LeadSquared Converse

1. Feature Overview

LeadSquared Converse is an omni channel engagement platform that enables you to have real-time conversations with leads. Converse currently supports the following channels –

• SMS (currently available only in the United States)
• WhatsApp
• Carter (LeadSquared’s in-app reminder and notifications system)

Using Converse, you’ll be able to –

• Send and receive images, videos, GIFs, etc.
• View conversations in the context of a lead.
• Eliminate the need to switch between multiple applications to converse with your leads.
• Get real-time notifications for messages sent by leads.
• Send content-rich messages, with multi-language and emoji support.

2. Prerequisite

To enable LeadSquared Converse in your account, please write to support@leadsquared.com.

3. Agent Availability

As an Admin, you can allow users to set their availability status. Based on their availability, a chat gets assigned to them. If no user is available, chats will remain unassigned.
Once any user marks themselves as available, and only if a lead sends another message, the chat gets assigned to this user.

To grant users permission to set their status –

1. Navigate to My Profile>Settings>Converse, and click Agent Availability.
2. On the Agent Availability screen, enable the checkbox alongside Allow agents to set availability status, and click Save.

4. Conversing with Leads via SMS

After LeadSquared Converse is enabled on your account –

1. Log in to your LeadSquared account, and from the main menu, click Converse – Chat.
2. On the chat pop-up, search for the lead you want to converse with. You’ll have to type either the lead’s first name or last name, in entirety, for the lead to appear.
3. On the chat pop-up, you can begin having a conversation with your lead. After typing your message, hit Enter, or click to send the message.
4. Once the message is sent, a single tick will be visible against the message. Once the message is delivered, it’ll change to double ticks.
5. Once your lead replies, you can continue the conversation.

4.1 SMS Templates

You can create customized SMS templates and attach them while conversing with your leads.

1. On the chat pop-up, click Select a Template, or click .
2. From the list of existing templates, choose the template you wish to send to the lead.
3. Hit Enter, or click to send the message.

4.2 Attach Files

You can send and receive files while conversing with your leads.

• To attach files, on the chat pop-up, click .
• To download files received from your leads, on the chat pop-up, under the file, click .

The following file types are supported –

4.3 Other Actions

The other actions that you can perform from the chat pop-up are –

• To navigate to the Lead Details page from the chat pop-up, click on the lead’s name. This will open the Lead Details page on a new tab.
  • On the Lead Details page, under Activity History, you can view the conversation you’ve had with the lead.

• If the lead has multiple phone numbers, click to select the number you want to send the message.
• To expand the chat window to full-screen mode, click .
• If there’s an unread message on the chat pop-up, the number of messages will show up on it.

4.4 Chat Filters

The following Converse chat filters are available when you click –

• All –  All the messages you have sent and received from leads.
• Unread – All the unread messages you have received from your leads.
• Focused – All the 1-on-1 chats between you and your leads. This filter will exclude conversations with leads that were initiated through bulk messages or automations.

5. Conversing with Leads via WhatsApp

Integrating Converse with LeadSquared’s WhatsApp connector will enable your users to have real-time conversations with your leads via WhatsApp, from your LeadSquared account. Using templatized messages, you’ll be able to attach and send media files (such as images, documents, etc.) and emojis in your conversations. For more information, refer to Integrate Converse with WhatsApp.

5.1 Set-up

You must install and configure the WhatsApp connector. Once that’s done, you can integrate LeadSquared Converse with the following WhatsApp service providers –

• Integrate LeadSquared Converse with Infobip
• Integrate LeadSquared Converse with Gupshup
• Integrate LeadSquared Converse with Kaleyra

5.2 Create WhatsApp Templates

Once the connector is set-up, you must create WhatsApp templates that can be used to converse with your leads. To do this, refer to Create WhatsApp Templates in LeadSquared.

5.3 Messaging your Leads via WhatsApp

To send WhatsApp messages to your leads through Converse –

1. Navigate to Leads>Manage Leads, and click on the lead you want to message.
2. On the Lead Details page, on the Lead vCard, click  .
3. On the chat pop-up, select WhatsApp Business.
4. From the list of approved templates, select the template you want to send, and click .
5. When the 24-hour service window is active, you can converse with your lead in real-time.

