Replying to a ticket

In short: The composer sits below the conversation. Every reply aishaa writes is ready there as a proposal; you check it, fill in any fill-in gaps, edit it (yourself, with AI instructions or with a macro), add attachments if needed and click Send. The ticket then gets the status Answered. If your organisation translates into your language, you write in your own language and the reply goes out in the customer’s language. If you want to reply to the customer via another channel, you choose that channel with one click on the customer card.

Where to find this

Menu Tickets, open a ticket. The composer is below the conversation. You can reply from the Agent role upwards. The composer is disabled when the ticket is Closed and when a colleague is handling the ticket (view-only mode). An empty composer collapses until you click into it; see The ticket screen.

The composer below the conversation of an open ticket, with the proposal from aishaa in the editor, the toolbar with Add file, Give AI instructions, Translate draft for me, AI note and Macros, the attachment chips, the sending route Send via and Send to, and the Send button.

The proposal from aishaa

When a customer message comes in, aishaa reads and understands it and the message goes through your organisation’s workflows. If a workflow has a step in which an agent replies, that agent writes a reply. That reply is a proposal: it is in the editor and waits for a colleague. You can read how workflows determine who replies in Answering customer messages with workflows.

If aishaa is still busy when you open the ticket, you see the bar aishaa is analyzing above the composer, showing the current step in plain language, for example Understanding the customer’s question, Deciding where to look for an answer, Gathering the most relevant information, Checking what is already known, Bringing the conversation back to its essence, Writing a suitable answer, Making the message easier to read or Finishing the analysis. The proposal then appears in the editor by itself.

What happens to a proposal:

Several proposals

If two agents or two workflows have proposed a reply to the same message, a bar appears above the editor with Proposal 1 of 2, the name of the agent and possibly the name of the workflow. If the proposal has already been rewritten, it also shows version 2 (or higher). With the Previous proposal and Next proposal arrows you switch; the chosen proposal goes into the editor. When you send a reply, the other proposals are set aside.

The Proposal 1 of 2 bar above the editor with the name of the agent, the version and the Previous proposal and Next proposal arrows.

Another workflow already wrote to the customer

If another workflow has already sent the customer something about the same message, for example an acknowledgement of receipt, the editor shows This customer already got a message about this from workflow (name). You can simply send; the notice helps you avoid a duplicate message. With Open workflow you look at that workflow. If that message belongs alongside a reply (such as a confirmation), an Organisation admin clicks (name) may write next to an answer, stop pointing it out; after that, aishaa no longer points it out for that workflow.

No proposal

Three situations without a proposal:

• No AI draft with Automatic ticket analysis is paused. and the reason: automatic analysis is switched off for this ticket. Click Analyze anyway to have a proposal created after all.
• No draft created with the text aishaa sees this as (reason) and wrote no draft. Handle it anyway if you disagree. and the buttons Correct, nothing needed and Handle anyway. The tooltip shows Reply need, Confidence, Reason and Signals. See No reply needed.
• No proposal appears at all, for example because no workflow has a reply step for this message. See aishaa does not create a proposal.

Fill-in gaps

If aishaa knows what belongs in a reply but not the value, it leaves a fill-in gap instead of making something up, for example [[delivery date]]. You know the value and type it in.

• The editor highlights the fill-in gaps. Below the editor it says One fill-in gap is still open. Click it or press Tab, then type the value. or (number) fill-in gaps are still open. with the Go to gap button.
• As long as a fill-in gap is open, the reply does not go out. If you click Send anyway, you see Not sent: fill in the open gaps first, then send again.
• Everything between double square brackets on one line, up to 300 characters, counts as a fill-in gap. This way a fill-in gap never reaches a customer.

The composer toolbar

The WhatsApp composer also has the formatting buttons Bold, Italic, Strikethrough and Code.

Giving AI instructions

1. Click Give AI instructions.
2. If there is already text in the editor, Improve current response opens (Quickly rewrite the current draft without running the full analysis again.) with the field How should I adjust the response?. If the editor is empty, Write a new response opens with the field What should aishaa include in the response? and the hint For example: answer the question, ask for more information, or explain the next step.
3. Type your instruction and click Improve response or Write response.

If you leave the field empty, you see There are no instructions given. aishaa only adjusts the text; the full analysis is not run again.

If you close the dialog after you have already typed something, for example to read back through the conversation first, aishaa keeps that text for this ticket. A dot appears on the Give AI instructions button; when you open the dialog again, you continue where you left off. The text disappears as soon as the rewrite is finished or as soon as you move to another ticket. An instruction you wrote for one ticket can therefore never rewrite a reply in another ticket.

The Improve current response dialog with the field How should I adjust the response? and the Improve response button.

