The Chats screen gathers customer messages from every connected channel (Zalo OA, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, website chat). The AI assistant answers first; when a person is needed, the chat comes to you. Staff, assistant editors, managers and the owner can all use this screen.
Tabs and the channel filter
- Need you: customers waiting for staff. Open this tab first whenever you start work.
- AI answering: the AI assistant is handling these; look only when you want to.
- Done: chats that have ended.
- All: every chat, newest first.
When your business has messages from 2 or more channels, a Channel box appears under the tabs so you can see one channel only (for example, just the website chat). Choose All channels to see everything again. In the navigation, the number next to Chats tells you how many customers are waiting for you.
Who is "Customer ••6789"
Zalo, Facebook and the others do not share customer names without extra permissions. So each customer is shown as "Customer ••" plus the last 4 characters of their ID on that channel. A phone number only appears in a request, when the customer gave it to the assistant (see Handle requests).
Chat statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AI answering | The AI assistant is talking with the customer |
| AI waiting for customer | The assistant asked something and is waiting for the answer |
| Staff handling | A staff member took the chat; the AI assistant stays quiet |
| Done | The chat has ended; if the customer writes again, a new chat starts |
Inside a chat, messages from the customer, the AI assistant and staff (with the sender's name) appear in time order. The first message always tells the customer they are talking to an AI assistant and can ask for a staff member at any time. This cannot be turned off (the law requires it).
Take over from the AI assistant
The AI assistant hands a customer to staff by itself when the customer asks for a person, complains, haggles over the price, still has not given a detail after several tries, or when the assistant hits an error. You can also take over at any time:
- Open the chat.
- Press Take over.
- The AI assistant pauses in this chat. At the top you see You are handling it.
If a colleague is handling it, you see their name. Press Take over to move it to yourself.
Send a reply
- Type in the Type a message… box at the bottom of the screen.
- Press Send. On a computer, the Enter key also sends; on a phone, Enter starts a new line.
- Under your message you see Sending, then Sent.
Sending a reply also takes over the chat: the AI assistant stays quiet until you hand it back.
If a message shows Not sent, the red line says why. Press Send again when the reason is the network or a busy system.
When the channel's reply time is over
Each channel only lets a business write for a while after the customer's last message:
- Zalo OA, TikTok: 48 hours.
- Facebook Messenger, Instagram: staff can reply within 7 days (the AI assistant only within 24 hours).
- Website chat: no limit.
- Questions in a YouTube live chat: 10 minutes.
With less than 24 hours left, the hours remaining show under the reply box. Once the time is over, the reply box is replaced by an explanation. This is not an error: call the customer, or wait for them to write again.
If the channel is disconnected, you cannot send either. Ask the owner or a manager to reconnect it on the Channels screen (see Messaging channels).
Hand back to the AI assistant
- Press Hand back to AI.
- Read the confirmation and press Hand back to AI again.
- The AI assistant answers the customer's next message. If the assistant was halfway through collecting details for a request, it starts asking again from the beginning.
The customer gets no message when you hand the chat back. If needed, send the customer a line before handing back.
Marking a chat "Done"
There is no button yet to mark an ordinary chat as done. A chat only moves to Done by itself after you send the private reply to a Facebook or Instagram comment (see below). Workaround: press Hand back to AI when you have finished, so the chat leaves the Need you tab.
Facebook and Instagram comments
When a customer comments under a post, the chat is labelled Page comment (or Instagram comment). You can send only one private message per comment, within 7 days. After it is sent, the chat moves to Done by itself. When the customer answers, their message opens a new chat in Messenger or Instagram messages.
Comments on TikTok and YouTube, and questions in a YouTube live chat, are answered publicly. Never write the customer's phone number or private details; invite them to message the shop privately.
The screen updates by itself
While the page is open, new messages and statuses appear without reloading. If the network drops, the top of the page shows Connection lost, retrying. New messages may arrive late. When the network is back, everything catches up by itself.
A customer wants to see or delete their data
Owners and managers see the Customer wants to see or delete their data button at the bottom of the chat. Other staff should tell the owner or a manager. How to: Customer data.