WhatsApp for customer support teams: shared inbox, tickets, queues and targets
How a support team runs WhatsApp: tickets raised from chats, queues with shifts and caps, first-reply targets in working hours and weekly reports.
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- By WavesFlo team
- Published
- Published
- Reading time
- 3 min read
A support team on WhatsApp needs four things a phone cannot give: an owner on every conversation, a clock on every question, cover when people are away, and a report of how it went. In WavesFlo a customer's message becomes a ticket with the conversation attached, a queue gives it to someone who is present, and the reports count how the team did against the targets it set.
How should it be set up?
| Need | What does it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A record per question | A ticket raised from the chat, or opened automatically on a number set up for tickets | A chat can carry several tickets |
| Fair load | A queue with taking turns, a cap per person and shifts | Skips anyone signed out, off shift or full |
| A clock | A first-reply target and a resolution target in working hours | First reply never pauses; resolution pauses while waiting on the customer |
| Escalation | A ladder that tells a named person as a target nears and when it is missed | Each rung fires once |
| Complete tickets | Required custom fields before a ticket can be finished | Order number, branch, issue type |
| Fast answers | Saved messages recalled with a slash, and AI drafts for review | Set per team |
| Evidence | Reports of response and resolution time, attainment, ticket age and load per agent | Counted from records |
What does a shift look like?
- Get next, or work Assigned to you.
- Answer with a saved message and personalise the first line.
- Raise a ticket where the question needs tracking, and finish it with the required fields filled.
- Hand a chat on with a note when it needs another team.
- At the end of the shift, requeue anything you cannot finish.
What should a lead read?
Customers waiting, counted as people; overdue and unassigned tickets; target attainment; ticket age; load per agent. First-response and resolution times are shown as averages with the median and the 90th percentile. Targets are goals you set; the product states none and nobody guarantees a response time. See support and sales reports.
What does the first month look like?
- Week 1: choose which numbers take tickets and which stay as chats.
- Week 2: write the policy, the ladder and the required fields.
- Week 3: set shifts and caps, and run turns alongside hand assignment.
- Week 4: read the first report and change one target.
What are the usual mistakes?
- Targets copied from another company.
- Caps set so high the backlog is hidden.
- No required fields, so tickets close half-empty.
- Using tickets for every chat, including friendly ones.
WavesFlo leaves the targets to you: first-reply and resolution clocks run on your team's own working calendar, and a cap stops one agent holding more of the queue than they can answer. Tickets, queues and caps are set out in full on the features page.
Questions
Can a support team run WhatsApp from a shared inbox?
Yes. Every number's chats arrive in one list, each with an owner, with tickets, queues, shifts and reports on top.
Does WavesFlo promise a response time?
No. A target is a goal you set, and the reports show how you did.
Can AI answer customers?
AI replies are set per team: automatic answers, drafts for review, or off. Keyword replies and a chatbot for set flows are also available.
Can tickets go to Slack or Teams?
Approval requests, campaign results and number alerts can. Tickets are worked in the inbox.