Managing customer conversations

If a customer adds or removes a product from their cart, then the event displays to you 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. The customer's cart subtotal and the quantities of the products in the cart also display within the conversation header when there is an active cart.

Customer information form

When a customer sends their first message, they're automatically prompted to provide their email address through a customer information form. This form helps you with the following tasks:

• Identify and track customer conversations
• Link conversations to existing customer accounts
• Create new customer records for first-time contacts
• Ensure you have a way to follow up with customers who message when you're offline

The system automatically attempts to match the provided email address with existing customer accounts. If no match is found, then a new customer record is created (without marketing opt-in). The following is possible after the customer submits their email:

• Their temporary placeholder name in the chat is replaced with their email address
• You can find their complete information in the customer profile
• You can send follow-up messages to their email if they leave the chat

Note

The customer information form is a system feature and can't be edited or customized.

Chat notifications

Both merchants and customers receive notifications for new messages in the online store chat. The following notifications occur when the chat conversation is minimized:

• A red '1' notification appears over the chat widget for new messages
• A (1) notification appears in the browser tab
• A notification sound plays when on the browser tab

These notifications help ensure that both parties don't miss any messages in the conversation. The notifications can't be turned off.

Responding to a message from a customer

If the customer is actively on your store, then an Online indicator displays.

When the customer leaves your store, the Online indicator no longer displays and a message indicating that your reply will be sent to the email address that the customer supplied at the start of the chat session displays instead.

Steps:

Desktop

1. In Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. Do either of the following, depending whether you're using suggested replies:
   • Type your message in the composer bar.
   • If a suggested reply generates, then review and edit the suggested reply for tone and accuracy.
3. Click Send.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap the conversation that you want to open.
2. Do either of the following, depending whether you're using suggested replies:
   • Type your message in the composer bar.
   • If a suggested reply generates, then review and edit the suggested reply for tone and accuracy.
3. Tap Send.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Do either of the following, depending whether you're using suggested replies:
   • Type your message in the composer bar.
   • If a suggested reply generates, then review and edit the suggested reply for tone and accuracy.
3. Tap Send.

Send a link to a product in a conversation

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

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click the conversation that you want to send a product link in.
2. Click the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
3. Enter a search term to locate the product that you want to send, and then click the product.
4. Type any additional information you want to send with the product link, and click Send.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
3. 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.
4. Type any additional information you want to send with the product link, and then tap Share product.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the price tag icon to open a list of your store's products.
3. 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.
4. Type any additional information you want to send with the product link, and then tap Share product.

Send a discount code in a conversation

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

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click the conversation that you want to send a discount in.
2. Click the discount icon to open a list of your store's discount codes.
3. 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 displays asking you to update the discount code.
4. Click Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the discount icon to open a list of your store's discount codes.
3. 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 displays asking you to update the code.
4. Tap Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the discount icon to open a list of your store's discount codes.
3. 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 displays asking you to update the code.
4. Tap Share discount to send the discount code to the customer.

The online chat session stores the discount code and it automatically applies to the customer's cart at checkout.

Send an image or video in a conversation

You can send images or videos to customers in Shopify Inbox.

The first time that you send an image from the Inbox iOS or Android app, you're prompted to give Shopify Inbox access to your photo library before you're able to send a file.

Steps:

Desktop

1. In Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. Click the image icon, and then select an image from your computer to send.
3. Click Send.

iPhone

1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the image icon and select picture from your device's photo library, or take a new photo.
3. Tap the image that you want to send to the customer.
4. Tape Send.

Android

1. In the Shopify Inbox app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the image icon and select picture from your device's photo library, or take a new photo.
3. Tap the image that you want to send to the customer.
4. Tape Send.

Conversation details

You can manage the details of a conversation from the desktop version of Shopify Inbox or from the mobile app. All conversation details are visible in the Shopify Inbox customer profile.

Change the status of a conversation

You can manage your conversations by changing their status. Conversations can have a status of either Open or Closed. You can change the status of a conversation from Open to Closed, or from Closed to Open.

Conversations can't be deleted.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. Within the conversation window, take one of the following actions:

• To mark a conversation as Closed, click the checkmark icon.
• To mark a conversation as Open, click the circle.

iPhone

1. In the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the ... menu in the upper right corner of the app, and then tap Close conversation or Reopen conversation to set a new status.

You can also swipe right on a conversation to change the status from Closed to Open or Open to Closed.

