Fine-Tune Your WhatsApp Channel

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Set auto-responses and routing preferences for your WhatsApp channel.
  
• Give your support team access to Messaging in Salesforce.
  
• Customize the Service Console so your support team can assist customers who contact you over WhatsApp.
  

Update Your Channel’s Settings

Fresh off the flow boat, Maria’s ready to connect the Omni-Channel flow to her WhatsApp channel and fine-tune the customer experience. She configures the channel’s auto-responses, consent settings, and routing settings. Let’s follow along.

1. Click the gear to open Setup, and go to the Messaging Settings page.
   
2. Find your WhatsApp channel in the list and click its name.
   
3. In the Omni-Channel Routing section, choose a Routing Type of Omni-Flow and select the flow and fallback queue that you created.
   
   
4. In the Automated Responses section, write the responses sent to customers when they send their first message, a rep joins, a rep ends the session, or a rep inactivates the session.
   
5. Click Save.
   
6. In the Messaging Consent Settings section on the same page, customize how customers opt in and out of messaging or request help.
   

• Choose your channel’s required consent level in the Consent Type field. Maria sets this field to Explicit Opt-In. This way, customers are prompted to send an opt-in keyword to receive messages from Ursa Major.
  
• Write an opt-in prompt and click Save.
  
• In the Channel Languages subsection, click Edit Language in the default language’s action menu. Set keywords that customers can use to opt into or out of receiving messages, ask for help, or make a custom request.
  
• Write the auto-responses that customers receive when they send keywords. When a customer sends a message consisting solely of a keyword, it triggers the auto-response. Then, click Save.
  
• Since Ursa Major Solar also has Spanish-speaking customers and service reps, Maria clicks Add Language to add Spanish keywords and responses, and then saves her changes.
  

The Ursa Major Solar support team is almost ready to receive customer messages in WhatsApp.

Give Your Team Access to Messaging

Now that the WhatsApp channel is created and customized, Maria configures her team’s permissions.

• She assigns the Messaging permission set license to all service reps who will help customers over WhatsApp, and to their supervisors. This license is created when you turn on Messaging.
  
• She creates two Messaging permission sets, one for reps and one for admins, and assigns them accordingly.
  

For steps, see Give Users Access to Messaging in Salesforce Help.

Customize the Service Console

Maria has reached an important step: customizing the Service Console to support WhatsApp conversations. She knows that reps need several types of information at their fingertips so they can help customers efficiently. Here’s how she customizes the Service Console layout.

1. Click the gear to open Setup, and go to the App Manager page.
   
2. Click Edit next to the Service Console app.
   
3. If it’s not already there, add Omni-Channel to the utility bar in the footer. Service reps use the Omni-Channel utility to accept messages sent over WhatsApp.
   

• In the Utility Items section, click Add Utility Item.
  
• Select Omni-Channel and click Save.
  

4. In the Navigation Items section, move Messaging Sessions to the Selected Items list and click Save.
   
5. In the User Profiles section, verify that the user profiles who need access to Messaging are in the Selected Profiles list.
   

Next, it’s time to edit the Messaging Session page layout. Service reps see this page when they’re messaging with customers in WhatsApp.

1. Click the gear to open Setup, and click Object Manager.
   
2. Click Messaging Session | Lightning Record Pages.
   
3. Click the page name and then click Edit, or create a new page. The Lightning App Builder opens.
   
4. Add these page components to the layout:
   

• Enhanced Conversation: Shows a real-time transcript of the enhanced messaging session.
  
• Related Record: Messaging User: Shows the customer’s name, messaging consent status, and other channel-specific details.
  
• Actions & Recommendations: Shows service reps a list of actions they can take.
  
• Next Best Action: Suggests the rep’s next action based on past activity.
  

5. Click Save.
   

Here’s what the updated page looks like in the Lightning App Builder.

Remember that every Service Console is unique! Depending on your business needs, you may decide to add other components to the Messaging Sessions page, such as these ones:

• Knowledge: Lets service reps share knowledge articles in messaging sessions.
  
• After Conversation Work: Starts a timer at the end of a messaging session to give reps a set amount of wrap-up time.
  

Maria’s WhatsApp rollout is going exactly as planned. Next it’s time for her to have some fun with a super time-saving service rep tool: messaging components.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Update Service Cloud Messaging Channel Settings
• Salesforce Help: Give Users Access to Messaging in Service Cloud
• Salesforce Help: Add Messaging to the Service Console