First Reply
The First Reply tab in the Saved responses section of your Shopify admin allows you to set days and hours that you are available to chat with visitors to your online store. There are two first reply messages that you can set to be delivered to customers:
- Conversation started within selected hours: The during selected hours message automatically sends to customers during set hours, after the customer sends a message from your online chat window.
- Conversation started outside of selected hours: The outside of selected hours message is sent outside set hours, after the customer sends a message from your online chat window.
The during selected hours message lets customers know that their message has been delivered. This is a great way to set response time expectations. You can schedule this message to automatically send after every customer's first chat message, or only during specific hours that you choose.
The outside of selected hours message is sent whenever the during hours message is not scheduled. It lets you set expectations for longer-than-normal response times.
When you create or edit your first reply in your Shopify admin, the preview window displays how they will appear to your customers.
Regardless of the type of automated messages you display to your customers, you can access all conversations on Shopify Inbox or the Android, iOS, or iPad Inbox app.
Set your availability
You can set your available hours in your Shopify admin Inbox settings.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
From the Apps and sales channels page, click Shopify Inbox.
Click Open sales channel.
Click Saved responses > First reply.
Use the drop-down menu boxes to select a start and end time for each day of the week you're available to respond to online store chats.
Optional: To set your availability as always available, click the ... menu and choose Select all hours for this day.
Optional: You can copy the set hours of a particular day to all days of the week. Click the ... menu and select Apply this availability to all days to set the same schedule for the entire week.
Optional: Under Time zone, select a time zone for the hours to apply. By default, this setting matches your local time zone.
Click Save.
To have your during selected hours message always sent to customers, you can set your availability as Select all hours for this day. You can also choose to have your outside of hours message always sent by choosing Remove all hours for this day as the availability.
If you're on vacation or otherwise unavailable to chat, then you can use the drop-down menu at the top of the scheduler to choose "Unavailable for all hours on all days". This will ensure your outside of hours message is sent to customers who start a new online store chat.
First reply messages
First reply messages lets customers know you've received their message. During your available hours, the during selected hours message is automatically sent after a customer sends their first message in the chat window.
You can schedule the during selected hours message to automatically send after every customer's first message, or only during specific hours you choose.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
From the Apps and sales channels page, click Shopify Inbox.
Click Open sales channel.
Click Saved responses > First Reply and scroll down to Conversations started within selected hours.
Click the Edit Reply button next to Conversations started within selected hours. You can use the default message, or add your own.
Click Save.
Edit your Conversations started outside of selected hours message using the same steps above.
Turn off first reply
You can turn off your first reply to customers. When you turn off first reply, your customers will not receive a first reply when they start a conversation. Your quick replies and instant answers will still be available.
- Click Saved responses > First Reply.
- Click Turn off first reply.