Sinch Community

Word Description Related articles Account When signing up to Sinch Engage, an account is created for the customer. A Sinch Engage customer has one account, but the account can have one or more projects. Account, projects and channels Admin A user role with access rights to all views and settings in Sinch Engage User roles Agent A user role that only allows the user to see and respond to conversations assigned to them  User roles Assign A conversation is assigned to the agent that is expected to respond to it. Assigning conversations can be done either manually or automatically using auto-routing.  Assign a conversation Assignment The view where users of role Dispatcher can view and manually assign incoming conversations to agents. Assign a conversation Audience Used for segmenting your customers based on their properties. After you have created an audience, you can use it to send mass communication, for example, a newsletter or a campaign offer. Manage your audiences Auto-routing Used to automatically assign incoming conversations evenly across available agents, reducing the effort of manually assigning conversations. Using auto-routing Campaigns Used to send outgoing messages to multiple customers at the same time. A campaign is created by defining the message to be sent, who to send it to, and when to send it. Campaigns intro Channel One of our supported messaging apps, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Create a channel configuration Chatbot The view where you can create, modify, and delete your chatbot. A chatbot is used to partly or fully automate the conversation with customers. Chatbot intro Conversation The back-and-forth sending of messages between Sinch Engage and a customer. It is started either by a message being sent from Sinch Engage, or by the customer initiating a conversation with the company. A conversations ends either when an agent ends it or when no messages have been sent for a defined period of time.      Conversations The part of Sinch Engage where all conversations that should be managed by a human agent are handled. It includes viewing, responding to, and assigning conversations. Conversations intro Customer The receiver of messages sent from Sinch Engage or the originator of messages sent to Sinch Engage.  Customers intro Customer details / customer properties Used for storing additional information about a customer in addition to name and number. They are used both for agents to know more about the customer they are chatting with and for segmenting audiences when sending campaigns.  Create a customer property Dispatcher A user role with access to all conversations, including viewing, responding, and assigning. A dispatcher can also access all customer information.  User roles Editor A user role with access to Campaigns only. Editor users can create and send newsletters. User roles Extension Panels shown in Workspace, providing the agent additional information and context about the customer and the conversation. They also provide tools that can be useful when responding to conversations. Workspace overview Newsletter Today just a version of a campaign, used to send outgoing messages to multiple customers at the same time. Newsletter overview Note Agents can use notes to add an internal comment or description to a conversation. Use notes Project Defines a set of channels and related configuration. Conversations, chatbots, campaigns, customers, and all related data is unique for a project. An account has one or more projects. Multiple projects are used to separate concerns between teams, brands, or languages.  Project intro  Reply template Predefined messages that an agent can use to respond to customers more efficiently. Reply templates are typically used for common messages like greetings, opening hours, and apologies for waiting. Use reply templates Tag Used to label and catergorize conversations Use tags User A person that uses the Sinch Engage platform and logs in with unique credentials. Each user has a specific role that defines access rights - admin, dispatcher, agent, or editor. A user has access to one or more projects. User roles WhatsApp message template To start a conversation with a customer on WhatsApp, you first need to send a WhatsApp message template. You can't start a conversation by sending a free form message. All WhatsApp message templates must be approved by Meta before they can be used.  Create a WhatsApp message template Widget A customizable web component that includes the entry point for customers to Sinch Engage channel(s). You can embed it on any website or webpage that you own. Widgets Workspace The view where all communication between an agent and a customer happens.  Workspace overview ... View more