5.4 Attach Files

You can send and receive files while conversing with your leads via WhatsApp.

• To attach files, on the chat pop-up, click .
• To download files received from your leads, on the chat pop-up, under the file, click .

The following file types are supported when conversing via WhatsApp –

5.5 WhatsApp Message Routing

Every time a contact that doesn’t exist as a lead in your account sends a WhatsApp message, this contact is created as a new lead, and this lead is assigned in a round-robin manner to the Admin users in your account. Through this setting, in addition to Admin users, you can choose to assign these new leads to Marketing Users and Sales Managers present in your account. To do this –

1. On the Converse chat window, click .
   • Alternatively, on the chat window, click , click on the Profile Icon on the top right of your screen, and then click Message Routing.
2. On the WhatsApp Message Routing screen, click the Create Support Group button.
3. On the Create Support Group pop-up, enter the following details –
   • Support Group Details – Enter the Support Group Name and Description. Once you’re done, click Save & Next.
   • Support Agents – From the list of Available Users, select the Sales Managers and Marketing Users to whom you want to assign the new leads. Note that the leads will get assigned in the order of the users selected, in a round-robin manner. For e.g., if Abhishek, Amrit and Anil are the selected users, then the first lead is assigned to Abhishek, second to Amrit, third to Anil, fourth to Abhishek, and so on.
4. Once you’re done, click Save & Close. The new leads created in your account will now be assigned to the selected users.
5. On an existing group, click to perform the following actions –
   • Deactivate the group. This will stop leads from getting assigned to the selected users, but the group will still be available, in case you want to activate it in the future.
   • Delete the group. This will stop leads from getting assigned to the selected users, and the group will get deleted.

5.6 Chat Filters

The following Converse chat filters are available when you click –

• All –  All the messages you have sent and received from leads.
• Unread – All the unread messages you have received from your leads.
• Focused – All the 1-on-1 chats between you and your leads. This filter will exclude conversations with leads that were initiated through bulk messages or automations.

6. Chat Transfer

Through Converse, Sales Managers and Sales Group Managers can manually assign and transfer chats to other managers, Admins and the Lead Owner. Click Assigned to:

Similarly, for chats tagged to Opportunities, Sales Managers and Sales Group Managers can manually assign the chat to a different opportunity. For e.g., if a chat is tagged to the “Car Loans” opportunity type, Managers can instead tag it to the “Home Loans” opportunity type directly from the Converse window.

7. Receiving Nudges via Carter

Carter is a desktop application that sends reminders and notifications to your users within the LeadSquared application. You can use Carter to send your Lead’s conversation as notifications to your users. To enable Carter on your account, refer to Configure Carter Settings.

8. Converse Full-Screen Mode

On the Converse full-screen mode users can view their Converse Inbox and reply to messages from leads.

Navigate to full-screen mode –

1. Click on the icon on the Converse chatbox to open full-screen mode.
2. Next, you can click on the to open your inbox.

Here, users can view the following Inbox –

• All – All messages the user has replied to, unanswered, and unread.
• Unanswered – Messages the user has read but did not reply to.
• Unread – Messages the user has not read.

8.1 Admin View for Converse

Admins and managers gain a 360-view of all the chats assigned to their team. They can monitor these chats, view unanswered queries, and seamlessly assign chats to their users. Additionally, Admins and Managers can also view their Converse metrics through Analytics.

Admins, Sales Managers, and Sales Group Managers (Sales users who have been made managers through the group) can view the following Team Inbox of their reportees –

• All – All Messages the users have replied to unanswered, and unread.
• Unanswered – Messages the users have read but did not reply to.

If there are unanswered messages in the Team Inbox: Admins, Sales Managers, and Sales Group Managers can reply to these messages. The chat will then show up in the Admins/Manager’s Inbox as well.

Admin, Sales Managers, and Sales Group Managers can also open Converse Analytics by clicking the Dashboard page under the Analytics section.

• Here, you can view statistics on all the incoming and outgoing messages and their time frames.
• You can set a wait time for the unanswered messages (For example, if you set a 15-minute wait time, it will show all chats that have been unanswered for 15 minutes or more).
• You can set a date range filter that will show you your Converse analytics for Today, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, and the Current Month.
• Once you select your filters, you can click on the Chats to jump into the Inbox.

