Customer service and chat

Overview

Customer service in ChatISP takes place in a three-column area that appears on two different screens of the system:

• Conversations (Support menu): the management screen. It opens on the Overview, the customer service indicators dashboard, and from there the manager moves to the conversation list and the chat. It only appears for people with the Supervise all conversations permission.
• Service mode: the agent's immersive work screen, with the ticket kanban, the chat, service orders and calendar, without the rest of the system around it. Details in Service mode.

On both screens, the service area is the same:

Everything updates on its own, without reloading the page: the list and counters every 5 seconds and the messages of the open conversation every 3 seconds. Below the search, the status line shows Updated automatically or, if communication with the server fails, Offline. Retrying….

The service area works the same way in ChatISP installed on the internet service provider's (ISP's) own server and in ChatISP Cloud.

Who sees what

What each person sees and can do in customer service depends on the permissions of their access profile (Access profiles screen) and on the connections they work on.

View, act and write

These are three different levels:

• View: open the conversation and read the history.
• Act: transfer, close, tag, schedule, turn on translation. A regular agent acts on conversations in the queue, with the AI and in automation, and on their own; they do not act on a colleague's conversation.
• Write to the customer: a regular agent only writes in an In service ticket that is theirs or shared with them. In the queue, with the AI or in automation, they must Take over first. Supervisors write in any open ticket without becoming the owner.

Conversation states and ticket number

Each conversation is a ticket with its own ticket number. A closed conversation is never reopened: if the customer writes again, a new ticket is created with another number, and the previous one stays in the history.

Typical life cycle

1. The customer sends the first message. ChatISP opens a ticket, generates the ticket number and hands it to the channel's flow, to the AI or straight to the queue, depending on the configuration.
2. When the flow or the AI transfers, the ticket enters the department queue. If the department's automatic distribution is on, it goes straight to an available agent; otherwise, the team is notified and someone clicks Take over. Distribution is configured in Departments.
3. The agent talks, transfers, shares or marks the wait for the customer's reply.
4. The agent (or the AI, or the inactivity sweep) closes the ticket.

Ticket number

The ticket number follows the format YYYYMMDD-NNNN: the opening date and a sequence that restarts every day (the first ticket of the day ends in 0001). It appears in the conversation header, on kanban cards and in service orders, and can be searched in the list. It can also be sent to the customer through the {protocolo} variable of automated messages and quick replies.

List and filters

Filters (views)

On the Conversations screen, the filters are in the side menu, right below the Conversations item. In service mode, they are on the left rail. On mobile, they become a dropdown above the list.

Search and tags

• The Search name, phone or ticket field filters the list as you type. Under the All filter, the search also finds tickets already closed, which helps to locate an old ticket number.
• The All tags selector appears when at least one tag exists and shows only the conversations marked with the chosen tag. Tags are created in Catalogs.
• The list shows up to 100 conversations at a time, sorted by the last message. To find something older, use the search.

The list item

• The contact's WhatsApp photo (or the initial of the name), the name (or the formatted phone number) and the colored dots of the tags.
• Time of the last message (hover to see the full date and time).
• Preview of the last message. For media, an icon with the type (Image, Audio, Document, Contact...). While the customer types or records, the preview becomes typing... or recording audio... (QR channel only).
• On the right: the unread counter; or the state pill for queue, AI and automation; or the hourglass for Waiting for the customer's reply.

Unread, read receipts and alerts

The unread dot belongs to each person

The new message counter respects who is actually handling the conversation:

• When the owner (or a sharing participant) opens the conversation, the counter resets for the whole team and the customer receives the read receipt, if it is enabled in Settings (Send read receipts).
• When a supervisor or another colleague just peeks at the conversation, the dot disappears only for them and stays lit for the person handling it. The customer does not get "read" because of the peek.
• In conversations in the queue, with the AI or in automation, nobody is the owner: opening one for triage does not reset the alert for the others.

Sound alerts

The sound of each alert (or No sound) is set for the whole system on the Sound alerts card in Settings, and each person can change their own in My account.

Take over and reply

1. Open the conversation in the list (the Queue filter, for example). While it is not yours, the message field shows Take over the conversation to send messages to the customer.
2. Click Take over in the header. The conversation becomes In service, with you as the owner, and leaves automation or the AI. The notice Conversation taken over. appears.
3. Type in the Write a message... field and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter adds a line break).

