Businesses are increasingly shifting their marketing initiatives to WhatsApp as more people come online using the dominant communication software. As of February 2025, two billion unique users were accessing WhatsApp on a monthly basis.
The WhatsApp Shared Inbox is, at the heart of it, a marketing tool that allows teams to collaborate effectively and efficiently. A shared inbox channels all conversations into one inbox, from where they can be effectively assigned to the relevant agents.
For instance, one person can be responsible for the new leads being generated, whereas another can respond to customer queries. India alone had over 487 million WhatsApp users in 2023, necessitating a shift in business strategies by companies to encompass WhatsApp marketing.
It may still be possible for one person to handle all the different queries if there aren't too many of them. However, as your business grows and such conversations multiply, it will become difficult for one person to handle all these queries by themself. Enter WhatsApp Business API with offerings comprising the WhatsApp Team Inbox or the WhatsApp Shared Inbox.
What is WhatsApp Team Inbox?
WhatsApp Business API offers a WhatsApp Team Inbox that multiple team members have access to. With a WhatsApp Shared Inbox, team members can tackle different kinds of queries, letting business owners focus on growing the company further.
Imagine you have just completed a marketing campaign for your business, which comprised spreading awareness about your brand and its products and services. The campaign has done really well and your inbox is bombarded with questions about your products and services.
Meanwhile, your existing customers are also reaching out to understand how the newer products will affect their ongoing agreements. In the midst of this situation, where you need to both convert potential leads and also reassure existing clients, WhatsApp Team Inbox empowers you to reach out to both separately.
WhatsApp Team Inbox allows multiple members of your team to access the business's Shared Inbox. While one or more people can look into converting the leads, others could focus on reassuring existing clients.
How WhatsApp Team Inbox works
When you opt for the WhatsApp Business API, you get access to the WhatsApp Team Inbox. This service offers a new range of features for WhatsApp Business users, including bulk messaging and extensive analytics that offer insights for targeted marketing.
Gallabox is among WhatsApp Business Service Providers (BSPs) that can set up your WhatsApp Team Inbox along with the WhatsApp Business API. Once you have integrated the WhatsApp Business API, the Shared Inbox becomes the default communication interface on WhatsApp.
Multiple team members can then access the WhatsApp Team Inbox and respond to communication from existing or potential clients.
You can optimize customer support by sorting and allocating queries the team receives to different resources through the WhatsApp Shared Inbox. This open platform will be accessible to all members of your team.
Key features of WhatsApp Team Inbox
Here are key features of a WhatsApp Team Inbox that you can use with your team members:
- Centralized communication: Utilize this space for centralized communication between a business and its leads and clients. Enable team members to respond to customers from the Shared Inbox for improved transparency and accountability.
- Assignment and routing: Assign customer queries to specific individuals or departments to ensure smooth handling and resolution of client queries and complaints.
- Status updates: Inform colleagues about current tasks that you are engaged in through this feature. Members can also indicate their availability, enabling easier coordination and collaboration between the team.
- Integration with CRM systems: Integrate your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with the WhatsApp Shared Inbox to track all details related to a particular client.
- Automated responses: Continue serving customers even during non-business hours by automating responses to certain FAQs. This measure also saves your team time by freeing them from the need to respond to common queries.
- Analytics and reporting: Gain insight into team performance, customer satisfaction levels, and even success rates for lead conversion and resolution of customer issues through WhatsApp Team Inbox's built-in analytics and reporting tools.
Benefits of WhatsApp Team Inbox for businesses
WhatsApp Team Inbox promotes transparency and communication between team members, enabling seamless transfer of information. Adapting to the WhatsApp Shared Inbox allows businesses to reap long-term rewards in terms of customer loyalty. Get started today to enjoy these benefits now.
1. Higher efficiency
By utilizing the WhatsApp Shared Inbox, companies can centralize communications to one platform, reducing the need for team members to switch between multiple apps or platforms.
2. Improved customer service
WhatsApp Team Inbox allows for instant resolutions of customer queries, resulting in higher success rates. Additionally, its personalized communication can enable teams to build better customer relations.
3. Higher cost-effectiveness
WhatsApp Team Inbox is among one of the most cost-effective communication platforms available in the market today. Teams can easily save tons of money by using the WhatsApp Shared Inbox to communicate with all their clients.