Workspace is the view where all communication between an agent and a customer happens. It includes the following parts, from left to right.   My conversations   An agent can see all conversations assigned to them in this list. For each item in the list, you can see: Customer identity: the name of the customer if known, otherwise the unique customer identity for the channel is shown, for example, phone number for WhatsApp Message preview: a preview of the latest message in the conversation Avatar: a randomly colored circle with customer’s initials Red dot: If there are unanswered messages in the conversation, you'll see a red dot on the avatar. Wait time: On the right, time passed since the customer’s oldest unanswered message is displayed. If the last message is from the agent, the answered symbol is shown instead of time stamp. Colored line: On the left, you may see a vertical line that is: yellow when the alert limit of customer wait time has been reached red when the warning limit of customer wait time has been reached blue when the last message that was sent to the customer was sent by a bot. To open a conversation, select it from My conversations.   Chat panel   In the middle of the workspace you'll find the chat panel. It contains a header with information and actions, the conversation transcript and, at the bottom, the input field for agents to write and send new messages.   Header The header of the chat panel contains information about the channel, customer name, and status of the conversation. The status of the conversation could, for example, include who it is assigned to, if it is postponed, ended or handled by a bot. The header also includes a set of actions an agent can use on the open conversation: End: Mark a conversation as ended when it's considered complete. This removes it from My conversations and you can instead find it in All conversations under the Ended tab. Assign: Assign the conversation to an agent, reassign it, or unassign it.  Mark answered: Mark any conversation as answered, even without having to send a message to the customer.  Bot: Activate or deactivate a bot.  Postpone: Postpone the handling of a conversation to a later date or time. A postponed conversation will not be visible in My conversations while it’s postponed, but can be found in All conversations under the Postponed tab. Once the time selected is reached, the conversation will again be visible in My conversations in Workspace.  Search: Search for specific words within the current conversation. Transcript The transcript contains all messages between an agent and customer for this conversation. Next to agent messages there is a plus icon  where the agent can suggest the message to be used as a reply template.   Input field The input field is where an agent writes messages. A message is sent either by pressing enter or using the send button . Below the input field, there are options to:  Send WhatsApp message template: If a message from customer has not been responded to within 24 hours, it can only be responded to using a pre-registered WhatsApp message template.  Send file: Send a file attachment to your customer, for example, picture, video, or PDF.  Send reply template: Select from available reply templates, defined by the admin.  Add emoji: Add an emoji to your message.  Send voice message: Record a voice message to send to the customer.   Extension area   On the right in Workspace you'll find the extension area. It is designed to quickly give agents relevant context information of the current customer and conversation, and it provides tools that can be useful when responding to conversations. Extensions can be resized or rearranged using drag and drop to fit the specific needs of each agent. The layout options depend on your screen size. Each extension is a panel with a specific purpose: Reply templates: predefined messages that the agent can use to answer more efficiently Customer details: view and edit saved information specific to the customer Conversation details: view and edit tags and notes specific to the current conversation Conversation history: view all previous conversations with the same customer On the far right, you'll see the extension menu, where extensions can be enabled or disabled by clicking their icons. Enabling or disabling an extension only decides if it should be shown or not, it doesn’t change or delete any information and can be changed at any point in time. You can see the name of the corresponding extension by bringing your cursor over each icon. ... View more

A conversation is in one of the following states: Open, Postponed or Ended. Conversations of all states can be found in Conversations > All conversations, using the corresponding tab at the top of the table.   Open A new conversation will always start in state Open. Open conversations can be assigned and responded to by agents.   Postponed Postponing of a conversation is used to delay responding to it to a later day or time, for example, if an agent needs to first follow up on some actions or wait for further information. While a conversation is postponed, it is not visible in the agent's My conversations but will appear again once the selected postpone time is reached. The postpone time is defined by the agent when postponing the conversation by using the Postpone   button in the chat header in Conversations > Workspace.   Ended When the conversation is considered complete and no further response or action is expected, it goes into state Ended. Agents can end conversations manually using the End button in the chat header in Conversations > Workspace. Admins can also set a timeout that automatically ends a conversation after a configurable number of days. This is done in Conversations > Settings on the General settings tab. A conversation that is ended can be re-opened if it is the last conversation had with the customer, re-opening a conversation brings it back to Open state. This is done by using the Reopen  button in the chat header in Conversations > Workspace. ... View more

To indicate to an agent that a customer has been waiting for a response longer than expected, the colors yellow for alert and red for warning are used. A conversation would first be marked yellow as an alert and then red to indicate that the max wait time for customer has been exceeded. It is defined by how long the customer has been waiting for a response, measured in minutes. The wait time thresholds are defined by the administrator.   To define the threshold value for when a conversation should indicate yellow or red: Go to Conversations > Settings and stay on the General settings tab. At the top, you have a field called Mark conversation red when customer wait time exceeds and another called the same but for yellow. For each field, add the threshold value as customer wait time defined in minutes. Note that the threshold value for red needs to be higher than for yellow.   Once a conversation has reached one of the threshold values, the yellow and red indication is visible to agents in the My conversation list in Workspace as and in All conversations as yellow or red lines on the left-hand side of the row. It is also indicated in Assignment both in the Agents list and in Unassigned conversations. ... View more