Letting aishaa look again

If you want aishaa to look at its work on the latest customer message again, click Run analysis again in the top bar. The dialog says aishaa looks at her work on the latest message again and picks up where she was. In the Extra instructions (optional) field (Tell aishaa what to do differently.) you write what needs to be different, up to 4,000 characters. Confirm with Run analysis again.

aishaa does not start from scratch. The same agent continues from its earlier work on this message, sees your instruction and what has happened in the conversation since, and writes a new version of its proposal if needed. If aishaa is still busy with the message at that moment, you see aishaa is still working on this message. Ask again when she is done. If the latest message is your own, you see The latest message is ours, so there is nothing for aishaa to answer. You can read how aishaa processes a message in How aishaa processes a ticket.

Writing in your own language

If your organisation translates into your language and the customer writes in a different language, a bar appears above the editor: You write in (your language), sent in (the customer’s language). You then type in your own language and aishaa creates the version for the customer when you send; a proposal from aishaa also opens in your language already. With Show customer version you see in What the customer receives exactly what goes out, and with Write in (language) myself you take over writing in the customer’s language yourself.

If translating fails while sending, the message does not go out and the message shows Translating into the customer’s language did not work, so the message was not sent. See Translation.

Translating the text for yourself

Click Translate draft for me. The Draft translation dialog shows Original draft and Translation side by side, with Translated from (language) to (language). Signature was not included. at the bottom. If the text is already in your language, it says This draft already appears to be in your language. If the editor is empty, you see There is no draft text to translate. The translation is only for you; the text in the editor does not change. See also Translation.

Using a macro

Click Macros. The dialog (Choose a shortcut for the current response.) shows the macros available for this channel, each with the type Static text (fixed text that is inserted) or AI instruction (an instruction aishaa applies to the text in the editor). Click a macro to apply it. If there are no macros, it says No macros available. You manage macros under Macros.

Attachments

Add files with Add file or by dragging them onto the composer. A file can be at most 30 MB; otherwise you see The file size cannot exceed 35 MB. When you add an image, aishaa asks Do you want to add this image inline or as an attachment? with the choice Inline or Attachment.

If an action in a connected system has produced a file, for example a return label, you can attach it to your reply with Add to reply. The file then appears straight away among your attachments. See Files and attachments.

For email, aishaa works out in advance how the message will reach the recipient. The What the recipient will get block shows the delivery form for each file:

Below that is Estimated message size: (size) (limit (limit)). If the message still does not fit even with download links, you see This message is too large to send. Remove content or send fewer files. and aishaa blocks sending. With the Also send the originals in full quality switch, the original images are sent as an attachment or download link (The originals travel along as attachment or download link.). The limits per mail provider are in Sending limits and image optimisation.

The What the recipient will get block showing the delivery form of each attachment, the Estimated message size line and the Also send the originals in full quality switch.

Signature

For email, aishaa automatically adds your signature from My profile below the reply. If the Extra signatures feature is active, you can pick a different signature in the editor from a menu with Current signature and the names of your extra signatures. See Signatures.

If you have not set up a signature yet, the No signature configured dialog appears when you send (You have not configured an email signature yet. You can set one up now, send this message anyway, or cancel.) with Cancel, Set up now (opens My profile) and Send anyway. You see this dialog once; after that, when the signature is missing, aishaa asks You are about to send a message without a signature. Do you wish to continue? If you have changed the signature in the editor, aishaa asks You are about to send a message with a signature that differs from the default. Do you wish to continue?

Sending route: sender and recipient

Below the editor is the sending route with From and To.

• Send via: the sender address or channel. If there are several senders, click it and choose another sender in the Send via dialog (Choose which endpoint/channel to use for this reply.). A sender that cannot send is shown as Not available, with the reason (for example Outbound disabled or No active transport). If the customer emailed an address that cannot send right now, you see The customer wrote to (address), but that address cannot send right now. Choose the sender for this reply yourself.
• Send to: the customer’s address or number. If there are several options on the same channel, choose the right destination in the Send to dialog. If you choose the address of another person at a company here, that person becomes the contact of this ticket.
• Next to To is the Write to someone else menu with Internal note and Message to an outside party… (forwards the latest customer message). If a proposal from a workflow to send something to an outside party is waiting, it is shown there as a button with the address and · proposal. See Internal notes and AI notes and Forwarding a message.

If the reply cannot be sent, aishaa explains why, for example No outbound sender is available for this ticket., No recipient is available for this ticket. or The selected sender and recipient are not on the same channel. Admins also see Please contact your administrator to reconnect or fix the channel configuration. See Advanced: endpoints, sending methods and routing rules.

Replying via another channel

A conversation belongs to the channel on which the customer wrote. If the customer also uses another channel, you can reply on it, for example to an email ticket via WhatsApp.

