Yeah, I’m not going to lie to you…WhatsApp Inbox, Instagram Inbox, Facebook Inbos, email Inbox work, obviously! But these are really single Inboxes. The WhatsApp one only allows you to reply to WhatsApp messages, the Instagram one only allows you to reply to Instagram messages…So how do you have control over your conversations?
It is best to work with a single Inbox that centralizes all conversations and integrates with your CRM…let’s call it Inbox CRM.
With this type of CRM Inbox, each chat has an owner and a context, which makes for a coordinated team, a faster response and a greater chance of converting messages into opportunities.
And precisely because every interaction and message is recorded in the CRM, you achieve greater control and traceability to better follow up and ensure a smoother customer experience.
Key ideas:
- What is an Inbox CRM and how does it work?
- How an Inbox helps the different departments of a company
- Which functionalities are active in this type of Inbox
- What conversation metrics are obtained
- How Clientify’s Inbox helps you close more sales
What is an Inbox within the CRM?
An Inbox within the CRM is a window where all the conversations from your WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Live Chat channels enter, and since it is working from the CRM, it has a direct connection with the contact’s file.
But what is the purpose of this one? The idea is that you don’t have to go from application to application to answer each of the questions and queries sent to you.
By having everything centralized in this single window, you have the ability to manage all conversations, data, claims, tasks, opportunities from one place, assigning the lead to the right expert and making internal comments and mentions to keep all teams in the loop and aligned.
The good thing about having everything connected is that an isolated chat is transformed into a conversation thread, which mainly helps the sales team to follow up and get closer to converting a contact into a new sale.
What are the key functionalities of Inbox CRM?
In a CRM Inbox like Clientify, the first thing you will notice is that working in a team becomes much simpler. Before, different teams would talk to the same contact, but no one knew what the other teammate had said. Now, no one is stepping on anyone else’s toes.
When a conversation comes in, depending on what is being consulted, it can be assigned automatically or manually to an agent. And obviously, if a colleague has to pass on the chat to another expert, he can refer it without any problem, mentioning the details through internal notes, which allow to manage and organize the next steps of the conversation, without the customer seeing it.
Let me explain an important part of the assignment of conversations: when a person writes via WhatsApp and selects the option to talk to a sales consultant, the conversation will be automatically transferred to a salesperson. Keep in mind that the assignment will depend on whether the contact is already a customer, is already in negotiations with a salesperson or is a completely new lead.
In this way, the salesperson is already in charge of that conversation. But if the person then tells him that he also needs to talk to the administration department to make an inquiry, the salesperson will manually forward the conversation to the administration manager.
As we said before, the important thing is that the salesperson can leave an internal note to the other team so that, whoever attends the customer, already knows what the concern is and can give anexact, clear and quick answer, generating an excellent customer service experience.
In case you read it in another of our posts, conversations can also be classified by their status.
Each contact has its own pace… and as some chats move faster than others, this Inbox CRM allows you to mark conversations as open, closed or frozen.
This way, depending on what you have discussed with the lead, you can pause the chat and resume it later without losing the thread or mark it as closed if you have already received a definitive answer.
Differentiating conversations by status is key because this way you can focus on the contacts that really need interaction today, without missing out on others that you need to contact in the future.
The good thing about having everything centralized, is that if you are talking to a contact that you see potential, without leaving the conversation, you can assign a tag based on their interest, generate a sales opportunity , assign a task for future follow-ups and more.
Clientify’s Inbox CRM makes everything easier: teams work in alignment and with clear and accessible information in one place.
Thus, every conversation becomes a real opportunity to sell more and serve much better.
Benefits for the different teams in your company
From experience I tell you that this Inbox is not only an advantage for the sales team.
As your Inbox is inside the CRM, everything flows differently.
First, because it allows you to see in a second which messages came in and which channel to prioritize.
On the other hand, there is no longer any risk of a conversation being left hanging in the air, because it always has a responsible person assigned to it; and the statuses are key because they force you to decide what to do with each contact, greatly reducing leaks.
Yes, obviously the impact on the sales team is impressive. From the same Inbox chat you can send them a quote, schedule an appointment, assign documents for them to sign, generate activities and leave everything in their file.
But for support, billing and customer service teams, it’s also ideal. By having the complete history at hand, departments can search for messages that make their task easier without the customer having to repeat them back to them again; helping you improve response times and meet your SLAs.
In this way, you are showing them that you really listen to them and that your company cares about providing quick and personalized solutions, improving their experience and generating trust and loyalty towards your brand, which is extremely necessary nowadays.
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Inbox CRM Metrics
Having a Inbox integrated to your CRM gives you metrics, by channel and agent, that help you understand in a very simple way, what is happening with your company’s communication.
By viewing the response time you can detect at what times bottlenecks are occurring. In addition, you have the possibility to review how many conversations ended up becoming won opportunities and how many contacts were actually lost.
With this type of CRM Inbox, the important thing is also to detect what is happening in each channel: what is the total volume of incoming conversations, how many are in open, closed and frozen status , and how each agent is managing the chats in order to evaluate their workload and productivity.
Having all this data updated in real time, in a clear and easy-to-read way makes understanding what is happening and designing changes in the communication strategy a headache-free experience.
Clientify in action
Think about this flow: a lead initiates a conversation on Instagram asking about the price of your English course. The chat is automatically assigned to the seller of this type of class, who gives him a quick and personalized response.
In this message your salesperson shares with you an attachment with the class details and a quote.
And yes, to make everything clearer, the salesperson proposes to schedule a video call and when you accept the invitation, it generates a sales opportunity.
The important thing is that, a few hours before the meeting, the customer will receive a WhatsApp message as a reminder and these two conversations, both WhatsApp and Instagram, can be unified by the salesperson and thus be centralized in a single chat.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is an Inbox in a CRM and how is it different from an email inbox?
An Inbox in the CRM brings together all your channels -WhatsApp, networks, email and web chat- in a single view with contact record, history and sales actions. Unlike an email inbox, it’s not just messages: you can assign owners, change statuses, leave internal notes and turn a conversation into a task, opportunity or follow-up.
It is communication and business process in the same place.
2. How are the conversations distributed among the team?
You can assign them manually or with simple rules so that each conversation has a clear responsible person. If the context changes, you reassign in one click and leave internal notes so that the next agent has the thread.
You can also use filters by agent, mentions and statuses so that no one steps on each other’s toes and all conversations move forward with order and consistent response times.
Can I create a sales opportunity from a conversation?
Yes, from the chat itself you turn interest into action without leaving the thread. You create the opportunity, schedule a demo, add tags and even send proposals or quotes at the same point.
Everything is recorded in the contact’s file, with the status and associated activity, so that the sales team can continue to follow up without losing context or loose tasks.
4. What statuses are managed in the Inbox?
You work with states designed to keep you in control: open when it requires action, closed when it is resolved and frozen when you need to pause and resume later. You can also mark spam when appropriate.
These statuses help you prioritize, share the load between agents and keep the conversation pipeline clean, visible and aligned with your service level agreements.
5. What metrics does the Clientify Inbox offer?
You see the first response time, the evolution and resolution per agent, the channels that convert best and how many conversations end up in won opportunities. In addition, with the history and message search you detect patterns and improve scripts.
These are actionable metrics that connect attention and sales, to decide where to reinforce resources, what to automate and how to sustain an SLA that impacts revenue.
Conclusion
If you want to stop jumping from channel to channel and start managing your conversations in the best way, activate the Inbox within the CRM.
I assure you, you will work faster, make fewer mistakes and close more sales.
Test how this Inbox CRM works in Clientify and see, with real data, how it changes your day-to-day life.
