How chats work in keyCRM

Chats is a section where all customer inquiries via connected communication channels are displayed.

The biggest advantage is that the chats section is a single window for communicating with customers. From chats, you can save buyers, create a pipeline card or order directly from the chat, filter chats by the desired channel and managers who work with chats.

Where are the chats located?

Open the side menu → «Convos». The chat page is divided into three sections: chat list, chat window, and customer information.

In keyCRM, chats can be received automatically and synchronized from connected messengers, social networks, e-mail, chats from marketplaces, and the online chat widget placed on the website.

List of conversations

The list of dialogs is located in the left block of the window. Above the list, you will see:

1. A blue circle with a number next to Open — the number of chats without a response. If the number exceeds 100, it is displayed as 99+;

2. Tabs for sorting chats by their status: open, closed, all, and spam;

3. Mass actions with chats — simultaneous closing of several chats, as well as mass assignment or removal of the responsible operator (available only to administrators and activated after applying filters);

4. A line for searching chats by clients and message text;

5. Buttons for filtering dialogs by response status, assignment to users, channels;

6. When hovering over Convos, a + appears, which allows you to «Write a message» and open a dialogue.

Next, a list of all chats available to you is displayed. New dialogs will appear at the top of the list. Sorting is done by update date, taking into account system events (manager change, chat closure, note recording) and when the manager replies to a message, the chat will also move up in the list.

Information is displayed for each dialogue:

1. Client name — the name under which the user is registered in the messenger or social network. If the name is changed in keyCRM, it will be replaced;

2. Client photo;

3. Channel from which the chat came. When you hover over the channel icon, the name of the CRM channel is displayed. When you select this chat, the last message is displayed instead of the channel name;

4. Date/time of the last message;

5. Responsible — the employee assigned to the dialogue. If there is no icon with the manager's photo, then no one has responded in this dialogue yet;

6. Blue circle with a number — the number of new messages after the manager's response;

How to be the first to write a message with keyCRM

To initiate a dialogue with a new customer, click the «+» button in the chat section.

You can write the first message from your Viber or Telegram number, via SMS, or by email.

Fill in the details in the window that opens:

1. Contact — select the customer you want to write to from your saved customers;

2. Channel — specify the channel through which the message (letter) will be sent;

3. Contact address — is automatically filled in after specifying the contact. When sending by email, you need to specify the email address if it is not saved in the customer's card.
   Also, when sending a letter, an additional field appears Mail subject, to create a separate chain of correspondence in the mail;

4. Message — the text you want to send;

5. Lightning bolt — select quick replies (message templates) that are created in the system;

6. Paperclip — add a file to the message.

You can also write to the customer directly from the pipeline/order card. To do this, click the «Write» button and the Viber or Telegram icon in the «Start new conversation» field:

Chat window and options when sending messages

The chat window is divided into a top panel, the main chat window, and the message composition block.

The top panel contains the following options:

1. Collapse chat list — allows you to make the chat window wider by hiding the column with the chat list;

2. Manager responsible for the dialogue — the manager will not be specified when the manager first responds. The first person to respond will automatically become responsible, or you can assign this manually. In the settings for each channel, you can specify sequential assignment to managers;

3. «i» icon — when hovered over, displays the hotkey combinations that work in chats;

4. Copy chat link — the link to the chat in keyCRM is copied to the clipboard;

5. Close dialogue — the chat will be moved to the Closed tab.

6. Mark as spam — the chat will be moved to the Spam tab.
   
   The main window of the correspondence displays:

7. Client messages — located on the left side of the dialogue.

8. Manager messages — displayed on the right. By clicking on the three dots next to the client's message, you can reply to it (only for Telegram numbers).

9. System messages — located in the center and visible only to the operator. They display the entire chat history.
   
   Options when sending a message:

10. Notepad — notes, if you need to save information in the chat that your client should not see, you can leave a note;

11. Lightning — quick replies in chats, you can create several templates for replies so that you don't have to write messages manually every time.
    
    Click on the message icon (lightning bolt), a list of available templates will appear (search works on it), select the one you need and it will be inserted into the message input field. The template will not be sent automatically after selection — you can edit it before sending;

12. Composition icon — the ability to send information about a product from the catalog. Sequence of actions:
    - click on the icon;
    - find the desired product using the search function (the search works by item number, barcode, name, and properties); next to each product, you can also see its stock level and reserve quantity in parentheses;
    - click (select) the product;
    - Information about the product (name, properties, description, cost, photo) is added to the message block. You can edit the information or add text;

13. Smileys — you can send them from the list available in keyCRM;

14. Paperclip — upload a file to send from your PC;

15. Microphone — the ability to send voice messages.

Customer information

When a customer who is not yet in the customer database contacts you, you can:

1. Change the name (by clicking on it);

2. Add a phone number; the phone number is automatically saved only from the Viber number;

3. Add an email address; the email address is automatically saved when you receive a message from the customer;

4. Save the customer to place an order later. To save, click on the «Save customer» button or «Select customer from list» (only available if the phone number or email address is not filled in).

5. Leave a note that will only be displayed in the chat section for this customer;

6. Add pipeline card. Pipeline cards can be created for unsaved customers. After clicking on the Add pipeline card button, the pipeline card creation window will appear. The list of created pipeline cards for the customer will be displayed in the «Active pipeline cards» section.

7. Add an order from the chat. After saving the customer, you can create an order directly from the chat.
   Click the «Add Order» button, and the order form window will appear. The list of orders created for the buyer is displayed in the Active Orders section, along with their quantity and total amount.

In this guide, we've covered how to work with chats, filter and sort chats, save customers, create pipeline/order cards, write messages first, and communicate from a single chat window in keyCRM.