Answer residents on WhatsApp

When you need this

The WhatsApp assistant answers residents by itself. When it can't help (a resident asks for a person, wants something it can't do, or is unhappy), it tells them the team at your estate has your message and will reply here, and passes the conversation to your office.

Each time, everyone whose role can receive the estates WhatsApp assistant's alerts gets an email, A resident is waiting on WhatsApp. The email never contains what the resident wrote. Its Open the conversation button brings you here after you sign in. A number next to WhatsApp in the menu says how many conversations need you.

You can also read any conversation the assistant is having, and take one over to answer the resident yourself.

Steps

1. In the menu, click WhatsApp, just under Dashboard, or click Open the conversation in the email.
2. Waiting lists the residents waiting for your office, newest first; the number on it says how many. With the assistant lists the conversations the assistant is answering now. All lists every conversation. Each shows the resident's name and number.
3. Click a conversation to open it. The resident's messages are on the left and the replies they got on the right. The latest is at the bottom.
4. Type your answer in Reply on WhatsApp at the bottom and click Send (or press Ctrl+Enter, ⌘+Enter on a Mac). The resident gets it on WhatsApp, from the number they wrote to. Or click Call.
5. When it's dealt with, click Close.

Taking over a conversation the assistant is answering

1. Open it from With the assistant. It says The assistant is answering this resident, and there is no reply box: you can read, but not reply.
2. Click Take over. The assistant stops answering this resident, and they get You're now chatting with the team at your estate. The conversation moves to Waiting.
3. Reply and close it as in steps 4 and 5.

What you should see

• After Send, Message sent, and your reply at the bottom of the conversation.
• After Close, Conversation closed. If the resident writes again, the assistant answers them.
• A resident can end the conversation themselves by sending restart (or start over). It then shows Closed, with everything they wrote still in it, and the assistant answers their next message.
• After Take over, You've taken over. The assistant won't answer this resident now.

If something goes wrong

• It's more than 24 hours since the resident's last message, so WhatsApp won't take a reply: WhatsApp only lets the estate reply within 24 hours of the resident's last message. Call them instead.
• Couldn't send the message: the reply stays in the box. Try again.
• Conversation not found: it belongs to another business, or the link is wrong.
• The menu has no WhatsApp: your role is missing Read, answer and close residents' WhatsApp conversations. Ask an owner or admin to add it under Settings, Roles.