Issue I ended a conversation by mistake - where did it go?   Solution To find all ended conversations: Go to Conversations > All conversations. Select the Ended tab at the top of the table. Use the available sort  , filter  and search    options to find the conversation you are looking for.   Did you end the conversation by mistake? To reopen it: Open the conversation by clicking the table row. It opens in Conversations > Workspace. In the chat header, click the Reopen  button.   Is the reopen button missing from the chat header? Then this is likely not the latest conversation with the customer. It's only possible to reopen a conversation if it's the latest one. To check, go to the Conversation history extension in Conversations > Workspace. You'll find the latest conversation at the top of the list.   ... View more

Issue I postponed a conversation and now I can't find it.   Solution When a conversation is postponed, it is no longer visible in My conversations. It will appear again when the selected postpone time is reached. The postpone time is defined by the agent when postponing the conversation.   To find a postponed conversation: Go to Conversations > All conversations. Select the Postponed tab at the top of the table. If needed, use sort , filter  and search  options to find the conversation you are looking for.   Did you postpone the conversation by mistake or to the wrong time? To change the postpone time: Open the conversation by clicking the table row. It opens in Conversations > Workspace. You can see the postpone time in the chat header. To change the postpone time, click the Postpone   button in the chat header and select a new time. To bring the conversation back to the Open state, select the current time.   ... View more

Auto-routing is used to automatically assign incoming conversations evenly across available agents, reducing the effort of manually assigning conversations. It is enabled in Conversations > Settings on the Auto-routing tab, using the Enable auto-routing toggle.   There are a number of routing rules that can be applied to auto-routing. In addition to rules explained below, a chatbot can be used to identify the topic of a conversation and hand it over to an agent with the right skill.   Assign conversations to the last editing agent If the customer has already had a conversation with an agent, the same agent will be assigned for the new conversation. Enabling this rule will override other routing rules. Note: If enabled, this rule will also apply to handovers from chatbots even if auto-routing isn’t enabled.   Maximum number of conversations assigned to an agent Once this rule is enabled, the maximum number of conversations that can be assigned to any agent can be configured. Note: If enabled, this rule will also apply to handovers from chatbots even if auto-routing isn’t enabled.   Only assign conversations to online agents Only agents that are currently online will be assigned conversations. Online agents are marked with a green or orange dot in the agent list in Conversations > Assignments.   Rules based on keywords Keyword rules are used to assign conversations to agents with the right skills. This is done by matching specific keywords in a message with a corresponding skill. To add a new keyword and skill match pair, click the + in the top right corner of the view. Note: To use skill matching, the skill first needs to be defined and assigned to one or more agents. Learn more about using skills.   If auto-routing doesn't find an available agent to assign the conversation to, the conversation will be available in Conversations > Assignments and needs to be manually assigned to an agent. ... View more

Users of the Engage platform will belong to one of the defined user roles, which decides what views and capabilities they have access to.   The following user roles are available in Engage: Agent: This user can only see and handle conversations that are assigned to them. Dispatcher: In addition to agent rights, this user can access Assignment and see new conversations to assign them to other users.  A dispatcher can also access Customers where they can view all customers. Administrator: This user can access all of Engage and edit all settings. Editor: This user can only access Campaigns and create newsletters. Agent/Editor: This user is a combination of the above-mentioned agent and editor roles. Dispatcher/Editor: This user is a combination of the above-mentioned dispatcher and editor roles.   See also: User roles for Conversations Manage your team ... View more

Each Engage account has one or more projects, used to separate concerns between teams or interests. Having multiple projects can be useful for companies with e.g. multiple brands, independent units, or content in a variety of languages.   Each project has its own separated set of applications, data and configuration settings. Users and skills are managed on an account level and are shared across different projects. A user has access to one or more projects.   To move between different projects, use the Project switcher in the top left corner:   To create more than one project, please contact Sinch.   See also: Edit project details ... View more

