Customer conversations

This page was printed on May 26, 2022. For the current version, visit https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/inbox/conversations.

When you respond to messages in Shopify Inbox, the responses send through the original messaging service, so that your customers receive replies to their original message.

If a customer adds or removes a product from their cart, then the event is shown to you, the merchant, in the conversation. If the product name is fewer than 41 characters long, then the name of the product is included in the event description. You're also shown the customer's cart subtotal, and the quantities of the products in the cart, at a per-item level.

Learn more about setting up desktop notification alerts when you receive new messages in Shopify Inbox.

Responding to a message from a customer

If the customer is actively on your store, then an "Online" indicator is displayed next to the customer's email address in the conversation list. On mobile, the "Online" indicator is also displayed next to the customer's avatar in a conversation.

When the customer leaves your store, the "Online" indicator disappears and is replaced with a message indicating that your reply is sent to the email address that the customer supplied at the start of the chat session.

  1. In Shopify Inbox, click the Customers tab.
  2. Select the customer that you want to respond to.
  3. Type your message and select Send.
  1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Select the conversation that you want to respond to.
  3. Type your message and tap the Send icon.
  1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Select the customer that you want to respond to.
  3. Type your message and tap the Send icon.

Message classification

To help you manage and prioritize your customer messages, Shopify Inbox automatically labels the conversation with a topic. Each message initiated by a customer is analyzed by a machine learning classification system. If there is high confidence that it matches a topic, the appropriate label is applied. The conversation list shows up to two topics per conversation, with the most recent topic appearing first.

An example of a conversation with a topic label applied

The ten possible topics for customer conversations are:

Possible message classification topics for Shopify Inbox
Topic Messages related to
Checkout Payments or placing a new order.
Edit orders Cancelling or changing an order.
Order status Order confirmation, order status, and payment balance.
Pricing/Discounts Discounts, applying discounts, or promo codes.
Product details Color, size, quantity, weight, volume, stock and inventory, customization requests, or requests for product photos or videos.
Product interest General product inquiries or interest.
Returns/Delivered orders Issues with orders received, refunds, and returns for orders received.
Shipping Local pickup or shipping costs.
Store info Contact info such as phone number, location, store hours, general return policy, and marketing requests.
Wholesale Wholesale inquires.

The classification system doesn't label messages with a confidence rating below 90%.

To have message classification applied to your online store conversations in the mobile app, ensure your Shopify Inbox app is version 5.12.1 or later.

You can share products that are available in your online store in Shopify Inbox. Learn more about sales channel availability for products.

Steps:

  1. In Shopify Inbox for desktop, click View your messages.
  2. Click the conversation that you want to open.
  3. Click the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
  4. Click a product to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific product and then click to select it.
  5. Type any additional information you want to send with the product, and click Send.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the text field where you write a message, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options.
  4. Tap the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
  5. Tap a product to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific product and then tap to select it. You can select up to three products at a time.
  6. Tap Share product to send the product information to the customer, or type any additional information you want to send with the product before tapping Share product.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the message box, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options.
  4. Tap the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
  5. Tap a product to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific product and then tap to select it. You can select up to three products at a time.
  6. Tap Share product to send the product information to the customer, or type any additional information you want to send with the product before tapping Share product.

Send a discount code in a conversation

You can share discount codes in Shopify Inbox. When a customer clicks the discount code, the discount code is automatically applied to their cart. You need to create discount codes before you can share them.

Steps:

  1. In Shopify Inbox for desktop, click Customers.
  2. Click the conversation that you want to open.
  3. Click the discount icon to open a list of your store's discount codes.
  4. Click a discount code to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific discount and then click to select it. If the discount code is inactive, then an error message appears asking you to update the discount code in the Shopify app.
  5. Click Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

The discount code is stored in the online chat session and is applied to the customer's cart at checkout.

  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the message box, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options.
  4. Tap the discount to open a list of your store's discount codes.
  5. Tap a discount to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific discount and then tap to select it. If the discount is invalid, then an error message appears asking you to update the code in the Shopify app.
  6. Tap Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

The discount code is stored in the online chat session and is applied to the customer's cart at checkout.

