How do I use the shared inbox?
Using our shared inbox allows your team members to see and respond to messages responses from customers. Available for Customer Engagement and Contact Center customers.
Before you begin: You must have the
Team member role in Customer Engagement or the
Agent role in Contact Center to access the shared inbox. A manager or admin must complete at least one of the following before your team members can use and respond to messages in the shared inbox:
- Set up a text campaign — Customer Engagement only
- Set up a chat queue — Contact Center only
- Set up a webchat on your website
- Set up a Facebook business account
- Set up an Instagram business account
Desktop/web app
Available inboxes
You have access to your
Shared inbox,
Private inbox, and
Favorites within the inbox.
Shared Inbox
Conversations | Allows you and other team members to see and respond to any message responses from shared contacts. |
Chat queues | See a list of all available chat queues.
Note: Contact Center only
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Pre-written messages | Access and manage your pre-written messages. |
Private Inbox
Text messages | See and respond to text messages with private contacts and team members. |
Direct chats | See and respond to direct chats with team members. |
Team chats | See and respond to team chats with team members. |
Favorites
Favorites | Allows you to favorite contacts and team members. |
Create chats
- Select + Create.
- Select one of the following:
- New conversation: Send a message to a shared contact. All responses will appear in Conversations within the Shared inbox.
- New text message: Send a message to private contacts. All responses will appear in Text messages within the Private inbox.
- New direct chat: Send a direct chat to your team members. All responses will appear in Direct chats within the Private inbox.
- New team chat: Create a new team chat with team members in your organization. All responses will appear in Team chats within the Private inbox.
- Select the desired phone number.
- Enter the name or phone number of the recipient.
- Select Create.
Open mode vs assignment mode
Note: This is available for Customer Engagement customers only.
Depending on how your manager set up the shared inbox, team members can interact with messages in the following ways:
- Open mode — If open mode is enabled, this experience will allow multiple team members to respond to a message(s) in the shared inbox without assigning it to one individual. Agents cannot assign a message to themselves when using open mode.
- Assignment mode — If assignment mode is enabled, this experience will allow team members to assign messages to themselves. Team members cannot respond to a message in the shared inbox unless the conversation is assigned to them.
Note: Managers also have the ability to manage their team members' conversation assignments by unassigning them, assigning them to another team member, or assigning them to themselves.
Filter chats
In the
Conversations section, filter the messages as needed:
Shared inbox
- Channel: Located above the "Open" and "Closed" filters, select the drop-down to filter messages sent from Facebook, Instagram, Webchat, or one of the GoTo Customer Engagement phone numbers.
- Open: A list of messages that have not been marked as resolved.
- Closed: A list of messages that have been marked as resolved.
- Conversations with me: Filters the list to show messages you have interacted with.
- Unread: Filters the list to show unread messages.
- Me: Filters the list to show messages assigned to the logged-in user.
- Others: Filters the list to show messages assigned to other team members. To assign the conversation, select Assign to me. The previous team member will be notified that the conversation was reassigned to a team member.
- Unassigned: Filters the list to show messages that have not been assigned to a team member. To assign a conversation, select Assign to me.
Private inbox
- Number: Within Text messages, select the drop-down to filter messages sent by a specific phone number.
- All: A list of all messages.
- Unread: A list of all unread messages.
- Archived: A list of all completed and archived messages.
Sort chats
In the
Conversations section, sort the messages as needed:
Shared inbox
- Recent conversations: Messages with the most recent creation date and time will appear at the top.
- Oldest conversations: Messages with the oldest creation date and time will appear at the top.
- Recent messages: Messages with the most recent reply appear at the top.
- Oldest messages: Messages with the oldest reply appear at the top.
Note: When using the Recent messages or Oldest messages sorting options, any empty conversations will appear at the top of the list.
Private inbox
- Recent: Messages with the most recent creation date and time will appear at the top.
- Oldest: Messages with the oldest creation date and time will appear at the top.
Engage with chats
Select a message to engage and choose what you want to do:
Action | Description |
---|---|
To use Message Assistant — Customer Engagement only | Select the icon. Choose from one of the following options:
Notice: Message Assistant can be enabled by navigating to Engage > Settings > General > Message Assistant. By enabling Message Assistant, you understand and agree the use of this feature is subject to the GoTo AI Terms.