The Take over button appears on conversations in the queue, with the AI or in automation. If two agents click at the same time, only the first one gets the ticket; the second receives an error notice.

Conversation header

Identification

• Photo: click to open Contact details, with phone, ticket number, channel, department, agent, sharing, tags and, when there is a linked record, the subscriber's name, status and plan. The pencil next to the name opens Edit customer name (up to 120 characters): the name applies to every conversation from that phone number, and the WhatsApp nickname no longer overwrites an edited name.
• Name and phone: while the customer types or records, the phone line shows typing... or recording audio... (QR channel).
• The ticket's Ticket number.
• Conversation clock: counts the time since opening, minus the waits for the customer's reply. Click it to open the Conversation timeline.
• Channel badge: pill with the state in the status color. Hover to see the connection and the channel (WhatsApp (QR), Official API or WhatsApp (QR) + Official API).
• Extra badges: the hourglass for Waiting for the customer's reply and the shield for Protected: will not be closed for inactivity while the customer waits for a follow-up.

Conversation timeline

Lists each step of the ticket with time, who did it and the detail: Conversation started, Automation, Artificial intelligence, Transferred, Taken over, Auto-assigned, Sharing, Reply wait, Inactivity, Scheduled message, Service order, Wi-Fi changed, Equipment rebooted, Action performed by the AI, Customer link, Voice call, Closed, among others. Between the steps, the elapsed time is shown. At the top, the summary shows the Total duration and, if there was a reply wait, Waiting on customer and the remaining Handling time. A ticket still open ends with In progress.

Action buttons

More actions menu

• Template: sends an approved Official API template (only on numbers with the Official API).
• Open a service order or a calendar appointment linked to the conversation. See Service orders and Calendar.
• Schedule: schedules a message for later.
• Wait for customer reply / Cancel reply wait (only in human service).
• Do not close for inactivity / Resume closing for inactivity (only when automatic closing for inactivity is enabled in Settings).

On a closed ticket, the menu keeps only the service order and the calendar. On mobile, the header is trimmed and the other buttons become items in this same menu.

Previous tickets and history visits

When you click a closed ticket in the Previous tickets list, it opens as a visit: a bar at the top says Closed ticket: you are viewing a conversation from the history. and the Back to the conversation button, with the original ticket number, takes you back to the ticket in progress.

The chat: bubbles and message types

When opened, the conversation shows the ticket's 100 most recent messages, with date separators (Today, Yesterday or the date). New ones come in on their own; if you are at the end of the conversation, the screen follows along.

Who wrote it

Delivery status

On numbers that have both QR and the Official API, a bubble that went through the Official API gets the discreet API mark. Corrected messages show edited (hover to see who edited).

Formatting

WhatsApp formatting is rendered on screen: *bold*, _italic_, ~strikethrough~, ```monospace``` and `code`. When writing, use the same marks: the customer receives it formatted.

Media and cards

Deleted message

When the customer (or someone on the team) deletes a message for everyone on WhatsApp, the bubble stays visible to the team with its own background and the Message deleted label. The hint explains: The customer no longer sees this message on WhatsApp. The content stays here for the team.

Actions on a message

Hover over the bubble: the arrow in the corner opens the message menu and the round button next to it opens the reactions.

Message composer

The bar at the bottom of the conversation brings together everything needed to write to the customer.

Sending without waiting

When you press Enter, the field clears immediately and the message appears as a provisional bubble with the clock. You can keep writing: messages go into a queue and reach the customer in the order they were typed. If sending is refused before it is recorded, the text returns to the field so it is not lost. If the channel fails after recording, the bubble stays in the history with the error icon, which avoids a duplicate resend.

Drafts

Text you leave in the field is kept per conversation while the page is open: switch conversations and come back, and the draft is still there.

When the field is locked

On a number with QR and the Official API, if QR is disconnected and the 24-hour window is closed, the field stays free, but the bar warns that QR must be reconnected in Connections for free text to get through, or that you can send an approved template.

Assistant suggestion

When the AI works in suggestion mode, an Assistant suggestion card appears above the composer with the proposed text (and, when applicable, the recommendation to transfer or close). Use sends it, Edit moves the text to the field and Discard dismisses the suggestion. See Artificial intelligence.

