Agent guide

Agent guide offers extensive insight into each and every option agents can set up and use to help them resolve customer inquiries faster and more efficiently. Here you will find information on how agents can use Conversations on the web iteration as well as in the mobile app.

Enable notifications in the browser

To be able to receive notifications in the Infobip web interface, you need to grant permissions for Google Chrome (applicable for Windows OS).

When prompted by Google Chrome, click on the Allow button to allow notifications. Alternatively, click on the View site information icon before the URL field and toggle ON the notifications.

After doing so, you can check if they are visible by navigating to the Windows Start Menu and typing in Notifications & actions. The toggle next to Google Chrome should be turned On.

Even if the notifications are allowed for the web, you should also enable the following Pop-ups and redirects to receive web and system notifications all the time even if you are not on the Conversations page.

For Google Chrome, click the three dots at the top right → click Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Pop-ups and redirects.

For other browsers, check out the following:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari
• Microsoft Edge

You can also check if the notifications are visible in the Infobip web interface if you click on the secure connection icon located just before the URL itself.

Check the Automatic rules for the Focus assist option. If they are turned on, this can still cause notifications not to be shown.

e.g., if you are using multiple Windows screens, the ''When I'm duplicating my display'' rule should be turned off to prevent the Focus assist from turning on.

Agent guide on web

Dive into various options available to agents that they can use on the web iteration of the Conversations solution.

Important to note is that the Default queue is a system-defined queue that collects all unmatched conversations during routing. It is available to all agents and all agents are part of this queue automatically. All agents have access to conversations in the default queue and can reply to customers. The default queue can be changed in a conversation but it cannot be deleted.

Set status

To broadcast your availability, you need to set yourself to one of the applicable statuses. To set your status, navigate to the account settings in the bottom left corner > and below your name, you can set your status using the drop-down arrow.

Agents' statuses can be of 2 types based on their activity or workload: Default (Available, Busy, Away, and Offline) and Custom (Idle, Under capacity, Ringing, etc.), and all are explained in the table below:

Available	Available	Agents are signed in and available to take on new conversations.
	Idle	Agents are automatically set to this status when they do not have assigned conversations.
	Under capacity	Agents are automatically set to this status when they can take on more conversations than they have assigned to them.
Busy	Busy	Agents are busy and cannot receive new conversations.
	Full capacity	Agents are automatically set to this status when their workload is equal to their capacity.
	In a call	Agents are automatically set to this status when they are on a call.
	Ringing	Agents are automatically set to this status when they are receiving a call.
	Wrap-up	Agents are automatically set to this status when they are wrapping up a call.
Away	Away	Agents are logged in but not available to receive conversations. Mostly used for short breaks.
Offline	Offline	Agents are signed out.

Supervisors can set custom statuses based on their contact center setup and needs so you may see other statuses than the 4 main ones mentioned above.

It is crucial that you are in the status you set yourself to. Your activity is monitored within the system. So, if you set yourself as Available but the system notices there is no activity in your browser (or the browser is closed), the system will automatically log you out to prevent further conversations assigned to you and inaccurate time tracking on Agent’s Utilization. Note that if you are inactive for 1 minute, the system will automatically set your status to Offline.

Also, make sure to end your shift by setting your status to Offline and log out. Otherwise, you will remain in your current status while being logged off.

Calls

You can find all the information you need about the Calls agent experience on this link.

Chats

Often agents need to reach out to the customer first instead of the customer contacting them. 
They can start a new conversation inside the MY WORK panel by clicking the + button to create a new chat.

After you click the + button, you need to specify the following:

• From which channel and sender message will be sent
• To whom the message will be sent (name of the customer who must exist in People or contact address like MSISDN)
  • Channel and contact address in case the recipient has more than contact one associated with their profile 
• Message content
• Status of the conversation
• Priority of the conversation
• Form for the conversation

The last three items (Status, Priority, Form) are optional, and if you do not specify anything, the default Status is open, and the Priority is normal.

Besides this, you can choose a macro to automate the steps and pre-populate the data by clicking the respective button.

Once done, use the Start a conversation button to either create a new conversation or continue the thread within an already ongoing conversation.

 The system automatically validates if there are any ongoing conversations between the sender and the recipient. If there is, then the system doesn’t allow the agent to create a new conversation and thus prevents multiple parallel conversations and enforces correct threading of messages. 

