Respond to conversations

Last Update: Oct 2024 • Est. Read Time: 3 MIN
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In Kustomer, a conversation represents a set of interactions within a customer about a specific topic. You can respond to messages within a conversation in the customer's timeline.

In this article

Respond to a conversation

Inbound messages are visible in the customer's timeline. Here, you can type your reply message and format the text as desired using the text editor options. 

Character limits

The character limit for your replies depends on the message channel:

  • Email: 10,240
  • Chat: 1,024
  • Text/SMS: 1,600
  • Twitter DM: 280
  • Facebook DM: 2,000

Reply options

You can also add attachments, shortcuts, snippets, and links to your replies. The following additional options are available:

  • Popout Reply
    Opens a separate window for you to write your message.

  • Expand
    to edit the recipient, add CC or BCC recipients, or respond using a specific template.

  • Delete your reply.

  • Add Emoji
    Insert an emoji in your reply.

  • Insert shortcut
    Inserts a canned response using workspace shortcuts.

  • Snippets
    Inserts translated content using text snippets.

  • Add Attachment
    Inserts a file. The supported file types are .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .zip, .txt, .mov, and .mp4. Individual files cannot exceed 5MB per file. The total attachment size cannot exceed 9.5MB total.

  • Add Image
    Inserts an image. Currently supported types are .png, .jpg, and .gif. Individual files cannot exceed 5MB per file. The total attachment size cannot exceed 9.5MB total.
    You can also add an inline image to a new line by drag and dropping an image to the reply window. The maximum attachment size for inline images is 5MB per image. Inline images are supported in:
    • Shortcuts
    • Email
    • Notes
    • Chat

Note: If you use a shortcut that includes an inline image in a channel that doesn't support them, the image will be sent as a URL. These URLs are public and can be viewed by anyone, including users outside of your organization.

Send a reply

Once you are done writing the response, select Send to immediately send your message. 

You can access additional send options from the menu  next to the main send button.

Choosing a different send option will apply only once, and the editor will revert to the default Send now option after the message is sent. You can change the default send action for the reply editor by going to Settings > Personal > Preferences

The following options are available:

  • Send now (default) 

  • Send & mark as done 
    Sends the message and marks it done.

  • Send & snooze until reply 
    Sends the message and marks it snoozed until the customer replies.

  • Press Enter to send
    Press the Enter key to respond to a message. This option is only available for chat, SMS, or Facebook Messenger. Selecting this option will leave it on by default.

  • Send later
    Schedule your response for a future date and time. This option is only available for SMS and Email.

    Note: This feature uses our server time and not the agent's machine time to ensure that the message is sent at the specified time. For example, if an agent schedules a message to send at 10 A.M. and their computer is set to 9 A.M and the server time is 8 A.M., the message will be sent 2 hours later.

    The message appears in the conversation and shows the scheduled time and date in the message. You can change the schedule or delete the message by selecting Undo.
  • Send and snooze 
    This option is available if you have 24 hours turned on as a custom snooze option. Selecting this sends the message and marks it snoozed for the next 24 hours. For more information, see Custom snoooze options.

Change conversation status

Once sent, you can mark this conversation done, and move on to the next conversation. Select Mark As Done in the toolbar above the message, or the Send and Mark Done action while sending your message.

Conversations that are marked done will be shown with a green badge and icon to distinguish them from open conversations.

If a customer replies after you mark a conversation done, the conversation will be reopened and appear in search.

Close the customer

The Inbox and Currently Viewing panels in the sidebar keep track of all the customers you've worked with recently. To remove a customer from the sidebar, select on an individual customer or Clear all at the top of the list to remove all recent customers.