Inbox Overview
What it is
The Inbox is BotBat's unified messaging hub where agents view, manage, and respond to all customer conversations across every connected channel. WhatsApp, SMS, email, and webchat messages all flow into a single interface, giving agents a complete picture of customer communications without switching between tools or platforms.
Each conversation is displayed as a threaded message history with timestamps, delivery status indicators, and media attachments. The left panel shows the conversation list with preview text, channel icons, and unread badges, while the main panel displays the full message thread for the selected conversation. A right-side panel provides contact profile details, tags, custom attributes, and a history of all past interactions with that contact across every channel.
The Inbox is designed for both individual agents handling their own queue and team leads monitoring overall inbox health. Role-based permissions control who can view, respond to, assign, and resolve conversations, ensuring that sensitive customer data is accessible only to authorized team members.
Key components of the Inbox
The Inbox interface is divided into three main areas that work together to give agents everything they need in one view.
| Component | Location | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation list | Left panel | Browse all conversations with previews, channel icons, timestamps, and unread counts |
| Message thread | Center panel | View full conversation history, send replies, add notes, and attach media |
| Contact sidebar | Right panel | View contact profile, attributes, tags, segments, and cross-channel history |
| Filter bar | Top of conversation list | Filter by status, channel, assigned agent, tags, or date range |
| Quick actions | Top of message thread | Assign, snooze, resolve, or tag the current conversation |
The conversation list updates in real time. New messages push conversations to the top of the list, unread counts increment automatically, and typing indicators appear when a contact is composing a message. This live behavior means agents never need to manually refresh the page to see new activity.
When to use
Responding to incoming customer messages. The Inbox is the primary workspace for agents handling inbound conversations. Every message from every connected channel arrives here, organized by conversation thread. Agents can read the full history, understand context from the contact sidebar, and compose a reply, all without leaving the Inbox. The threaded view ensures that agents see the complete conversation, not just the latest message.
Assigning conversations to agents or teams. When a new conversation arrives, it can be manually assigned to a specific agent or team, or automatically routed based on rules configured in Settings. The assignment dropdown at the top of each conversation thread shows all available agents and teams, along with their current workload. Assigning conversations ensures accountability and prevents multiple agents from responding to the same customer simultaneously.
Reviewing conversation history for a specific contact. Before responding to a customer, agents often need context from previous interactions. The contact sidebar shows every conversation that contact has had across all channels, along with their profile data, tags, and segment memberships. This cross-channel history is essential for providing personalized, context-aware support without asking the customer to repeat information.
Filtering and prioritizing conversations. During high-volume periods, agents need to focus on the most important conversations first. The filter bar supports filtering by conversation status (open, pending, snoozed, resolved), channel, assigned agent, tags, and date range. Combining multiple filters helps agents find specific conversations quickly and manage their queue efficiently.
Monitoring team inbox health. Team leads and managers use the Inbox to monitor overall conversation volume, identify unassigned conversations, and ensure response time targets are met. The status tabs at the top of the conversation list show counts for open, pending, snoozed, and resolved conversations, providing an at-a-glance view of inbox health.
Navigating the Inbox
Opening a conversation
Click "Inbox" in the main navigation sidebar to open the Inbox. The conversation list loads with your most recent conversations displayed first. Click any conversation row to open its message thread in the center panel. The selected conversation is highlighted in the list, and the contact sidebar populates with that contact's profile data.
Replying to messages
Type your response in the message input area at the bottom of the center panel. Press Enter or click the Send button to dispatch your message. For WhatsApp and webchat channels, the contact sees a typing indicator while you compose. For SMS and email, the message is sent without a typing preview.
The message input supports rich text formatting for email (bold, italic, links, lists), plain text for SMS, and WhatsApp-compatible markdown (asterisks for bold, underscores for italic). Media attachments such as images, documents, and videos can be added using the attachment icon next to the input area. File size limits and supported formats vary by channel.
Resolving conversations
Click the "Resolve" button at the top of the conversation thread to close the conversation once the customer's issue is handled. Resolved conversations move to the Resolved tab and are excluded from agent workload counts. If the customer sends a new message after resolution, the conversation automatically reopens and returns to the Open tab.
Inbox channels and their capabilities
Different channels provide different capabilities within the Inbox. The table below summarizes what is available on each channel.
| Capability | SMS | Webchat | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typing indicators | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Read receipts | Yes (if enabled by recipient) | No | No (open tracking separate) | Yes |
| Rich media (images, docs) | Yes | MMS only | Yes (attachments) | Yes |
| Message formatting | WhatsApp markdown | Plain text only | Full HTML | Rich text |
| Reply time window | 24-hour session window | No limit | No limit | Session-based |
Understanding these differences helps agents format their messages correctly and set appropriate expectations for customer interactions on each channel.
Common pitfalls
- Unassigned conversations go unnoticed. New conversations default to unassigned unless auto-routing rules are configured. Without routing rules, messages can sit in the queue for hours without anyone seeing them. Set up auto-assignment rules in Settings > Conversation Routing to prevent this, especially as your team grows beyond two or three agents.
- Channel-specific formatting surprises. WhatsApp supports bold and italic via markdown syntax, but SMS does not support any formatting. If you copy a formatted message from one channel to another, the formatting characters may appear as literal text. Always preview your message and consider the target channel's capabilities.
- Notification delays or missing notifications. If you are not receiving browser or push notifications for new messages, check your browser's notification permissions for the BotBat domain. Also verify your notification preferences in Settings > Notifications. Agents with their availability status set to Offline will not receive notification alerts.
- 24-hour WhatsApp session window. WhatsApp enforces a 24-hour messaging window from the customer's last message. If you try to reply after the window expires, you must use an approved template message to re-initiate the conversation. Plan your response times accordingly.
- Duplicate responses from multiple agents. Without conversation assignment, two agents may respond to the same customer simultaneously. Use assignment (manual or automatic) to ensure each conversation has a single responsible agent at any given time.
Configure auto-routing rules early. Even a simple round-robin assignment across your team prevents conversations from being missed and ensures a more even workload distribution. You can always add more sophisticated routing logic later as your team and volume grow.
- Inbox Overview
- Conversation List
- Message Thread
- Conversation Assignment
- Conversation Filters
- Channel Capabilities