Quick replies with "/"

Quick replies are ready-made answers registered in Catalogs. In the composer, they come in through the slash.

1. With the field empty, type /. The list of available quick replies opens, each with its shortcut and the beginning of the text.
2. Keep typing to filter: the search looks in the shortcut and also in the text. Up to 8 results appear.
3. Use the up and down arrows to choose and Enter or Tab to insert (or click). Esc closes the list.
4. The text goes into the field with the variables already replaced. Review it, adjust if you like, and send.

Variables

The replacement happens at the moment of insertion, using the data of the open conversation: no ERP record or external system is queried.

Which ones appear

The quick replies shown are those for All departments, those of the conversation's department and those of your department. The list only opens when the slash is the first character in the field and the text is still short, a single line.

Spell checker

The composer has a spell checker that runs on the ChatISP server itself, without depending on the browser's dictionary. It uses the agent's language (Portuguese, English or Spanish).

• Right after you stop typing, unknown words get a red wavy underline.
• Click the marked word to see up to five suggestions. Clicking a suggestion replaces the word in the text.
• Add to dictionary teaches the word to the whole system: it is no longer marked for anyone (Word added to the dictionary.).
• Links, e-mail addresses, uppercase acronyms and proper names in the middle of a sentence are not marked.

The list of accepted words can also be edited in Settings (Spell checker: accepted words, one per line). Terms in the transcription vocabulary already count as accepted.

The text the agent sends to the customer feeds the spelling card per agent in Reports. Internal messages and AI messages are left out.

Attachments and recorded audio

Send files

1. Click the paper clip (Attach file), paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V anywhere on the screen, or drag files into the window.
2. The Attach file window opens with the preview (image) or the file's name and size, and the Caption (optional) field.
3. Click Send.

• Limit of 45 MB per file (File above the 45MB limit.). Caption of up to 1,024 characters.
• Images (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF), videos (MP4, 3GP) and audio go out as WhatsApp media; other files go out as documents. Executable programs are refused (Unsupported file type.).
• When you drop several files, each one opens its own window in sequence (up to 10 at a time).
• A pasted screenshot gets a name with date and time (for example, captura-AAAAMMDD-HHMMSS.png).
• While dragging, the screen shows Drop to send to followed by the customer's name and the ticket number. With no conversation open: Open a conversation to send files; without permission to write: Take over the ticket to send files.

Record a voice note

1. With the field empty, click Record audio. The first time, the browser asks for permission to use the microphone.
2. The timer shows the recorded time. Recording stops on its own at 5 minutes.
3. Click Stop recording to listen to the preview before sending, or Send directly (stops and sends). Discard recording (trash can) deletes it without sending.

ChatISP converts the recording to the WhatsApp voice note format, with the waveform, so it plays on the customer's phone as if it had been recorded in the app. If the microphone is not accessible: Could not access the microphone. Check the browser permission.

Audio: player and transcription

Player

• Play and pause button, a waveform with a cursor you can drag to skip ahead, and the elapsed time.
• Speed pill with 1x, 1.5x and 2x. The choice is remembered in the browser and applies to all audio.
• Only one audio plays at a time. When it ends, if the next bubble is another audio not yet heard, it starts on its own.

Transcription

With Transcribe conversation audio enabled in Settings, each audio received or sent gets its text right below the player:

• Transcribing with animated dots while the server processes it. Short audio is usually ready in seconds; long audio takes more.
• Transcript with the text. Above 180 characters, the text appears collapsed with Read more.
• Transcript unavailable when it could not be transcribed.

The AI reads what the customer said before replying, and the bubble's Copy copies the transcript. The Supporting vocabulary for transcription, also in Settings, helps spell the names of the ISP, plans, equipment and neighborhoods. With automatic translation on, the block of received audio shows the translation.

Internal notes and internal message

ChatISP has two ways to record something the customer never sees:

Customer notes

• In the customer panel, the Internal notes block shows the notes of the open ticket, with the Write an internal note... field and the Add button (Enter also adds).
• The Customer notes button in the header opens all notes from all tickets of that phone number, from newest to oldest, with each one's ticket number (This ticket for the current one). This way a note made on an old ticket stays visible to whoever is handling the customer today.
• The author can Edit and Delete their own note; supervisors can change all of them. A changed note shows edited.

