How to Reply to customers from the shared inbox
Answer Instagram DMs and Messenger chats in one inbox: assign conversations, reply with link buttons, add notes and tags, and keep the 24-hour window in view.
Automations answer the common questions. Everything else lands in one inbox your whole team shares, with Instagram and Messenger side by side.
Steps
- 1
Open the inbox
Click Inbox. Unread chats are bold with a count, and the small icon on each face shows Instagram or Messenger. Use All accounts and the filter to show open, unread, mine, unassigned or closed chats.
app.awwtomation.com/inbox
- 2
Open a conversation
Click a chat. Messages sent by automations carry an Automated badge, so you can see what the customer already got. The contact panel on the right shows who they are.
app.awwtomation.com/inbox
- 3
Assign it
Use the assignee menu at the top of the chat to hand it to a teammate, or to yourself. Your team can then filter to Mine or Unassigned.
app.awwtomation.com/inbox
- 4
Reply, with a link button if you need one
Type in the reply box and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter adds a line). Click the link icon to add up to three buttons with a Label and a Link. The pill under the box shows until when you can reply.
app.awwtomation.com/inbox
- 5
Use the contact panel
Add tags, leave a note for your team, and see recent automations and link clicks. View contact opens the full contact page.
When you're done, click Close at the top of the chat. Closed chats sit under the Closed filter, and Reopen brings one back.
app.awwtomation.com/inbox
The 24-hour window
Meta lets businesses reply for 24 hours after a customer's last message. After that, a person on your team can still reply from the inbox for up to 7 days; Awwtomation marks those replies as a human agent's automatically. After 7 days, the reply box waits until the customer writes again.
Questions
Can two people reply to the same chat?
Yes, anyone in the workspace can. Assigning it makes clear who's on it.
Do automations stop when my team replies?
Automations only run on new comments, messages and story replies that match them, so check that your keywords won't catch a customer mid conversation.
Try it on your account
Build it now. Nothing is sent until you pick a plan.