Conversations is the part of Engage where all conversations that should be managed by a human agent are handled. The main activities in Conversations are:   View and assign new incoming conversations to agents Incoming conversations requiring a response or action from a human agent are managed in Conversations. Conversations are assigned to an agent with the right skills, either manually in the Assignments view or automatically via auto-routing. You can configure auto-routing rules in Conversations > Settings > Auto-routing. See also: Assign a conversation Agents respond to conversations Workspace is where agents respond to messages and have conversations with customers. Workspace provides the agent with full context of the conversation and customer details, easily available for fast and simple resolution of questions. In addition to text, it's possible to send rich media messages that include for example pictures, sound clips, or PDF files. Predefined reply templates can be used for commonly given responses. See also: Respond to a conversation   Manage conversations across their life cycle All conversations view is an inventory of all conversations, across all agents, channels, and phases of the life cycle. It allows you to easily find and follow up on any conversation had with a customer. ... View more

Once a new conversation is assigned to an agent, the agent gets a notification in the notification center in the top bar.   To respond to a conversation: Go to Conversations > Workspace. All assigned conversations are available in the conversation list on the left. To open a conversation, select it from the list. The full transcript of messages is available in the chat panel. The different extension panels to the right show all information related to the customer and the conversation. Respond to the conversation either by writing text in the input field below the transcript and clicking Send, or by selecting a reply template from the Reply template extension to the right.      See also: Assign a conversation Use reply templates Use a WhatsApp template ... View more

A conversation is assigned to the agent that is expected to respond to it. Assigning conversations can be done either manually or automatically using auto-routing. Users in the  Dispatcher role are responsible for manually assigning conversations to agents.    To manually assign a conversation to an agent: Go to Conversations > Assignment.  On the right, you can see all unassigned conversations. You can select between two alternative views: List or Grid. To assign a conversation, drag and drop it to an agent in the agent list on the left. If you use the list view, you can assign multiple conversations at a time by selecting multiple conversations before dragging and dropping them to agent.   Note: Only users with roles Dispatcher or Admin have access to Assignment.   Conversations can be automatically assigned to agents by enabling auto-routing. This is configured by the administrator.   See also: Respond to a conversation ... View more

There are three user roles that are relevant when using Conversations.   Agent Agent is the user who responds to incoming messages and has conversations with customers. Agents have access to Workspace and All conversations. An agent can only view and work with conversations assigned to them.    Dispatcher Dispatcher is the user who assigns incoming conversations to agents. A dispatcher also has the rights of an agent and can act as one. Dispatchers have access to Workspace, Assignment, All conversations, All customers, and Analytics.   Admin Admin is the user who configures and sets up Engage. For Conversations, this includes configuring auto-routing and creating, for example, reply templates, tags, and notes used by agents. An admin also has the rights of an agent and dispatcher and can act as both. An admin has full access to all parts of the platform and is the only user role with access to Settings.   See also: User roles ... View more

If more than 24 hours has passed since a customer contacted you on WhatsApp, the agent needs to use a predefined WhatsApp template to re-engage with the customer. WhatsApp templates are messages that have been approved by Meta.   When the 24 hour limit has passed, the message input field in Workspace is disabled and only sending of WhatsApp templates is allowed.   For agents to send WhatsApp templates: In Conversations > Workspace, go to the input field at the bottom of the chat panel. Click the bell button   and select one of the available WhatsApp templates. The Send WhatsApp template pop up appears. Select the template and, if needed, language and variables. Review the template in the preview on the right. Select the checkbox to confirm sending, as using a WhatsApp template can incur an additional cost. Click SUBMIT.   See also: Create a WhatsApp message template ... View more

Reply templates are predefined messages that an agent can use to respond to customers more efficiently. Reply templates are typically used for common messages like greetings, opening hours, and apologies for waiting.   To use a reply template: Go to Conversations > Workspace. Select the reply template you want to use by clicking the icon to the left of the name in the Reply templates extension. A pop up with the message text appears. You can edit the message text before sending it.  Click SEND to send the message to the customer.   In addition to standard reply templates, a chatbot can also be configured for use in a similar way. This triggers a chatbot conversation with the customer where the agent has to wait for the chatbot to complete the conversation with the customer before returning to the conversation.   To use a chatbot from the Reply templates extension: Go to Conversations > Workspace. Select the reply template you want to use by clicking the robot icon to the left of the name in the Reply templates extension. A pop up with the chatbot topics appears. Click SEND to start the chatbot. Wait for the chatbot to complete before continuing the conversation. See also: Suggest a new reply template Create a new reply template ... View more