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MesyGuide

Read and reply to WhatsApp messages

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When customers message your business WhatsApp number, their chats show up in Inbox under WhatsApp. You can read them, reply, and link each chat to the customer’s record. A record is one entry in Mesy, such as one customer or one company.

Your admin connects the number on the Workspace Channels tab in Admin. The steps are in Workspace settings, channels and email templates.

Each WhatsApp number connected to Mesy is called a line. A team line is shared. Everyone on your team sees its chats and can reply. An assigned line is assigned to one person. Only that person sees its chats. Admins can’t read them either.

Find a conversation

Section titled “Find a conversation”

The list shows one row per chat. If a customer messaged two of your lines, they have a row for each. Each row has the customer’s WhatsApp name or number, the time of the last message and a short preview. An unread row has its name in bold and a green dot.

To narrow the list:

  • Type in Filter conversations to search by name or by the linked record’s name. It also finds the name saved in the WhatsApp Business app.
  • To search by number, type digits only, starting with the country code, such as 6591234567.
  • Click Unread to see only unread chats. Click All to see every chat again.
  • Click In CRM to see only chats linked to a record, including chats linked to a record you can’t open. Click again for Not in CRM, which shows chats with no link yet. A third click turns the filter off.

New messages appear on their own, so there’s nothing to refresh. Opening a chat marks it read for everyone who shares that line. The customer doesn’t see blue ticks when you open their chat.

To open the AI panel, click Mesy WhatsApp at the top of the tab. The panel shows how many chats are unread, such as “3 unread”. Click the unread count to open the most recent unread chat. The panel is explained in Use the AI panel in your Inbox.

Switch between your lines

Section titled “Switch between your lines”

If you can read more than one line, click a line in the list of lines to see only its chats.

All numbers shows every chat together. Each row has a small label with the number the customer messaged. Team line shows the shared line’s chats. A line assigned to you is listed under your name. A line with unread chats shows how many. Mesy remembers the line you picked in this browser.

The chat header shows which number the customer messaged, such as “via +65 6555 0000”. On a phone, the list of lines is the first screen you see.

Read a conversation

Section titled “Read a conversation”

Messages are grouped by day. Images show in the chat, and other files show as a row with the file name. If Mesy can’t show a message, you see its type in square brackets instead, such as “[location]”.

Replies from your team show on the right, with the sender’s name. The ticks show how far a reply got:

  • One grey tick: sent.
  • Two grey ticks: delivered to the customer’s phone.
  • Two blue ticks: the customer read it.
  • “Failed” in red: WhatsApp didn’t deliver it. Hover over it to see the reason.

Some replies have a small tag:

If your number also runs on the WhatsApp Business app, the chat header shows the name you saved there, such as “Saved in the WhatsApp Business app as Mrs Tan”. The list row shows it too.

Reply to a customer

Section titled “Reply to a customer”

You can reply up to 24 hours after the customer’s last message. This is WhatsApp’s rule. To reply:

  1. Open the conversation.
  2. Type your message in the Type a reply… box.
  3. Press Enter to send. Your message appears with one grey tick.

To start a new line in your message, press Shift+Enter.

Under the box, Mesy shows how long you have left, such as “Reply window closes in 21h”. After 24 hours, a note takes the place of the reply box. WhatsApp won’t deliver a reply until the customer messages again. You can’t start a new chat from Mesy.

To call the customer or send a voice note, click Open WhatsApp at the top of the tab. It opens a chat to that number in your own WhatsApp app, outside Mesy.

The chat header has Suggest replies and Assistant buttons. On a line assigned to you, it also has Reply automatically. Get reply suggestions in customer chats explains them.

Some lines have an enquiry bot, which answers customers by itself. On those lines, a bar above the messages shows who is answering, the bot or a person. To answer a chat yourself, click Take over or send a reply. The bot then stays out of that chat until someone clicks Resume bot. See Let a bot answer WhatsApp enquiries.

Section titled “Link a conversation to a record”

Linking adds an entry such as “WhatsApp conversation with Mrs Tan” to the record’s Timeline, which is the record’s history. The chat also shows on the record’s Conversations tab. Anyone who can see the record sees the Timeline entry. On an assigned line, only the assigned person can open the chat.

To link a chat or remove its link, you need permission to edit the record. To link a chat:

  1. Open a conversation that has no record link.
  2. Click Link.
  3. Type at least two letters of the customer’s name in Search records….
  4. Click the record. The chat header now shows the record’s name.

Click the name to open the record. To change the link, click Replace and pick another record. To remove the link, click the cross beside the name. Its hover text reads “Unlink this record”.

Add a new customer from a chat

Section titled “Add a new customer from a chat”

If the customer isn’t in Mesy yet, click Add to CRM instead of Link. Mesy prepares a new person record from the customer’s WhatsApp name and number. It puts the record on a confirm card. A confirm card is a box that shows what Mesy will save. Nothing is saved until you confirm it.

A message says the card is ready to review. Find it in the AI panel, which opens from Mesy WhatsApp, or on the Approvals page. When you confirm it, Mesy saves the record and links the chat to it.

See linked chats on the record

Section titled “See linked chats on the record”

Once a record has a linked chat or a suggested match, it gets a Conversations tab. To see its chats:

  1. Open the record.
  2. Click Conversations. You see the linked chats you can read, each with the latest message as a preview.
  3. Click the arrow on a row. Its hover text reads “Open in Inbox”. The chat opens in your Inbox.

Accept a suggested match

Section titled “Accept a suggested match”

When you open a chat with no record link, Mesy can suggest the customer’s record by matching their phone number. Your admin turns this on in Admin, on the Workspace Channels tab. They set Phone suggestions to Suggest under WhatsApp phone linking.

Mesy compares the chat’s number with the phone numbers on your people records. Your admin picks which phone fields count, under Identity Fields (duplicate detection) on the Schema tab in Admin. A field is one piece of information on a record, such as a phone number. If no phone field is picked, no chat gets a suggestion.

If exactly one person you can see matches, the header shows Suggested with the record’s name. The same match shows on that record’s Conversations tab under Suggested.

  • Click Accept to link the chat to that record.
  • Click Dismiss if it’s the wrong person. It stays dismissed for you, even after new messages.

Teammates don’t see your suggestions. Mesy matches only when the record’s phone number has + and the country code, such as +65 9123 4567. A number saved without its country code, or one shared by two people, gets no suggestion. Use Link for those.

If something doesn’t work

Section titled “If something doesn’t work”
  • If the tab asks you to connect a WhatsApp Business number but your business already has one, each line is assigned to someone else. Ask your admin to assign you a line or make one a team line.
  • If Accept is greyed out, the suggestion says “You cannot edit this record.” Ask someone who can edit the record to link it.
  • If a chat never gets a suggestion, someone may have removed its link before. Mesy then stops suggesting records for that chat, for everyone. Use Link instead.
  • If the header says “Linked record unavailable”, the chat is linked to a record you can’t see, or one that was deleted.
  • If your reply doesn’t send, Mesy puts your text back in the box and shows an error. A reply can be up to 4,096 characters. A longer one won’t send, so shorten it and try again.
  • If the note under the box says “Reply window has closed” while the chat is open, reload the page.