbers
- Connect with Facebook
- Log in with Facebook and tick the numbers to connect; the others stay as they are.
- Connect manually
- For your own Meta app: paste a system user's permanent token and, recommended, the app secret; we register the number and set the webhook on that number only.
- Refresh numbers
- Reads numbers, verified name, quality and status from Meta again.
- Disconnect
- The account and its numbers are no longer used by the portal; on Meta they stay yours.
New conversations
- Nobody
- The chat stays unassigned: agents who see every conversation see it and the first who replies takes it.
- Operator
- New chats on that number go to the chosen agent.
- AI answerer
- The chosen AI answerer replies; an agent with permission can take the conversation or restart the answerer.
Conversations in the operator panel
- Filters and search
- Mine, Unassigned and All, with search by name or number.
- New conversation
- Write to a number from one of your WhatsApp numbers; if a conversation with them exists it opens that one.
- Messages and attachments
- Text with emoji, images, videos, documents and voice notes recorded in the browser; stickers, locations, contacts and button replies come in too.
- Transcribe
- Turns a received voice note into text.
- Message status
- Sending, sent, delivered, read or not delivered.
- 24-hour window
- More than 24 hours after the customer's last message, or if they never wrote, you send an approved template and fill in its variables.
- Assign
- Hands the conversation to another agent, who sees it among theirs and gets the new messages.
- Take the conversation / Restart the answerer
- Stops the AI answerer so you can write, or hands the chat back to it.
- SMS
- From the same conversation, a text with a sender of up to 11 characters and a saved text, with an SMS count.
- Delete
- Removes a message or the whole conversation from the portal; the customer keeps them on their phone.
Agent permissions
- Access to Messaging
- Shows the Messaging section of the panel.
- Read / send WhatsApp messages and SMS
- Two separate permissions, one per channel.
- Conversations not assigned to them
- Also sees other agents' chats and the unassigned ones; otherwise only their own.
- Assign a conversation
- Can hand a chat to a colleague.
- Manage AI answerers
- Can stop or restart the answerer on a conversation.
- Conversation history
- During a call shows past WhatsApp and SMS conversations with that number.
WhatsApp templates
- Name and language
- A lowercase name with underscores and one of Meta's languages; neither can change later.
- Message type
- Marketing, Utility (confirmations, updates, starting a conversation) or Authentication (one-time codes).
- Header
- None, text with one variable, or an image, video or document with a sample file for Meta.
- Text, variables and footer
- The message body with its variables and an example for each, plus an optional footer.
- Buttons
- Quick reply, Open website (with a variable in the address if you like) or Call.
- Status
- Approved, In review, Rejected with the reason, Paused, Disabled or In appeal, always Meta's current one.
WhatsApp redirect
- WhatsApp number
- The number the message to the caller is sent from.
- Template and variables
- The approved template and each variable's value; write {caller} for the caller's number.
- Button value
- Comes back with the reply when the customer taps the button, so you can tell it apart.
- Opening message
- Heard first; from a mobile the caller confirms that number or gives another with key 1, from a landline or hidden number they type one.
- Message when sent / when not sent
- What they hear on the phone after sending or if the message fails; voice and speed of your choice.
- After sending / If sending fails
- The call's two exits, for example hang up or go to a queue.
AI answerers and management
- AI answerer's WhatsApp channel
- The answerer replies to messages received on the WhatsApp number you choose.
- Platform number
- If your provider offers it, the answerer can use a shared WhatsApp number: the visitor leaves their number and gets a start message.
- Management › Conversations
- You and your admins read every WhatsApp and SMS chat and can write in them, shown as “Admin”.
Frequently asked questions
How do I connect WhatsApp Business to the phone system?
In Settings › WhatsApp press “Connect with Facebook” and pick the numbers of your WhatsApp Business accounts. If you already have a Meta app you can connect them with a permanent token by following the guide in the portal.
Can several agents answer the same WhatsApp number?
Yes. Each conversation can be unassigned, assigned to an agent or handled by an AI answerer; permissions decide who sees every chat and who can assign them.
What is WhatsApp's 24-hour window?
It is a Meta rule: you can write freely only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, or to start the conversation yourself, you need an approved template, which the agent picks in the panel.
Can an AI answerer reply on WhatsApp?
Yes. Turn on the WhatsApp channel in the AI answerer or pick it for a number's new conversations. Agents read the chat live and can take it over when needed.
Can I move a phone call to WhatsApp?
Yes, with a WhatsApp redirect: during the call the customer gets a template on their mobile and the call carries on to the exit you chose. Each send is charged as a WhatsApp send on your price list.
Can agents send SMS too?
Yes, with the SMS permission: from the same conversation they send a text with a sender and a saved message, and the delivery status shows next to it.
Related features
Try it on your own phone lines
Sign up free and try this feature with your numbers, or message us on WhatsApp and we’ll show it to you.