Article updated: January 15, 2025
Inbox 2.0 quick start guide - for admins
In Inbox 2.0, agents send and receive messages through shared social network and messaging accounts, collectively referred to as channels. As an admin, you can manage your agents’ access to channels, as well as their entire workspace environment.
Before you begin
Make sure you’ve added all the channels you want your agents to have access to in Inbox 2.0, set up your teams, and added members to your organization. For help with these tasks, see the following:
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Connect a social account to Hootsuite
- Add WhatsApp to Inbox
- To add Inbox 2.0 Messenger, reach out to your Hootsuite customer account manager.
- Set up your teams
- Add members to your organization
Go to Inbox 2.0 to get started.
Different plans offer different Inbox 2.0 features. Select the link for your plan type and follow the steps to get started. If you don't know your plan type, go to Account - you'll see it at the top of that menu.
1. Manage your contacts
When a customer messages your team in Inbox 2.0, your agents can view and add key contact details, like a contact's language preference, email address, account number, and more in Inbox 2.0. These contact attributes help personalize responses and build stronger relationships with customers. Contact attributes are shown on the right of the conversation view.
You can choose the contact information you want your agents to see and the order in which they're shown.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Contact attributes.
- Select Reorder and drag contact attributes up or down in the list to order them in the view. Use the toggle to turn on and off contact attributes.
2. Manage assignments when an agent goes offline
When an agent needs to sign out during a conversation, they risk losing or forgetting that conversation. To help prevent this, you can choose to unassign their conversations when they sign out.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, select Remove assignment, and then select an option from the list.
When an agent is away or offline, the agent will be automatically removed from all new conversations within 2 minutes. They keep their assigned conversations. However, if an incoming message causes a conversation to move to the New queue while they’re signed out, the conversation is automatically unassigned so another agent can pick it up and continue it.
Learn more about automatic agent assignments.
3. Create saved replies
Create and store pre-written snippets or responses that agents can use to quickly reply to contacts. Your agents can create their own personal collection of responses, or they can use responses from collections that have been shared with channels or teams. To create a shared collection, do the following:
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Saved replies.
- Select Create collection and follow the steps to create your new saved reply and add it to a collection.
After you've created a collection, select Create saved reply to add saved replies to it. Learn more about saved replies.
1. Manage your contacts
When a customer messages your team in Inbox 2.0, your agents can view and add key contact details, like a contact's language preference, email address, account number, and more in Inbox 2.0. These contact attributes help personalize responses and build stronger relationships with customers. Contact attributes are shown on the right of the conversation view.
You can choose the contact information you want your agents to see and the order in which they're shown.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Contact attributes.
- Select Reorder and drag contact attributes up or down in the list to order them in the view. Use the toggle to turn on and off contact attributes.
Learn more about what you can do with contact attributes
2. Manage assignments when an agent goes offline
When an agent needs to sign out during a conversation, they risk losing or forgetting that conversation. To help prevent this, you can choose to unassign their conversations when they sign out.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, select Remove assignment, and then select an option from the list.
When an agent is away or offline, the agent will be automatically removed from all new conversations within 2 minutes. They keep their assigned conversations. However, if an incoming message causes a conversation to move to the New queue while they’re signed out, the conversation is automatically unassigned so another agent can pick it up and continue it.
Learn more about automatic agent assignments.
3. Configure auto-resolve preferences
Keep the queue manageable and uncluttered by setting your auto-resolve preferences. Choose to resolve all new and pending conversations after a set amount of time, and add resolve reasons.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Queue, and then select Preferences to set your preferences.
4. Create saved replies
Create and store pre-written snippets or responses that agents can use to quickly reply to contacts. Your agents can create their own personal collection of responses, or they can use responses from collections that have been shared with channels or teams. To create a shared collection, do the following:
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Saved replies.
- Select Create collection and follow the steps to create your new collection.
After you've created a collection, select Create saved reply to add saved replies to it. Learn more about saved replies.
1. Set up workspace essentials
Set up your business and agent working hours, contact information, and more.
Set business hours
Business hours are the hours that agents are scheduled to be available in each channel.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Channels and business hours, and then select Business hours.
- Select Add business hours to add your time zone and business hours. Each channel can have its own set of business hours, with multiple shifts.
Learn more about how business hours are used.
Choose the contact information agents see
When a customer messages your team in Inbox 2.0, your agents can view and add key contact details, like a contact's language preference, email address, account number, and more in Inbox 2.0. These contact attributes help personalize responses and build stronger relationships with customers. Contact attributes are shown on the right of the conversation view.
