Read and reply to clients in the WhatsApp inbox

The Inbox keeps every message your clients send to your shop's WhatsApp number, so you can read and answer them without opening WhatsApp on a phone. Conversations are listed in a column on the left with the most recent activity first. Each row shows the client's name and avatar, a preview of the last message, the time, and bold text with a tint while it is unread. Unread is kept for each person: when you open a conversation it counts as read for you, and it stays unread for a colleague who has not opened it.

Clients can also send photos, PDFs and voice notes. They appear in the conversation, are kept privately (up to 20 megabytes each) and count toward your storage. Something Zelun does not keep, such as a sticker or a file that is too large, shows as a line saying what arrived. A clinic that turns on Conversations with patients gets a different rule: each conversation belongs to one professional and everyone else sees only a restricted row. The article on patient conversations explains it.

It also records what happened when a client replied to a reminder. A client can confirm or cancel an appointment just by answering the reminder they received, and the inbox shows that message and whether an action was applied.

Free-text replies follow WhatsApp's own rule: you can write freely only during the 24 hours after the client's last message. This is the service window, and a banner above each conversation says whether it is open or closed. After it closes, you can only send one approved follow-up template, and that send is metered.

1. A connected WhatsApp sender. Without one the Inbox says WhatsApp is not connected yet, so no conversations can come in, and offers Set up WhatsApp, which takes you to the WhatsApp page. See the article on connecting your WhatsApp number. Appointment messages work on every band from the shared sender, so replies to reminders can arrive even before you connect your own number.
2. Permission to use the Inbox. Owners can read and reply. A staff member needs permission to read, and a separate permission to reply, set up by the owner under roles and policies. Without read permission the inbox does not open for them.
3. Messaging credits if you plan to send the follow-up template, since it uses one credit. Free-text replies inside the window do not use credits.

Read conversations

1. In the sidebar, under Comms, open Inbox.
2. Pick a conversation in the list. Each one shows the client, or the phone number if the number does not match a client of your company. Until you pick one, the right side says Select a conversation.
3. At the top of the conversation you see the client's name, with an Open link to their page on Clients, and the banner Service window open · free-text replies allowed or Service window closed · only an approved template can be sent.
4. The thread shows the client's messages and yours. On a client message you may see a small label of what it was understood to be: Confirm, Cancel, Reschedule request or Unclear. These labels are information only; pressing one changes nothing. Under it you may also see Applied, which means the reminder reply was applied to the appointment, or a short reason when it was not.

Reply while the window is open

1. Write your message in the reply box (Write a reply...) and press Send.
2. Your message appears in the thread. It does not use messaging credits.

Contact a client after the window closes

1. Open the conversation. The reply box and Send are disabled and it shows The 24-hour reply window is closed. Below it a note says that outside the 24-hour window only an approved WhatsApp template can be sent and that it uses one messaging credit.
2. Press Send follow-up template, the only send available. It sends the approved follow-up message and uses one messaging credit. If you have no credits left, the send is refused.

Replies to reminders

You do not need to do anything. When a client answers a reminder with a confirm or cancel (words or the reminder's button), Zelun applies it to that one appointment automatically and stores the message in the inbox.

• Free reply: your text arrives in the same WhatsApp chat, from your sender.
• Follow-up template: a pre-approved message from your shop, not your own wording.
• Confirm: the appointment is confirmed as if you had confirmed it yourself.
• Cancel: the appointment is cancelled by the same rules as cancelling from the booking page, including your late-cancel window and any consequence it has.
• Anything unclear, or a request to change the time: nothing changes and the client gets a reply with the link to manage their booking (or to your booking page). Zelun never picks a new time by itself.
• Replying to a reminder only ever affects the appointment named in that reminder, even if the client has several.

• Trying to write after 24 hours. The reply box locks. Use the follow-up template, or wait for the client to write again.
• Expecting staff to see the Inbox automatically. They need permission to read, and another to reply.
• Looking for conversations before WhatsApp is connected. The Inbox shows how to set it up. After connecting, it says conversations will appear once a client sends a message, with Review WhatsApp setup if you want to check the connection.
• Expecting the labels to act. Confirm, Cancel, Reschedule request and Unclear only describe how a reply was understood. Nothing changes when you press one, and a reschedule request never moves the appointment by itself.
• Expecting every message to appear. A message from a number that matches clients of more than one company on the shared sender, with no reminder to tie it to, is not stored for anyone.
• Sending the follow-up with no credits. It is refused until you have credits.

Read how to connect your own WhatsApp number, and the articles on reminders and on what messaging includes.