There may be times when you need to reach out proactively to a specific customer, or communicate with a third party (like a vendor or supplier) for assistance.
Intercom lets you start a new conversation with one or multiple contacts in your workspace, without leaving the Inbox. These conversations can be managed just like any other. You can snooze them, leave internal notes, and use Macros.
How to start a new conversation
Click Create new from the Inbox menu and then select Conversation.
Select the channel you want to start a conversation on.
Learn more about starting a conversation on WhatsApp.
If you select Chat, the message will send an in-app message as well as a push notification (if the customer is eligible to receive push notifications).
Choose who the message should be sent from.
As a default the email will be sent by you. If you have a custom sender address set up in your workspace, you can choose to send the new message from that address.
From the "Details" panel, you can also select who the conversation should be assigned to after your message has been sent.
If your message is sent from a custom email address, replies will go to that address. You must have Can send outbound emails from custom addresses permission enabled to send messages from a custom address. To see these replies in your inbox you must also have email forwarding enabled.
Search users and leads (by name or email address) for the person to contact.
You can also CC people by selecting the "Cc" field on the right and searching for a contact's name or entering their email address.
Note:
You can put multiple people in the "To" field and multiple people in the "Cc" field.
You must always have at least one participant in the "To" field. It’s not possible to send an email by only putting recipients in CC.
You can't add the email address of a teammate within your workspace. If you want teammates to participate in a conversation, @mention them in a note instead.
If you want to send an email to a person that is not in your contacts' list yet, simply enter the email address and new contact will be created
Add an optional subject line.
The subject line is set as the conversation title automatically in email conversations. Teammates can choose to override this title.
Compose your message
Compose your message and insert macros, emojis, GIFs, articles, attachments, images, or tours. Simply use keyboard shortcuts with ⌘/Ctrl K or click the action menu below the composer to insert content.
Tips:
Pin your most frequently used inserters to the composer.
Get help composing your message with AI assist.
Limitations:
Notes can’t be added to the conversation before it’s sent and the pane is disabled on the new conversation page. They can be added after a conversation is sent.
Apps, articles and product tours can't be inserted when composing a new email. They can still be inserted via macros but won’t display correctly in the email received by customers.
When emailing multiple participants, you can decide to create a group conversation with all the participants, or you can preserve the privacy between participants by sending a separate email to each.
If you toggle the Send separately option on before sending, this means:
An individual conversation is created with each person.
Email addresses will not be exposed to each other.
These conversations can be found in your inbox after you send them.
If you toggle the Send separately option off before sending, this means:
A group conversation is created.
Email addresses are exposed to all users.
The group conversation can be found in your inbox after you send it and any replies for the participants will be threaded to that one conversation.
Note:
Send separately can be toggled on / off if all participants are in the "To" field.
Send separately is not available if any participants are in the "Cc" field.
And finally, click send.
Metadata in email conversations
View the metadata for all inbound and outbound email conversations by clicking on the email header in the conversation thread to collapse or expand the details.
In the collapsed state, it will include from and to addresses and in the expanded state, it will roll out more details such as reply-to, cc recipients, date and subject.
Metadata helps provide you with clarity and context, allowing you to confirm the authenticity of emails, communicate with the intended recipient, and provide accurate information when replying to queries.
Particularly useful in cases of:
Forwarded messages where "From" address is usually different from "Reply-to" address.
Identifying the sender addresses in teammate replies.
Conversations with multiple participants.
It also helps you distinguish between email and chat conversations. The metadata included in group conversations becomes particularly valuable in scenarios where it is important to identify the sender or recipient of a message.
FAQs
Can I customise the email template when sending an email from the Inbox?
Can I customise the email template when sending an email from the Inbox?
No, it's not currently possible to edit the email template here. You will need to send the email from Outbound if you wish to use a template.
How are new outbound conversations from the Inbox included in reports?
How are new outbound conversations from the Inbox included in reports?
Outbound conversations from the Inbox are counted in all conversation reports except New inbound conversations.
Outbound conversations from the Inbox are included in the Customer engagement report.
Outbound conversations from the Inbox are surfaced in the Conversation topics report when a new reply is added by the recipient or a teammate.
How do CSAT ratings work with outbound conversations from the Inbox?
How do CSAT ratings work with outbound conversations from the Inbox?
Conversation rating requests (CSAT) will be sent on outbound conversations from the Inbox as long as they meet the other necessary criteria.
Can I retract/recall an email?
Can I retract/recall an email?
No - it's not possible to recall an email once it has been sent.
Can I CC or BCC an email address on an outbound email created from the Inbox?
Can I CC or BCC an email address on an outbound email created from the Inbox?
When creating an email, you can CC participants in the "Cc" field. An option to BCC participants is coming soon. CC'ing participants is only available when "Send separately" is toggled off.
How does CC'ing people in an email affect auto-replies?
How does CC'ing people in an email affect auto-replies?
If your workspace has the auto-replies feature turned on, that auto-reply will only be sent to the person who sent the incoming email, not to anyone CC'd.
How does CC'ing work with Fin over email?
How does CC'ing work with Fin over email?
Fin will reply to all participants in the conversation, with one participant in the "To" field and any other participants in the "Cc" field.
If someone is CC’d on an email part way through a conversation, what conversation history will they see?
If someone is CC’d on an email part way through a conversation, what conversation history will they see?
The new participant will be able to see the history of the thread if the "Conversation history" feature is enabled in your email settings. 👇
This setting allows the entire conversation history to be included in the email when you reply to all parties, which means any new participant CC'd will see the entire conversation history that was previously exchanged.
Conversation history is not available on chat conversations or for chat conversations that are moved to the email channel. If you do not want the CC'd participants to see the entire history, you can delete this history from the composer before sending your reply.
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