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To send a survey | Select the icon. |
Pre-written messages | Select to use a pre-written message for quick responses. Or type the key phrase to populate the pre-written message.
Note: Pre-written messages are shared among all team members who have access to the shared inbox.
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To send an attachment | Select the icon.
Tip: MMS files include images, videos, pdfs, etc. You can send up to 5 files in a single message with a maximum size of 2MB per file.
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To edit the contact information | Select the Contact > Contact information > Edit. |
To link a contact to a conversation | Select the conversation. The Contact search panel will appear on the right side of the conversation. Select an existing contact from the matching contact options or select + Add new contact to link the conversation to them. |
To flip a conversation to a phone call | Select the Contact > Call. |
To flip a conversation to a meeting room | Select the Contact > Start meeting. |
To opt out a contact from a campaign if applicable | Select the Contact > Mark as opted out.
Tip: If opt-out message is enabled and the contact replies with an opt-out keyword, an opt-out label will be added next to the contact's name, and the conversation will be automatically resolved.
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To view a contact's conversation history | Select the icon. |
To organize your conversations | Select +Add tag. |
To unassign a conversation | Select Unassign. This action will move the conversation back into Unassigned for another team member to pick up.
Attention: Contact Center customers, this option is available if automatic assignment is disabled on the chat queue
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To end a conversation | Select the icon. |
Note: When new conversations are received, you will see a pop-up notification in the bottom left of the GoTo app with the name of the person who chatted in (when applicable) and your current number of unread conversations. The pop-up notification will display regardless of where you are in the app. Audible notifications can be set up from Your profile icon > Settings > Voice > Audio > Message tone.
Customize shared inbox settings
- Customize your inbox settings in Customer Engagement.
- Customize your chat queue's inbox settings in Contact Center.
Mobile app
- Sign in to the GoTo mobile app.
- From the bottom navigation, select Inbox.
Open mode vs. assignment mode
Note: This is available for Customer Engagement customers only.
Depending on how your shared inbox is set up, agents can interact with messages the following ways:
- Open mode — If open mode is enabled, this experience will allow multiple team members to respond to a message(s) in the shared inbox without it being assigned to one individual. Agents cannot assign a message to themselves when using open mode.
- Assignment mode — If assignment mode is enabled, this experience will allow an agent to assign a message to themselves. Agents will not be able to respond to a message in the shared inbox until they have assigned the conversation to themselves.
Note: Enable/disable these modes in your shared inbox settings on the GoTo desktop/ web app.
Filter chats
In the
Conversations section, filter the messages as needed:
- Open: A list of messages that have not been marked as resolved.
- Closed: A list of messages that have been marked as resolved.
- Assigned to me: Filters the list to show messages that are assigned to the logged in user.
- Assigned to others: Filters the list to show messages assigned to other team members. To assign the conversation, select Assign to me. The previous team member will be notified that the conversation was reassigned to a team member.
- Unassigned: Filters the list to show messages that have not been assigned to a team member. To assign the conversation, select Assign to me.
- All: Filters the list to show all messages.
Engage with chats
Select a message to engage and choose what you want to do:
To create a conversation | Tap the icon. Select a contact or enter a phone number and tap Create to start a conversation. |
To link a contact | If the recipient is not already linked to one of your shared contacts, you cannot view that contact's information. Tap the or icon, then select Link contact and choose the contact you would like to Link the conversation to.
Note: If it's a new contact, you will have to first create a shared contact, then go back into the conversation and link it to the newly created shared contact.
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To switch the contact | Tap the icon, then select Switch contact and choose the contact you would like to Link as the new contact. |
To edit the contact information | Tap the icon, then select View contact > Edit contact. |
To view a contact's conversation details | Tap the icon. |
To flip a conversation to a phone call | Tap the icon. |
To unassign a conversation | Tap the icon, then tap Unassign myself.
Note: This action will move the conversation back into Unassigned for another agent to pick up.
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To end a conversation | Tap the icon, then select Resolve. |
To send an attachment | Tap the icon to select a file or picture to attach.
Tip: MMS files include images, pdfs, etc. You can send up to 5 files in a single message with a maximum size of 2MB per file.
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