Manage Customer Queries from External Messaging Channels in the Cloud Voice App

As an agent on a message queue, you work through customer conversations that arrive from external messaging channels directly in the Cloud Voice App. This page walks through everything you can do with a messaging session on the web and desktop versions of the app: claiming it, replying, moving it elsewhere, turning it into a call, and closing it out.

Every task below starts the same way. In the Cloud Voice App, click Chat, then open the External Chat tab.

Before you start

Confirm the following with your system administrator:

• System version 84.20.0.128 or later.
• At least one messaging channel configured on the system.

If you use the desktop version of the app, it must be one of these builds or later:

• Windows: 1.2.14 or later
• macOS: 1.2.14 or later

Pick up a messaging session

When your message queue receives a new inbound conversation, you can see the incoming messages and take ownership of the session.

Note

You can only pick up sessions when your queue’s chat assignment mode is set to Manual Pickup or Auto-Pickup:

• Manual Pickup: you claim each new session yourself.
• Auto-Pickup: the session is assigned to whichever agent replies first. You can still pick one up manually in this mode if you want to.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. At the top of the session, click Pick Up.

   A confirmation appears letting you know the session is now yours. From this point on, only you can see the conversation and reply to it.

Transfer a messaging session

Mid-conversation, you can hand a customer off to a colleague or to another message queue. If your administrator has connected the system to a third-party message analytics platform, you can also route the session there for advanced processing or automation.

Note

The third-party analytics platform only appears as a transfer destination when your administrator has integrated it with the system over the API (Application Programming Interface, the connection two systems use to exchange data).

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the top-right corner of the session, click the transfer icon .

3. Pick a destination in the pop-up, then click OK.

   The session leaves your external chat list and moves to the chosen colleague, queue, or analytics platform, carrying the full chat history with it.

Start a voice call from a session

When a message thread would be quicker to resolve by phone, you can call the customer without leaving the conversation.

Note

Placing outbound calls requires permission. Check with your system administrator if you’re not sure you have it.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the top-right corner of the session, click the call icon .

   The app dials the customer’s number and routes the call through the system.

Add a customer to your contacts

You can save a customer’s details to your contacts straight from the conversation.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.
2. In the top-right corner of the session, click the add-contact icon .
3. Choose how to save the customer:
   • Add New Contact: create a fresh contact and fill in the customer’s details.
   • Add to Existing Contact: attach the details to a contact you already have, editing its information as needed.

View session details

Open a session’s detail panel to see information such as the source channel it came from and the channel number.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. At the bottom of the session, click the details icon .

   The session’s details open in the panel on the right.

Archive a session

Archiving is handy when a customer has gone quiet or when you simply want to set a conversation aside to revisit later.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the top-right corner of the session, click the archive icon .

   The session moves from the Recent list to the Archived list.

Note

To pick the conversation back up, send a message in the archived session, or click the unarchive icon in the top-right corner. Unarchiving returns the session to the Recent list.

End a session

Once you’ve finished helping a customer, close the session out.

Caution

Ending a session is permanent: you cannot send any more messages in it, and it moves to the Archived list. If the customer writes in again, the system opens a brand-new session instead. If there is any chance you will need to continue this conversation, archive it instead of ending it.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the top-right corner of the session, click the end icon .

3. Click OK in the pop-up.

   The session closes and moves to the Archived list. You can no longer send messages in it. The next time this customer writes in, the system opens a brand-new session.

Remove a session

To delete a session entirely:

Danger

Removing a session deletes it from every one of your Cloud Voice App clients (web, desktop, and mobile), along with its chat history, and it cannot be undone. If you only want to set the conversation aside, archive it instead.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the external chat list, right-click the session you want to delete.

3. Click Remove.

4. Click OK in the pop-up.

   The session is removed from every one of your Cloud Voice App clients.

Handle campaign sessions

When your administrator runs a message campaign to send messages in bulk and assigns those campaign sessions to your extension or to a queue you belong to, you can view and reply to them here.

1. Open Chat > External Chat.

2. In the external chat list, click Campaign Group.

   Every session created by a message campaign is listed.

3. Click a session to read it and respond to the customer’s replies.