These are the scenarios you can encounter:

1. No existing conversations – Agent can create a new conversation. 
2. Pre-existing conversations assigned to the logged in agent or unassigned – Agent is prompted to view the conversation and continue the communication with the customer if it is relevant to the ongoing topic. 
3. Pre-existing conversations assigned to another agent – Agent is notified that a new message cannot be sent, nor a conversation started with this customer as another agent is already exchanging messages with the same customer. The user can contact the other agent and agree on the next course of action: conversation transfer, another agent sends the new message toward the customer or a new message is sent only after an ongoing conversation is finished depending on the topic and the content to be exchanged.

If the manual conversation assignment is enabled, you cannot take a conversation that is already assigned to another agent. For instance, if one agent assigns a conversation to themselves, and the other agent does the same thing a few milliseconds later than the first agent, this solution prevents the second agent to assign the conversation to themselves if the first agent already assigned the same conversation to themselves.

Before the conversation is assigned, a background check is performed to determine whether the conversation has already been assigned to someone else. If it has, the assignment is rejected and the agent receives an error message informing them that another agent has already been assigned to the conversation.

Search conversations

Global search looks for keywords across conversations, messages, and customers. The results are listed in those three groups.

When you search conversations, results include channel icon, conversation name, customer name, and their last activity. To browse conversations from these results, click on one of them.

When you search customers, results include the customer icon, customer name, available channels, and their last activity. To find more details on a particular customer, click on them and a side panel will open. Hover over it and click the icon to find this customer in People.

Send messages

Conversations support more than one channel so the agent can choose which channel to use to reply to the customer. If the customer has more than one channel or more numbers per channel associated, the agent will have all the numbers available within the drop-down menu.

By default, the last channel used within the conversation will be preselected. To send your message, type the message content and click SEND MESSAGE. To write an internal note, click Internal in the bottom right corner.

Agents can see the following info for sent messages:

• Delivered status for agent messages are now available for all channels
• Seen status is available for Chat Apps and Live Chat
• Rules made by customer apply here as well (hide when I read) 

Send rich media

Customers can send rich media (depending on channel-specific policies) and it will be rendered in a way that agents can read it. Supported rich media: images, files, video, audio, location.

Messaging window supports different message formats depending on the channel capabilities:

	SMS	Viber	WhatsApp	Messenger
emoji	YES	YES	YES	YES
bold	NO	NO	YES	NO
italic	NO	NO	YES	NO
underlined	NO	NO	NO	NO
location	NO	YES	YES	YES
sending media files	NO	YES	YES	YES

Media files

Supported media file formats and maximum size (note that these are related to WhatsApp. Other channels have different specifications):

Media type	Size	File format
image	5 MB	JPG, JPEG, PNG
audio	16 MB	AAC, M4A, AMR, MP3, OGG, OPUS
video	16 MB	MP4, 3GPP
document	100 MB	PDF, DOC(X), PPT(X), XLS(X)

Supported message length depends on the channel and the values are listed below:

Channel	# characters	Comment
SMS	160	More than 160 characters is possible but the message will be charged as two (or more) separate messages (depending on how many times 160 characters are used).
WA	1000
Viber	1000

Depending on which browser and operating system agents are using, they may or may not be able to listen to audio messages sent by customers.
Below is a list of supported audio (and video) formats available per OS and browser:

AUDIO							VIDEO
	AA4	M4A	AMR	MP3	OGG	OPUS	MP4	3GPP
WINDOWS (Chrome) LINUX (Chrome)     MAC (Chrome)	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	-   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	AUDIO ONLY   OK   -
WINDOWS (Firefox) LINUX  (Firefox)   MAC  (Firefox)	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	-   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	OK   OK   -	AUDIO ONLY   OK   -
WINDOWS (IE)	-	OK	-	OK	-	-	OK	AUDIO ONLY
WINDOWS (Edge)	OK	OK	-	OK	OK	-	OK	OK
MAC (Safari)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Share location

To share a location, click the Location icon and then type in the name of the location. Click the SHARE LOCATION button to send.

Change channel

While having a conversation with a customer, agents can agree to send information through a different communication channel due to several reasons: the customer doesn’t have internet access, content you wish to send requires rich media support, customer prefers communication over a specific channel, etc.

You can change the communication channel by click on the channel drop-down menu above the reply message box. Any new messages from the same customer as well as contact addresses will be automatically added to the same conversation until the conversation is marked as closed.

