Running a WhatsApp Team Inbox: SLAs, Roles and Routing

One number, many agents, zero dropped conversations — that is the whole job. Here is how to configure it.

Routing

• Round robin for general enquiries; simplest and fairest.
• Skill-based for multi-product teams: route by keyword, ad source, or the customer's selected menu option.
• Sticky assignment for sales: the same rep owns the thread until it closes.
• Language routing where you serve multiple regions.

Business hours and after-hours

Set hours per team. Outside them, send one auto-reply that states the return time and offers self-service links. Do not promise "we'll reply shortly" at 2am — it manufactures complaints.

Tags that earn their keep

Keep the list short and mutually exclusive: intent (order, refund, pre-sales, complaint), product line, and outcome (resolved, escalated, lost). Anything more and agents stop tagging accurately.

Canned replies and templates

Write the top 20 responses once, with variables. Two rules: keep the tone human, and never send three canned messages in a row without adding something specific to the customer's situation.

Escalation

Define one escalation path with a named owner and a time trigger — for example, any complaint unanswered for 30 minutes, or any refund above a threshold. Notify on the internal channel your team actually watches.

The four metrics

1. First response time (target: under 5 minutes in business hours)
2. Resolution time by intent
3. Conversations per agent per day — for capacity planning, not for shaming
4. CSAT collected with a two-tap template after resolution

Weekly review ritual

Twenty minutes: read the five slowest threads and the five worst CSAT scores. Fix the root cause — usually a missing canned reply, an unclear routing rule, or a product problem masquerading as a support problem.