Chats in one inbox - Telegram, Instagram, WhatsApp, web chat and reply templates

The administrator answers Instagram from a phone, Telegram from a laptop, and does not answer email at all. Chats in the CRM gather it into one window where every conversation is linked to a client card.

Chats are available on the Salon plan and above.

Which channels

• The salon's Telegram bot. Needs a token from BotFather. Created in a minute; the webhook is set with a button in the integration.
• Instagram Direct and Facebook Messenger. Through the official Meta API: a business account and a page token are needed. It is the most demanding connection, but the only legitimate one.
• WhatsApp. Through Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API: a number, a token and a secret.
• Email. The mailbox is read over IMAP; replies go from your address.
• Web chat for the website. One line of code on the site, and you have a chat window in your colour with a greeting and an operator name. A list of allowed domains protects against embedding by other sites.

How a message finds the client

An incoming message first looks for a client by messenger identifier, then by phone number. If there is no client, it looks for a lead. If there is no lead either, the bot asks for a phone number, and until then the conversation lives as a lead. From that moment the correspondence is visible in the card, the administrator answers from the CRM, and the client gets the reply where they wrote.

Auto-reply is on by default: "Good to see you again, {name}". It goes quiet for a day after an employee has answered in person, otherwise the client would get an auto-reply in the middle of a live conversation. The text can be changed or switched off.

Reply templates

Replies written ten times a day are saved as templates with a short code. Placeholders work in the text: date, time, salon name and any variables of your own in curly braces, filled in at sending. Templates are grouped into categories, there are favourites and a usage counter: a month later you can see which templates are really needed.

Scenarios

A scenario is a chain of steps the bot walks through with the client on its own: message, question, condition, delay, action. It starts on a command, a keyword, an event or by hand. There are booking steps: choosing a location, a service, a specialist, a date and a time. Actions at the end: create a lead, create a booking, notify a manager, add a tag.

A "booking through the bot" scenario looks like this: the client writes "book", the bot offers services, then a specialist, then free time, and creates the booking. The administrator sees a ready booking in the calendar.

Web chat: spam protection

A form on the website is open to the whole internet, so it has a limit: 15 messages a minute from one visitor, and a hidden trap field. A bot that fills it in gets a "success" and sends nothing.