Use conversation templates

Agent can select a template with quick action in the message content box by typing “/” which results in a pop-up opening to select a template:

Another way to access templates is by selecting the template icon at the bottom of the messages content box: 

The templates pop-up opens so you can search for a specific template:

After the template has been selected, agents can change the whole text for user-defined templates or map variables only for WhatsApp pre-registered templates.
Mapping of variables is done by selecting the highlighted area of the text and entering a value:

And the very last - the agent just needs to click the SEND MESSAGE button to reach out to the customer.

Macros

To simplify your work and enable automation of the necessary steps for the same use cases, you can utilize macros for conversations that are already open or for starting new conversations in which all steps are performed automatically and the data is pre-populated.

Macros in open conversations

You can select the template/macro and based on it, the following fields are auto-populated:

• Subject
• Body
• Sender (Brand)
• Form
• Form fields
• Queue / Assignee
• Status
• Priority

In My Work, you can list all available macros by clicking the icon and applying the wanted macro for the currently opened conversation.

Once the Choose macro window opens, you can search for a specific macro and filter them by tags.

If you hover over a macro in the list, the Preview button appears, and by clicking it, you can see the macro details. Once you find the wanted macro, you can select it by clicking the APPLY MACRO button or clicking the macro directly without previewing it.

Once you apply the macro, an event is shown in the conversation indicating that you applied it and the steps are automatically completed according to the macro setup.

When an agent uses a Macro that sets the conversation status to Solved, the agent can edit it as needed and solve the conversation.

Macros in new conversations

Macros are available to be used in the creation of new conversations to automate repetitive tasks, simplify complex workflows, and increase productivity. 

When starting a new conversation, click the Choose a macro button to open a list of actions.

Once the Choose macro modal appears, a list of all available macros appears. You can search for a specific macro, filter and preview it before applying. Once you choose the macro you want, click it and apply it in your new conversation. 

When you successfully apply the wanted macro, you will see a notification that the macro is applied, its name, and the pre-populated data applied to the conversation.If you want to remove the applied macro, click the X button next to the macro name and confirm your action.

Notes

Use notes to notify your team about important matters regarding a conversation with a customer. You can store any supporting documentation, screenshots, and other file types in the notes, which can help you or your colleagues get the full scope of the conversation and see what has been done to resolve a customer's issue.

Check customer data and history + context

A conversation is built on a combination of participants (customer and agents) and messages exchanged between participants. A customer participating in a conversation can be known or unknown. Customer is known if their contact number is connected to the People profile. In case of a known customer, the Agent can see on the right-side panel default customer attributes:

• Customer name - Associated with that destination number/ID in People module
• Gender - If associated with person in the People module
• City - If associated with person in the People module
• Country - If associated with person in the People module

More customer details can be found using the View and Edit link in People. The Agent can update customer attributes in the People module (e.g., change name, add destination, add tags, and more).

Regardless of the customer details configuration setup by a Supervisor, the Agent can update customer attributes in People (e.g.,change name, add destination, add tags).

Within customer details, the entire conversation history is listed as well. Conversation history shows all open and closed conversations that were associated with a unique customer. It can happen that a wrong conversation is linked with a customer so there’s the Unlink option which enables agents to fix this.

A vice versa situation is possible as well. For example, a conversation is by default linked with an unknown customer by mistake but then the Agent realizes that there’s an ongoing conversation with a known customer who already exists within People. In that case, the agent can link the conversation with the existing customer and customer details will appear.

Search messages

The Search option helps the agent with a specific segment or a sentence within the conversation. Search results are not case sensitive. Additionally, the list of potential search results is immediately displayed as you are typing.

To open the conversation you're looking for, hover over the message and click Jump to message.

Merge conversations

Agents can merge two conversations with the same customer, in case both conversations address the same topic and are identified as the same customer.

If an agent decides to merge the conversations, this is what happens:

• Messages from both channels are visible, grouped under same conversation and timestamped.
• Conversation queue, summary, topic, and priority from the current conversation are kept.
• A tag that was in one of the older conversations will be transferred to a new conversation (it will be added on top of the existing tags).
• Any new messages from the customer contact addresses used will be automatically added to the same conversation until the conversation is closed.

If surveys were triggered from both conversations, only the most recent one will be retained.

