Tickets over WhatsApp
Customers send a WhatsApp message, photo or voice note to your number and a ticket opens for them, or their open ticket continues. Your team's replies on the ticket go back to them on WhatsApp.
PLANSScale only
The problem it solves
- Customers message a technician's personal WhatsApp, and the job never reaches the office.
- Photos of the fault sit in one person's phone.
- When that technician is on leave, nobody can see what the customer was promised.
- Answers on WhatsApp are not counted against your response times.
How it works
- A Helpdesk Administrator opens the team and, under Intake, chooses its WhatsApp Number: your own WhatsApp Business number, or the SmartMy service's shared number.
- A customer writes to that number. SmartMy Desk finds them by their mobile number among your contacts. It opens a ticket for that team, with the first line of the message as the title.
- Photos, documents, videos and voice notes are attached to the ticket; a shared location becomes a map link.
- If the same number writes again while its ticket is open, the message is added to that ticket. A message to a solved ticket reopens it.
- The team answers on the ticket as usual. A public reply goes back on WhatsApp while WhatsApp allows free text, 24 hours after the customer's last message. Internal notes never go out.
- After 24 hours the reply is not sent on WhatsApp; the ticket shows a note, and the customer hears through the usual notifications.
Everything it does
Who the sender is
- Matched on the last 10 digits of the mobile or phone number of your contacts; people before organisations
- Unknown senders follow the team's rule, shared with email. Hold for Review (to start with) opens the ticket marked for review with the sender's WhatsApp name and number. Reject refuses the message
- The ticket keeps the WhatsApp number and "Last WhatsApp from the Customer"
Messages
- Text, photos, documents, audio and voice notes, videos and stickers; files up to 15 MB
- A file that cannot be fetched is noted on the ticket, and the text is kept
- Each incoming message is counted once, even when WhatsApp sends it twice
- Replies are plain text, up to 4,000 characters
Your number or ours
- Your own WhatsApp Business number (WhatsApp Cloud API), set up by your administrator
- Or the SmartMy service's shared number. A message reaches you when you were the last to write to that person on WhatsApp in the last 30 days. For example, "your ticket is solved". You cannot start a conversation there
- On the shared number, messages are collected every two minutes
- One team per number
Who uses it
Customer or requesterWrites, sends photos and voice notes, and reads replies on WhatsApp.
Agent or technicianAnswers on the ticket; WhatsApp Reply Possible on the ticket shows whether the 24-hour window is open.
Helpdesk AdministratorChooses the team's WhatsApp number and the rule for unknown senders.
Where you use it
- WhatsApp, on the customer's phone
- Web: the ticket, with the WhatsApp number and WhatsApp Reply Possible; Helpdesk > Configuration > Tickets > Teams for the number
- Not offered: a WhatsApp bot that asks questions or answers by itself, and starting a new conversation from the shared number
What you control
Settings
- WhatsApp Number per team: empty to start with
- Emails and WhatsApp from Unknown Senders: Hold for Review
Notifications
- Past the 24-hour window: the customer is told through the usual ticket messages (Ticket Waiting for You, Ticket Solved and others). They go the app's Inbox and by WhatsApp templates or SMS from message credits
Questions
Do we need our own WhatsApp Business number?
No. You can use the SmartMy service's shared number. It answers people who heard from you in the last 30 days; with your own number anyone can write to you.Can customers send voice notes and photos?
Yes. Voice notes, photos, videos and documents up to 15 MB are attached to the ticket.Why did a reply not go on WhatsApp?
WhatsApp allows free replies for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Later, the ticket says it was not sent, and the customer hears by the usual notifications.What if a stranger writes to our number?
With Hold for Review, a ticket opens marked for review with their WhatsApp name and number. With Reject, the message is refused.Has it run on a live number?
It was tested with sample messages, not yet on a live WhatsApp number. Send a test message, photo and reply before you give the number to customers.Related features
RAISING A TICKETTickets from email, with unknown senders heldEach team can have its own email address, such as support@ or maintenance@. An email to it becomes a ticket for that team, and replies land on the same ticket. Senders you do not know are held for review, added by their email domain, or turned away.RAISING A TICKETRaise a ticket from the portal, the app or the officeCustomers and internal requesters raise tickets on the portal or in the phone app, and your office enters one for a caller or a walk-in. The form asks for the kind of issue, the place, photos, a time that suits, and whether it is urgent.WORKING A TICKETPublic replies and internal notesEach ticket has one conversation with the customer and, beside it, internal notes only your team sees. When the customer answers a ticket that waits on them, it goes back to work by itself.ACROSS SMARTMY DESKNotificationsCustomers hear when a ticket is received, a visit is planned, the technician is on the way and the job is solved. Your team hears what needs them. Email and the in-app inbox work with no set-up; WhatsApp and SMS use your message credits.RESPONSE TIMESResponse and resolution targets in working hoursResponse-time policies set how fast your team must reply and solve, per priority, for chosen teams, kinds of issue, customers and tags. Targets count in working hours and holidays or round the clock, pause while a ticket waits, and are never typed by hand.
See one of your own jobs run through it.
Tell us how a complaint reaches you today and what you bill for. We will show you the same job in SmartMy Desk.