Transfer and share

The Transfer button in the header opens the Transfer conversation window. The first field, What to do, chooses between two operations.

Transfer the conversation

1. Choose the Department queue, the Agent or both. With only the department, the ticket goes back to that department's queue (and automatic distribution, if on, assigns it to someone). With an agent, they become the new owner right away and receive the conversation assigned alert.
2. Leave Notify the customer with the message below on for the customer to receive the notice, or turn it off so the message stays only in the history as an internal note.
3. Adjust the Message, which comes filled in with the Default transfer message from Settings. Accepted variables: {destino}, {atendente}, {departamento}, {protocolo} and {nome}.
4. Click Transfer.

The agent list only includes people who work on the conversation's connection: transferring to someone who would not see it would result in This agent does not work on this conversation's connection. Transferring also takes the ticket out of automation and undoes the sharing.

Share with another agent

Brings in a colleague to help without changing the owner: Both see and answer the messages; the owner stays the same.

• Requires a ticket already in service, with an owner (take it over first).
• The suggested message is {destino} joined the conversation to help. You can keep talking right here., with the same selector to notify the customer.
• The Shared with list shows who is already participating, with the Remove button.
• The participant sees the conversation under Mine, writes, receives the alerts and resets the unread dot just like the owner.

Asking before transferring (automation and AI)

When automation or the AI is the one routing the customer to the team, it can first ask whether they need anything else, so they can sort everything out in a single conversation instead of landing in the queue unable to ask for anything more. In the flow, this is the Ask whether the customer needs anything else before transferring option of the Transfer step (see Flows); for the AI, an option in Settings (see Artificial intelligence). Manual transfer from the panel happens immediately.

Waiting for the customer's reply

Many conversations stop while waiting for the customer: testing the connection after restarting the router, sending a payment receipt, getting back home. That wait is not the agent's working time, and ChatISP lets you take it out of the count.

1. Reply to the customer first: the last message in the conversation (not counting internal ones) must be yours. Otherwise: Reply to the customer first: the last message in the conversation must be yours.
2. In the More actions menu, click Wait for customer reply. The message Done: handling time is paused until the customer replies. appears.
3. The header badge changes to On hold, the hourglass appears in the header, the list and the kanban, and the clock freezes, dimmed.
4. The wait ends on its own when the customer replies, when the ticket is closed or when you click Cancel reply wait.

What changes during the wait

• The conversation clock and the average times in Reports and the Overview subtract the wait. The averages only consider the part that falls within business hours.
• The inactivity closing sweep skips the ticket: it is not closed while waiting.
• The timeline records each start and end of a wait, and the summary shows Waiting on customer separately from Handling time.
• If the customer replies outside business hours, ChatISP can confirm receipt and say when the team is back, according to the Waiting for reply: customer answers outside business hours card in Settings.

Do not close for inactivity

When automatic closing for inactivity is enabled in Settings (Queue and inactivity card), the More actions menu gains Do not close for inactivity. It protects only this ticket from automatic closing (shield badge in the header), without pausing the clock. Resume closing for inactivity turns it back on and restarts the count from zero. The two features coexist: use the reply wait when the time should not count, and the protection when you only want to avoid closing.

Scheduled messages, templates and translation

Schedule a message

1. In the More actions menu, click Schedule. The Schedule message window already contains what was in the text field.
2. Choose Send at (date and time, at least one minute in the future; the default is one hour from now) and adjust the Text.
3. Leave Cancel if the customer replies first on so the message does not go out if the customer writes first.
4. Click Schedule.

Pending ones appear in the Scheduled messages block of the customer panel, with the cancel button. At the set time, the message goes out in your name and enters the timeline as Scheduled message.

Send a template (Official API)

On numbers with the Official API, Template (More actions menu) or Send template (24-hour window bar) opens the account's approved templates, with fields for the variables and a preview. Without approved templates, the window explains that they are created in Meta's WhatsApp Manager and offers Manage on Meta. Details in Connections.