Senders configuration

The Senders configuration feature simplifies the creation of new or existing conversations. If the feature is enabled, the following is applied:

• New conversation:
  • Agent only has the default sender available from the queue they are assigned to
  • Every queue has only one set default sender
• Existing conversation:
  • Only senders from the queue the conversation is assigned to are available
  • Agent can only reply to senders in the queue they are assigned to and to senders available in a certain queue, e.g., if the agent receives a conversation from a queue they are not assigned to, they cannot reply to the sender and will receive a warning message
  • If a conversation is assigned to a queue that does not have senders by default, the default sender of the queue is chosen for the channel; however, if the default sender in the queue is not available, the From option will stay empty and all other senders will be available for the agent to choose based on the queue configuration

When creating a new conversation, only the default senders are listed where they are grouped based on the queue setup, and senders set under a particular senders group are automatically used for sending.

In the From field, the following is available:

• Search option
• Information about the sender (in which queue the sender is set as default)

Agent guide on mobile

Available on both Android and iOS platforms.

Once you have logged in to the app on your mobile phone, a list of all conversations assigned to you will be loaded. Each conversation opened will appear in a chat window, which is also used for sending replies. Besides responding to messages, you can change conversation status and their availability.

It is not yet possible to initiate conversations or apply templates. If you need to perform any action that is not currently available in the mobile app, log in to the web interface.

Mobile authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a security process that requires users to provide two different authentication factors before accessing their account. The Conversations mobile app authentication is based on a Time-based one-time password (TOTP) method that sends a one-time PIN (Personal Identification Number) code generated for a specific instance, typically sent to a user's mobile device or email.

Click here and proceed with the steps provided to verify your mobile device.

Log in

Use your agent credentials to log in to the app. Once your credentials have been authorized, a list of all conversations assigned to you will load.

Set status

Tap on the agent avatar to access the Agent profile and set your status.

Send message

Each open conversation will show up in a chat window, which you can also use to send responses. You can attach files up to 10MB or share your location (depending on channel capabilities), and use the camera as the attachment source. Also depending on channel capabilities, you can record and send a voice message to your customer.

By switching to the "note" input mode, you can add internal notes to the dialogue (and you can also add attachments to your note). Only your contact center colleagues have access to this note.

Besides responding to messages, you can change the conversation status in this view. Tap the status icon in the upper right corner and choose a new status.

Context cards

Use context cards in the mobile app for whichever action necessary, the same way you would do it on the web.

The purpose of context cards is to display and/or modify data organized in fields, linked to a conversation from an external system. These improve the agents' ability to manage conversations when away from their desk as they can use readily available context cards to resolve customer queries faster.

Internal conversations

The internal conversations are available in the app as they exist on the web. This feature makes it easier for agents to seek expertise and help in another queue without leaving My work. Any agent can create an internal conversation, no matter what role they have.

When you click the Create conversation button in the Conversations list view, a menu shows with the following options:

• Create conversation
• Create internal conversation
• Cancel

Click the Create internal conversation button to display a new internal conversation form which shows the following:

• Topic - appears as the topic (headline) of the created conversation
• Queue - the conversation will be assigned to this queue
  • Queue picker

• Conversation ID (optional) - if used, the new conversation is linked to it as a follow-up conversation
• Message - the actual message content
• Create internal conversation button
• Cancel button

Once you have created an internal conversation, you can assign it to another agent or queue.

Make and receive calls

If calls are configured for your account, you can receive and initiate phone calls. If this doesn't happen, check with your Supervisor to configure calls.

To start receiving calls, make sure to set yourself as Available (mobile).

An incoming call is announced by the system's ringing tone and notification, and you can either accept or decline it. Based on current availability, in-call controls allow you to mute the microphone, turn on the speaker or camera, hold or transfer the call and display the dial pad.

To make a new call, create a new conversation and choose the Calls channel and enter the phone number as the destination. 

Also, in chat channels, you can generate and send a call link. 

After the end user has received the link, they can access the web page in line with the steps explained in the Call Link configuration and setup. When the end user makes a call using this link, you will receive the call on your mobile device.

Check out our Calls documentation to find out more.

Call on hold

The Hold option is available on the mobile app as well. This feature enables the agent to put a customer on hold if they need to investigate something or gather the necessary information. When the customer is put on hold, they are greeted with an audio cue or a pre-recorded announcement that is played until the agent comes back to the call. 

Every queue can have its custom music and announcement message. As mentioned previously, Supervisors can configure music on hold and the announcement per queue.

The agent remains in the On hold status until they resume the call. This change is reflected in the agent panel, which also includes a new "Call on hold" event so that supervisors can, if necessary, monitor how long calls are on hold, determine whether the issues are resolved and take appropriate action to offer the best customer service.

Transfer to agent

The blind (cold) transfer is supported on the mobile as well. The call rings and is sent to the other agent you chose, who must be in the same queue the conversation landed in. They will hear the call and can accept or reject it.