1. Look at the customer card on the right. The second line shows where your reply is going now; the customer’s other channels are shown as small icons at the end. The tooltip shows the address, Last contact and Click to reply via (channel).
2. Click the icon of the channel. You see the notice The reply goes via (channel) with Undo.
3. Above the editor you now see the bar You are replying via (channel) instead of (channel), the border of the composer takes on the colour of that channel and the send button is called Send via (channel).
4. Send the reply. The customer’s reply comes back in the same ticket.

With Back to (channel) in the bar you go back to the channel of the conversation. You can also choose the channel in the Send via dialog; it shows the customer’s address for each channel (To (address)). A channel without an address of this customer is shown as No address of this customer and cannot be chosen.

The You are replying via WhatsApp instead of Email bar above the editor, in the WhatsApp colour, with the Back to Email button, and the Send via WhatsApp send button.

What happens to the text:

Good to know about another channel:

• If the reply goes via a channel without CC and BCC, the bar says Cc and Bcc fall away.
• If the 24-hour WhatsApp window is closed, the icon has a padlock and the tooltip says Window closed: template only. After the switch you see The 24-hour window is closed: only a template reaches the customer. See The 24-hour window.
• If the customer already has an open ticket on that channel, clicking the icon opens that ticket (tooltip Open ticket #(number)) instead of switching channel.
• The choice applies as long as you stay on the ticket. If the customer meanwhile writes via another channel or number, the reply follows the customer there.
• A phone line is not a channel to reply on.

CC and BCC

Email only. Open the send menu (envelope icon) and choose CC or BCC. In the Add CC or Add Bcc dialog, enter the addresses. The addresses appear as chips below the composer; the cross removes one and Clear CC/BCC removes them all.

Replying to a marketplace ticket

If the ticket came in via a marketplace, for example through the messages of a sales platform, your reply is not sent as an email but as a message on that platform, so it counts there as your reply.

You recognise it by the chip Via (marketplace) next to the sending route. The tooltip says: This reply is sent as a message in (marketplace), not as an e-mail, so it counts as your answer there. Plain text, at most (number) characters, no signature.

What is different about such a reply:

• You write plain text. Formatting is lost on the platform.
• There is a maximum number of characters and a maximum number of attachments. aishaa checks this before you send and warns you if you go over.
• No signature is included and you do not choose a sender, recipient, CC or BCC.
• There is no send delay: the message goes straight to the platform.
• In the conversation, the sent message shows Via (marketplace). If it does not arrive, you read there Not sent to (marketplace): nothing reached the buyer. Check in (marketplace) what is going on and answer the buyer there. or Unknown whether this reply reached (marketplace). Check the conversation in (marketplace) before sending anything again.

Sending

Click Send or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or ⌘+Enter (Mac). In the WhatsApp composer, a plain Enter also sends; Shift+Enter starts a new line. On a touch screen, Enter always starts a new line.

Before sending, aishaa checks a few things and asks Are you sure? if needed:

• You are about to send a message without any text. Do you wish to continue?
• You are about to send a message without a subject. Do you wish to continue?

As soon as you have clicked Send, the composer is free again straight away: you do not have to wait. The ticket gets the status Answered and your message appears in the conversation. For email, aishaa returns to the ticket overview and the Sent pop-up appears at the bottom right with the buttons Undo and View ticket, as long as you have set a send delay. What happens if you undo sending or if sending fails is explained in Sending, undoing and what happens during an outage. The timeline shows Reply sent by (name) via (channel).

WhatsApp: 24-hour window and voice messages

On WhatsApp you can only reply freely within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. After that, the composer shows 24-hour window closed and Choose an approved template to restart the conversation. See The 24-hour window. If the WhatsApp composer is empty, the send button becomes a microphone for a voice message. See WhatsApp in the inbox.

Good to know

• Every reply from aishaa starts as a proposal that waits for a colleague. Only where a colleague has given an agent Let it send by itself for a topic, after that agent built up enough trust there, can aishaa send by itself on that topic, and even then only if all fixed checks pass. The Emergency stop puts everything back to proposals in one click. See Trust and letting an agent send by itself.
• If an action works with a file, it picks that file from the attachments of this ticket. See To do.
• For email, a ticket has a subject; you change it with the pencil next to the subject in the top bar, not in the composer.
• If the editor cannot load, aishaa switches to a simple text field with the same toolbar and the Retry editor button.
• Attachments you share with and receive from a customer can be found in the Media tab. See Files and attachments.

Related

• The ticket screen
• Sending, undoing and what happens when sending fails
• Records from connected systems on a ticket
• Ticket statuses and lifecycle
• No reply needed
• Trust and letting an agent send by itself
• Answering customer messages with workflows
• Internal notes and AI notes
• Signatures
• Sending limits and image optimisation
• The 24-hour window
• Macros
• Keyboard shortcuts