Automatic translation

To serve a customer who writes in another language, click Enable automatic translation in the header:

• Received messages appear translated into your language, with the Translated mark; click it to compare with the Original message. When you turn it on, the latest received messages are translated too.
• What you write goes out translated into the customer's language, detected from their messages. The panel keeps your original text.
• If the customer's language is not yet known, or the translation fails, the message goes out as written.

Closing the conversation

1. Click Close (red X) in the header.
2. If closing reasons are registered, choose one among the Reason buttons (one click). None exists and is preselected when a reason is not required.
3. If a closing message is configured, decide with the Send closing message selector (on by default). When off, the conversation is closed without sending anything else in the chat.
4. Confirm with Close. The message Conversation closed. appears.

With no reasons registered and no closing message, closing only asks for the confirmation Close this conversation?.

What happens when closing

New ticket from a closed one

On a closed ticket, the New ticket button asks Open a new ticket with this contact? A new ticket number will be generated and it will be assigned to you. Nothing is sent to the customer; you write when you want. If the contact already has a ticket in progress, it is opened on screen instead of creating another one (This contact already has an ongoing ticket; it is now open on screen.). The number's connection must be connected.

Start a conversation with a number

The agent can also reach out to the customer first. The + button (New conversation) at the top of the list opens the outbound conversation window.

1. Choose the Connection (only connected ones you work on appear; a number with QR and the Official API appears only once, as WhatsApp (QR) + Official API).
2. Optional: in Search the customer base, type the customer's name, login or phone (from 3 characters). The list shows up to 12 results from the ERP records and from people who have already talked to the help desk (has talked here before); clicking fills in phone and name.
3. Fill in Phone with country code and area code (for example, 5544999990000) and, if you like, the Name.
4. Write the Text. On a connection with only the Official API, the field becomes the choice of an approved Template, because outside the 24-hour window that is the only way to speak first.
5. Click Send. The conversation opens on screen with you as the owner.

• If the number already has an open ticket, the message goes into it instead of opening another. If that ticket is being handled by another colleague, This number is already being handled by another agent. appears (supervisors can proceed).
• The contact card shared by the customer has the Message button, which opens this same window already filled in.
• The Contacts screen has the New ticket shortcut per contact. See Contacts.

For bulk sending, use Sending automation.

Customer panel

The Customer button in the header opens the right-hand column, below the conversation bar. The double-arrow button (Expand panel) widens the column, and the choice is remembered in the browser. From top to bottom:

• Customer: department, agent, who is in the sharing, reason (on a closed ticket) and the tags, with the Conversation tags button to check and uncheck them.
• Pending Scheduled messages.
• Subscriber status: ERP record, billing with invoices, network (connection, signal, equipment, topology), actions such as restarting the equipment, editing the Wi-Fi and trust unlock, and the manual record link.
• The customer's Calendar and Service orders, with shortcuts to create them.
• The ticket's Internal notes.

Subscriber status, invoices and the customer link are documented in Customer record.

Service mode

Service mode (Support menu) is the dedicated work screen: kanban and chat, without the rest of the system around it. It is where people without the supervision permission go, and managers can use it too.

Left rail

The menu button at the top of the rail expands the icons with their names alongside; the choice is remembered in the browser.

Board (kanban)

The top shows the Service title with the date, the Simple / High performance selector, the Filters button, your name and the theme. Below, five summary cards and five columns:

Open tickets always appear, no matter which day they started; the date only filters the closed ones. Clicking a summary card scrolls to the column (useful on smaller screens). Each kanban card shows a photo or initial, name, ticket number, unread count, the reply wait hourglass, time since the last message, a preview (or, on closed ones, the AI title and summary), department, agent or Unassigned, and the opening or closing date. Clicking the card opens the conversation. The board refreshes every 5 seconds.

Kanban filters

The Filters button opens Filter conversations with Find a conversation, Department, Agent and Closed on (with the Today shortcut). Nothing changes until you click Apply filters; Clear filters clears the draft and sets the date back to today. The button shows how many filters are applied. Filters are not saved: when you reload the page, the board goes back to today with no filters. When following today, the board rolls over to the next day on its own at midnight.

Agents without supervision see in the kanban the queue, the AI and automation for everyone, plus their own tickets (including closed ones).