You can choose the contact information you want your agents to see and the order in which they're shown.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Contact attributes.
- Select Reorder and drag contact attributes up or down in the list to order them in the view. Use the toggle to turn on and off contact attributes.
Learn more about what you can do with contact attributes
Manage contact groups
Segment contacts into a contact group to prioritize contacts or route conversations to a specific team. For example, you might want to group contacts by language or geographical location, or prioritize them by type such as influencers (contacts with a certain number of posts or followers) or status such as “Premier members.”
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, and then select Contact groups.
- Select Add contact group and follow the steps to create a contact group.
Learn more about how to create and use contact groups.
Manage assignments when an agent goes offline
When an agent needs to sign out during a conversation, they risk losing or forgetting that conversation. To help prevent this, you can choose to unassign their conversations when they sign out.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, select Remove assignment, and then select an option from the list.
When an agent is away or offline, the agent will be automatically removed from all new conversations within 2 minutes. They keep their assigned conversations. However, if an incoming message causes a conversation to move to the New queue while they’re signed out, the conversation is automatically unassigned so another agent can pick it up and continue it.
Learn more about automatic agent assignments.
Add topics and tags to conversations
Create topics and tags your agents can add to conversations. Topics and tags help with routing, prioritization, and reporting.
To create topics, follow these steps:
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, and then select Topics.
- Select Add topic to add items relevant to your service operation. Consider matching the structure within other aspects of your business, such as your website structure, IVR menu, or FAQ topics.
Learn ways to use topics and how to report on topic usage.
To create tags, follow these steps:
- Go to Account, and then select Social accounts and teams.
- Select Tags in the organization to view the active tags.
- Select Create New Tag.
- Enter a tag name and description (optional), and then select Create.
Learn more about creating and using tags.
2. Configure automation and prioritization
You can use auto-responders, automation rules, auto-resolve preferences, and skill set routing to help your agents manage their queues smoothly and efficiently.
Set up auto responders
Create auto responders to help with repetitive tasks and information collection. Auto responders are messages automatically sent to contacts on direct messaging channels. They gather common information from contacts using pre–written scripts until a human agent is needed to take over the conversation.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Select Auto responders.
- Select Add auto responder and build your auto responder scripts with statements and questions.
Learn more about creating auto responders.
Add automation rules
Automation rules let you assign certain automatic actions based on the contents of conversations. These actions include applying tags and topics, and resolving conversations.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Routing and automation, and then select Automations.
- Select Add automation and follow the steps to set up your rule.
Learn more about creating automation rules.
Set auto-resolve preferences
Keep the queue manageable and uncluttered by setting your auto-resolve preferences. Choose to resolve all new and pending conversations after a set amount of time, and add resolve reasons.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Queue, and then select Automation to set your preferences.
Add and apply skill sets
Streamline conversations by automatically sending them to the agent or team best able to handle them. Agents receive conversations that match their specific skills, resulting in decreased resolution time, improved efficiency, and higher customer satisfaction.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin setting.
- Expand Routing and automation, and then select Skill sets.
- Select Add skill set and follow the steps to create rules for your skill set. Select Add filter group to combine multiple sets of rules using the and and or operators.
Learn more about what you can do with skill set routing.
3. Configure engagement options
You can enhance the engagement experience for both agents and contacts by offering flexible, convenient saved replies, and reviewing CSAT surveys for opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.
Create saved replies
Create and store pre-written snippets or responses that agents can use to quickly reply to contacts. Your agents can create their own personal collection of responses, or they can use responses from collections that have been shared with channels or teams. To create a shared collection, do the following:
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Saved replies.
- Select Create collection and follow the steps to create your new collection.
After you've created a collection, select Create saved reply to add saved replies to it. Learn more about saved replies.
Turn on resolve reasons
Learn more about the outcomes of the conversations on your team by having agents select reasons when they resolve conversations.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Expand Agent workspace, and then select Resolve reasons.
- Select the reasons you want to use, and then choose the channels and conversation types to apply them to. For example, you might want to turn this feature on for WhatsApp and Twitter private messages but not for Twitter public posts.
Add a CSAT survey
Create customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys that ask customers for feedback as soon as conversations are resolved. You can create surveys across all channels and in multiple languages. You can also create different versions of a survey for different channels.
- In Inbox 2.0, select Admin settings.
- Select CSAT surveys, and then select Add CSAT survey.
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