9. Hide Lead Fields

While sending messages (via SMS or WhatsApp), you can hide sensitive lead fields (such as Phone Numbers, Lead Name, etc.) from your LeadSquared users.
To hide these fields, you must create and assign Restrict Access – View Lead Permission Templates to your users, and select (configure) the Lead Fields you want to mask.

10. Dashboard

Admins, Managers, and Sales Managers can use the Converse Dashboard to track chat statistics, including answered/unanswered chats, response times, chat duration, individual agent performance, etc.

Navigate to the Dashboard

To view the Dashboard, click the icon, and under Analytics, select Dashboard. You can filter the time frame for the statistics using the dropdown.

The Dashboard contains 10 different widgets that display the following information –

11. End Chat

To end an active (live) chat –

1. On the Converse tab, expand the chat window to full-screen mode by clicking .
2. On the Converse page, select the chat you want to end.
3. Alongside the lead’s name, click End Chat.

12. Troubleshooting

In this section, we’ve listed a few errors you might encounter when using the Converse integrated with WhatsApp feature. For each error, we’ve listed the possible troubleshooting steps. In case it’s unresolved even after you try out the steps listed, contact your account manager or write to support@leadsquared.com, and we’ll resolve the issues immediately.

• No Texting Channel Configured/No WhatsApp number
  This error is usually displayed when the LeadSquared user doesn’t have permission to access the Converse feature. When Configuring the WhatsApp Business Connector, on the Converse Settings tab, please ensure that User Access has been granted to all relevant users. Once this is checked, Save the configuration, and try sending a message to the lead.

• No Template Found
  This error is thrown when WhatsApp Templates are not enabled for Converse. To fix this, navigate to the Add/Modify Templates screen, and enable the checkbox  alongside Available in Converse. Once you save the template, try messaging your lead. This should fix the error.

• Unable to receive inbound messages
  In this instance, you won’t receive any incoming messages (and no error denoting this is displayed). This issue is caused because your WhatsApp connector’s Inbound Webhook is incorrectly configured in your service provider’s account, or incorrect account credentials (present under Authenticate By) are entered on the Configure WhatsApp Business pop-up in LeadSquared, under the Authentication tab. Once you’ve rectified this, try messaging your lead. This should fix the error.

• Unable to receive delivery reports
  If you’re unable to view the Delivery Reports under WhatsApp Reports, it might be because the Delivery Reports Webhook was not configured correctly in your service provider’s account. Once you’ve rectified this, try messaging your lead. This should fix the error.

• Notifications not received/Messages not shown in real time until I refresh
  Message notifications are only sent to one user, i.e., either the Lead Owner or to the user (other than the Lead Owner) that sent the WhatsApp message to the lead. When the Notify Lead Owner setting is enabled, only the Lead Owner will get notified. When the Notify Lead Owner setting is disabled, the user who was the last one to send a message to the lead will get notified. Depending on which user should receive the notification, on the Configure WhatsApp Business pop-up, under the Converse tab, enable or disable the Notify Lead Owner setting.

• Chat not shown in Recent Contacts
  Chats are shown in under Recent Contacts only if you send or receive a message. The list of Recent Contacts is user-specific (and not account specific).

13. Keyboard Shortcuts

Maximize/minimize the Converse chat window –

• On Windows, use alt + m
• On Mac, use option + m

FAQs

1. What is a Customer Service Window?

WhatsApp provides a 24-hour customer service window during which you can exchange any number of free-flowing messages with the customer. This 24-hour window is calculated from the time your customer/lead last messaged you. Beyond the 24 hours, you can only send template messages pre-approved by WhatsApp to the customer/lead.

2. How do you send the template message to your customer if the Customer Service Window expires?

Click on the Select a Template button below the message box.

3. Why does my message still show ‘Sent, Status Pending’?

LeadSquared uses the WhatsApp business provider chosen by your organization to send your messages. ‘Sent, Status Pending‘ means LeadSquared has sent the message, and is waiting for your provider to confirm the delivery status confirmation.