Android

1. In the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the ... menu in the upper right corner of the app, and then tap Close conversation or Reopen conversation to set a new status.

You can also swipe right on a conversation to change the status from Closed to Open or Open to Closed.

Search for conversations

You can search for a conversation in Inbox by using the customer name, customer email, or a specific keyword. You can search for current conversations, or past conversations.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click the search icon in the top left of the screen.
2. Enter a search term, such as a keyword, customer name, email address, or order ID.
3. Click the relevant conversation.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap the search bar.
2. Enter a search term, such as a keyword, customer name, email address, or order ID.
3. Tap the relevant conversation.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap the search bar.
2. Enter a search term, such as a keyword, customer name, email address, or order ID.
3. Tap the relevant conversation.

Tip

You can quickly access your recently searched conversations in the recently searched and recently viewed results in the search.

Manage conversation assignment

You can assign a chat conversation to a staff member who has the online store chat permission.

After you assign a staff member to a conversation, only that staff member receives message notifications for that conversation. If you want all staff members to receive message notifications for a conversation, then unassign the staff member from the conversation.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. Click the Assign staff button in the conversation header.
3. In the Manage staff assignment window, take one of the following actions:

• To assign a staff member to the conversation, click the staff member that you want assign to the conversation, and then click Assign.
• To unassign a staff member from the conversation, click Unassign.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the … button.
3. Take one of the following actions:

• To assign a staff member to the conversation, tap Assign, and then in the Assign Staff window, tap the staff member that you want to assign.
• To unassign a staff member from a conversation, tap Assigned to <staff member>, and then tap Unassign.

You can also swipe right on a conversation to Assign or Unassign staff from a conversation.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation to open it.
2. Tap the … button.
3. Take one of the following actions:

• To assign a staff member to the conversation, tap Assign, and then in the Assign Staff window, tap the staff member that you want to assign.
• To unassign a staff member from a conversation, tap Assigned to <staff member>, and then tap Unassign.

You can also swipe right on a conversation to Assign or Unassign staff from a conversation.

If a staff member's name isn't listed on the Assign Staff screen, then the staff member might not have the required permissions for online store chat. To learn more, refer to online store chat permissions.

Access the customer profile

You can access a customer's profile from any open or closed conversation in the Shopify Inbox web or mobile app. The customer profile displays details about the customer, such as whether they're a new or returning customer, their location and time zone, and any relevant order details. You can also leave notes on the customer profile that are visible to only your staff.

Steps:

Desktop

1. From Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. In the conversation header, click the Customer name.

iPhone

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation.
2. Tap …, and then tap View customer profile.

Android

1. From the Shopify Inbox mobile app, tap a conversation.
2. Tap …, and then tap View customer profile.

Blocked senders and conversations

If a conversation is detected as spam, or if you've blocked a sender, then those conversations are automatically filtered as Blocked in Shopify Inbox. You can unblock a sender to move a conversation to your Open Inbox conversations.

Block a sender

You can block a sender from sending you messages on Inbox. After you block a sender, the conversation displays in the Blocked filter in Shopify Inbox. You can unblock a sender to remove the conversation from the Blocked filter.

Steps:

1. From Shopify Inbox, click a conversation to open it.
2. In the conversation header, click the Block sender icon.
3. Click Block sender.

Unblock a sender

After you unblock a sender, the conversation with that sender displays in your Open conversations in Inbox.

Steps:

1. From Shopify Inbox, in the Filters section, click Blocked.
2. Click the conversation with the sender that you want to unblock.
3. Click the Unblock sender icon.

Message topic labels

Note

Inbox conversation automatic topic labels are only available in English.

For conversation topic labels to automatically apply to conversations in the mobile app, ensure that your Shopify Inbox app is version 5.12.1 or later.

To help you manage and prioritize your customer messages, Shopify Inbox automatically labels the conversation with a topic. Each message sent by a customer is analyzed by a machine learning system, and if there's high confidence that it matches a topic, then the appropriate label automatically applies. The conversation list displays up to two topic labels per conversation.

Refer to the following table for a list of the possible topic labels for customer conversations:

Possible message classification topic labels for Shopify Inbox.

Topic Label	Messages related to
Checkout	Payments or placing a new order.
Edit orders	Canceling 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	Pickup in store or shipping costs.
Store info	Contact info such as phone number, location, store hours, general return policy, and marketing requests.
Wholesale	Wholesale inquiries.