  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the message box, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options.
  4. Tap the discount to open a list of your store's discount codes.
  5. Tap a discount to select it, or enter a search term to locate a specific discount and then tap to select it. If the discount is invalid, then an error message appears asking you to update the code in the Shopify app.
  6. Tap Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

The discount code is stored in the online chat session and is applied to the customer's cart at checkout.

Send an image in a conversation

You can send images to customers in Shopify Inbox. Customers can't send images to you.

Steps:

  1. In Shopify Inbox, click the Customers tab.
  2. Select the conversation that you want to open.
  3. Click the image icon in the message bar, and then select an image from your computer to send.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, click the Customers tab.
  2. Select the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the text field where you write a message, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options and select the image icon.
  4. You can send a picture from your device's photo library, or take a new photo. If it's the first time you're sending an image in the Inbox app, then you'll be prompted to give Shopify Inbox access to your photo library before you're able to select any images.
  5. Tap the image that you want to send to the customer.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, click the Customers tab.
  2. Select the conversation that you want to open.
  3. If you don't see any options next to the text field where you write a message, then tap the + icon to expand the conversation options and select the image icon.
  4. You can send a picture from your device's photo library, or take a new photo. If it's the first time you're sending an image in the Inbox app, then you'll be prompted to give Shopify Inbox access to your photo library before you're able to select any images.
  5. Tap the image that you want to send to the customer.

Conversation details

You can view conversation details in the Shopify Inbox mobile app. From the conversation details screen, you can manage the status of the conversation or assign the conversation to a staff member.

Access conversation details

  1. In the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap the Customers tab.
  2. Tap a conversation to open it.
  3. On the conversation screen, tap the ⓘ icon.

Manage conversation status

Conversations can't be deleted, but they can be set to Inactive on shopifyinbox.com or the Shopify Inbox mobile app.

You can change the status of a conversation from Closed to Open, or from Open to Closed.

Steps:

  1. On shopifyinbox.com, click Customers.
  2. Click on a conversation to load it.
  3. Within the conversation window, click Mark as inactive to change the status of the conversation. Setting a conversation to Inactive moves it from the Active conversation list to the Inactive conversation list.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap the Customers tab.
  2. Tap on a conversation to open it.
  3. Tap on the information icon at the top of the conversation.
  4. Tap Status, and then tap Inactive or Active to set a new status. Setting a conversation to Inactive moves it from the Active conversation list to the Inactive conversation list.

You can also swipe right on a conversation from the Customers screen to change the status from Inactive to Active or Active to Inactive.

  1. In the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap the Customers tab.
  2. Tap on a conversation to open it.
  3. Tap on the information icon at the top of the conversation.
  4. Tap Status, and then tap Inactive or Active to set a new status. Setting a conversation to Inactive moves it from the Active conversation list to the Inactive conversation list.

You can also swipe right on a conversation from the Customers screen to change the status from Inactive to Active or Active to Inactive.

Assign a conversation to a staff member

You can assign a chat conversation to a staff member with online store chat permissions.

Steps:

  1. In Shopify Inbox, click the Customers tab.
  2. Select the conversation that you want to assign to a staff member.
  3. Click Assign staff.
  4. In the Assign Staff window, enter a search term or click on a staff member to assign the conversation to. The staff member sees a badge on each conversation that has been assigned to them in the Shopify Inbox conversation sidebar.
  5. To unassign a conversation, click the Assigned to <staff member> link in the conversation window, and then click Unassign.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to assign to a staff member.
  3. Tap Assign staff.
  4. In the Assign Staff window, enter a search term or tap on a staff member to assign the conversation to. The staff member sees a badge on each conversation that has been assigned to them in the Shopify Inbox conversation sidebar.
  5. To unassign a conversation, tap the Assigned to <staff member> link in the conversation window, and then tap Unassign.
  1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap Customers.
  2. Tap the conversation that you want to assign to a staff member.
  3. Tap Assign staff.
  4. In the Assign Staff window, enter a search term or tap on a staff member to assign the conversation to. The staff member sees a badge on each conversation that has been assigned to them in the Shopify Inbox conversation sidebar.
  5. To unassign a conversation, tap the Assigned to <staff member> link in the conversation window, and then tap Unassign.

If you don't see the appropriate staff member's name on the Assign Staff screen, then the staff member may not have the required permissions for online store chat. For more details, refer to online store chat permissions.

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