To transfer the call, click the Transfer button, select the Agents tab (the name is dynamic as it depends on how the queue is called), then select or search for the available agent from the current queue you want to transfer the call to (available agents are shown first on the list).

When you transfer the call, it will end on your side and continue with the transferred agent and the customer. Additionally, the customer hears the ringing sound while being connected to the other agent.

Transfer to queue

You can also transfer calls to another queue. To do that, while on a call, tap the Transfer button and on the Queues tab simply choose the desired queue. The list shows which queues are available in the order of their availability (statuses are shown in real time).

In case the transfer is unsuccessful (some error occurred, agent suddenly goes offline or busy), the call modal reflects this by showing a warning that the call cannot be transferred.

Transfer to external number

Agents can use the Transfer to external number option to transfer customers to any valid E.164 formatted phone number. Phone numbers can be stored in the People module under Contacts or entered manually by an agent.

A system administrator or supervisor needs to pre-configure the application to enable external transfers. Based on the settings, agents will either be limited to external phone numbers stored in the People module and/or can enter phone numbers manually. The flow varies slightly depending on the settings:

• while connected to an active call, the transfer options become visible where you first need to click the Transfer button
• click the Numbers tab to make the transfer to an external number by typing it in
• click the Transfer button
• once you transfer the call, you are disconnected from it and the external party continues the conversation with the customer
• the wrap-up modal shows up allowing you to handle the conversation as you want (e.g., close it) and an event is shown in the conversation indicating that you transferred the call to a specific number or person

If the call transfer fails due to some technical difficulties or the external number does not answer it, the call is returned to the agent.

Wrap-up

Agents can fill in the call summary in the wrap-up field. This way they can summarize the call without any delay during the dedicated wrap-up time, which they can extend if needed by pressing the +10 SECONDS button in the wrap-up window.

Manage conversations

To manage your chats with the customers in the mobile app, tap the Manage Conversation icon, upon which you will see a variety of options as seen in the image below.

On the Setup screen you can do the following:

• Select a different sender and/or channel - From 
• Select a different recipient (only if another one of the selected channels is available) – To 
• Assign the conversation to a different Queue 
• Change the Priority of the conversation
• Transfer the conversation to a different agent - Assignee

Learn more about managing conversations.

On the Conversation details screen you can:

• Add or update the conversation Topic, Tags or Summary
• Select a Form and fill in its fields

Learn more about managing conversations.

On the Customer screen, you can see and edit customer details. Learn more about managing customer data and how to configure the Customer Context Card.

Start a conversation

1. In the conversations list, tap on the “new conversation” icon.

2. In the dialog, populate the From (sender), and To (destination) fields for the first message.

3. Craft and send your first message or start a voice call.

If mandatory by channel rules, you can use WhatsApp templates and Messenger tags to start a conversation.

Agents and Managers/Supervisors can now use the new sidebar in the mobile app to switch between additional views:

• All work
• Unassigned
• All chatbots
• History

Search in All Work

Use the magnifier icon to search for certain keywords and find conversations or messages in All Work that match your query.

Sorting in All Work

You can sort conversations in All work by clicking the sorting option in the left corner. The conversations can be sorted by:

• Oldest pending (default sort, showing conversations with the oldest message on top)
• Latest pending (sorts conversations with the latest messages on top)
• Conversation status (sorts conversations by their status, in ascending alphabetical order)
• Customer name (sorts records by customer name where available, otherwise, depending on the channel, it sorts by the phone number, ID, etc., in ascending order)
• Queue name (sorts queues by those belonging to the Default queue on top, while the remaining queues follow alphabetically)

History view can be sorted by:

• Customer name (sorts records by customer name where available, otherwise, depending on the channel, it sorts by the phone number, ID, etc., in ascending order)
• Queue name (sorts queues by those belonging to the Default queue on top, while the remaining queues follow alphabetically)
• Oldest closed (default sort, showing conversations with the oldest closed date on top)
• Latest closed (sorts conversations with the latest closed date on top)

Send feedback

We would appreciate it if you could send your feedback whenever you have gathered some experience with the app (be it negative or positive, send it our way).

Send feedback directly from the app:

• Go to Agent profile and tap on Send Feedback
• Click on the Send Feedback link and enter your feedback on the form

Important to note:

• You cannot be logged in on the web interface and the mobile app at the same time.
• We advise you to allow automatic app updates as they contain important bug fixes or feature improvements.