High performance stage Evolving

High performance mode replaces the kanban with a full-screen stage for people who serve several customers at the same time. Conversations in progress become hexagons in a honeycomb, and each one you open becomes a movable, resizable chat card, several on the same screen.

How to turn it on

• At the top of service mode, click High performance in the Panel mode selector. The choice is saved in your profile and comes back selected next time.
• The option only appears on screens at least 1024 pixels wide. On a smaller screen the page shows Simple mode, without erasing your preference, which applies again on a wide screen.

The honeycomb

• Each hexagon shows the customer's photo (or initial) and a ring in the state's color: in service, on hold, in automation, with the AI. Closed ones are not on the stage.
• Unread badge; in the queue, the waiting time, which turns red after 30 minutes; dots when the customer is typing.
• Hovering shows a card with the conversation data. The legend in the lower corner counts each state; clicking an item highlights only that state.
• The filters of the Filters button also apply to the stage. With no conversations: No conversation in progress.
• When the first card opens, the honeycomb docks to an edge (left by default). The honeycomb menu chooses the side (Dock to the left, to the top, to the right, to the bottom) and the hexagon size (S, M, L).

The cards

• The card is the full chat, with header, composer and all the actions described on this page.
• Drag it by the chat header; resize it by the edges and corners (minimum 320 by 300 pixels). Cards snap to the edges and to their neighbors.
• The maximize button fills the free area or returns to the previous size; the X closes the card (the conversation continues, it just leaves the stage).
• As long as you do not move them, the cards split the free area on their own. After you move or resize a card, the arrangement is up to you; Arrange reapplies the automatic split and Close all closes the cards.
• The stage holds 12 cards: Close a conversation to open another one: the stage holds 12 cards.
• The selected card has a highlighted border. When the customer writes in a card that is not selected, the card and the hexagon pulse, and the message is only marked as read when you select the card.
• Shortcuts: Alt+Down arrow and Alt+Up arrow move from card to card; Alt+1 to Alt+9 jump straight to a card.
• When you reload the page in the same tab, the cards come back where they were.

Customer rail

On the right, the customer rail shows the data of the selected card. Collapsed, it is an icon bar (Subscriber, Invoices, Network, Service orders, Calendar, Internal notes, History) with markers and a summary on hover; clicking an icon opens the panel at that section. Expanded, the Larger panel, Smaller panel and Collapse buttons adjust the width.

Supervision

People with the Supervise all conversations permission follow the entire team:

• The Conversations screen opens on the Overview, the customer service indicators dashboard (see Reports and indicators). A direct conversation link, such as one from a service order, opens the chat.
• All filters show the conversations of the whole team, including closed ones and those with other agents.
• They can write in any open ticket without becoming the owner, send internal guidance messages and transfer any conversation (including to themselves).
• They can delete for everyone any message sent through the QR channel and edit or delete anyone's internal notes.
• Peeking at a conversation does not clear the unread dot of the person handling it, and conversations being handled by others do not play a sound for the supervisor.
• The Call a colleague button, at the top of the list, shows who is available on the team and calls without leaving the screen (see Team).

Contacts screen

The Contacts screen (Support menu) brings together everyone who has ever talked to the help desk, one per phone number, with the number of conversations, the link to the customer and the full record. It is not a separate register: it is built from the conversations, and variations of the same number with and without the ninth digit count as a single contact.

Indicators

Contacts, Conversations, With linked customer and New in the last 30 days. The indicators count the whole base you can see, regardless of the search and filters.

List

• Search by name or phone search, Customer: all / With linked customer / Without linked customer filter, and Most recent, Most conversations or By name sorting.
• Contact, Customer (the linked record or No link), Conversations, In progress, First contact and Last conversation columns.
• The list loads more contacts on its own as you scroll.
• Row actions: New ticket and Edit customer name.

Contact record

Clicking the contact opens the record with the counts of conversations, tickets and internal notes, and the Service history, with the title, summary, state, agent and reason of each ticket. Clicking a ticket opens the conversation. The footer repeats Edit customer name and New ticket.

New ticket from the contact

Opens a new ticket number through the last connection used with the contact and assigns it to you, without sending anything to the customer. If the contact already has a ticket in progress, that ticket is opened. With no connection available: No connection available to talk to this contact. Connect the number under Connections and try again.

Frequently asked questions