4. Scalability
WhatsApp is built for scale across all versions and this holds true for the WhatsApp Team Inbox as well. As your business grows, leading to higher communication volumes and an increase in the number of team members, WhatsApp can quickly scale to accommodate these increases.
5. Enhanced brand presence
Around 39% of users prefer WhatsApp as the platform for customer service. Using WhatsApp Team Inbox to be in touch with your clientele will help improve your brand image and presence on this massively popular portal.
Through WhatsApp Team Inbox, you can reach out to your customers where they are most active, actively building your brand presence.
How to set up Gallabox WhatsApp Team Inbox?
Gallabox is one of the best WhatsApp Business Service Providers (BSP) in India, and its integrations ensure you get the best out of WhatsApp Team Inbox. Read below to learn about how to set up your WhatsApp Team Inbox.
- With Gallabox Conversations, you can easily have WhatsApp messages from customers assigned to the relevant agent.
- Start a New Chat: From Conversations in your Dashboard, click on 'New' to initiate a new conversation with a prospect or client.
- Select a pre-approved template that you wish to share, fill out the variables, and click 'Send.'
- If you wish to message someone who is not a contact, add their contact information and follow the steps below to connect with them.
- When a customer messages you, you can instantly respond and get access to the entire thread.
- Agents can manually assign themselves to conversations, or it can be automated as soon as messages come in. Conversations can similarly be assigned to teams or even a chatbot.
- Gallabox allows you to filter conversations into Open, Unread, and Resolved in order for you to assess the urgency of each task quickly.
- Chats can be further filtered from Open, Unread, and Resolved by using separate conversation tags.
Message Information:
Gallabox offers a range of details about the messages sent to customers, including:
- Message Status: Indicates whether the message has been sent, delivered, or read.
- Message Source: Identifies the source of the message, including whether a chatbot or a manual agent has sent it.
- Time: Displays the time at which the message was sent and when it was delivered.
- Read Status: Indicates whether the recipient has read the message.
Your WhatsApp Team Inbox is now up and ready to be used by you and your team.
Common Use Cases of WhatsApp Team Inbox
Here are some use cases on how WhatsApp Team Inbox can be used to improve sales and streamline the team's marketing and support initiatives.
Lead qualification through chatbots and flows
By setting up a chatbot on your WhatsApp Team Inbox, you can quickly qualify a lead and decide where to route it.
For instance, a chatbot could confirm the kind of product the customer is looking for and then route them to the appropriate department. The chatbot could also let the customer know when they can expect a response in case of non-office hours.
Additionally, WhatsApp Flows take the qualification of leads a step further. Your teams can create interactive forms, which customers can fill out directly within WhatsApp chats. Based on their responses, they can then be routed to the appropriate department.
Team collaboration through internal notes
Team members can use internal notes to share context and information regarding any client they are handling. While a customer query is being handled, members across departments can tag each other in internal notes and get updates all within the conversation itself.
The customer will not be able to view the exchange but the conversation thread will be visible to the members of the WhatsApp Team Inbox.
Rules for conversation management
WhatsApp Team Inbox allows you to set up rules for automating conversation management. You can create rules to qualify leads and route them to the relevant team, whether sales or customer service.
If a customer message contains specific keywords or comes through a particular targeted channel, the rule can tag it appropriately and route it to the department or employee that will be required to resolve it.
Increased insights
By integrating the CRM system with your WhatsApp Team Inbox, you get access to data points such as response times, customer engagement trends, and conversion volumes.
You can easily export granular reports comprising these data points to examine the trends in more detail. Such reports can highlight issues such as where sales tend to drop off or identify the types of messages that drive conversions. You can use these insights to improve your WhatsApp marketing strategies.
Automated ticketing
You can integrate your ticketing system with your WhatsApp Team Inbox to automate the creation of support tickets within customer conversations. This allows team members to communicate with customers while having all their support interactions logged in front of them.
Best Practices for Using WhatsApp Team Inbox
To ensure seamlessness in conversations with clients and interactions among teams on WhatsApp Team Inbox, there are several best practices you and your team could follow.
1. Assigning clear roles and responsibilities
Clearly defining who carries out which role ensures that customers get timely responses to their queries. When everyone clearly knows their tasks, there is less confusion, issues can be resolved faster, and leads can be converted faster.
2. Staying organized
Using tags and categories to keep the database organized will help keep your shared inbox manageable even during busy times. It will also help in quicker resolution and conversion.
3. Prioritizing security and privacy
You must take severe measures to maintain the confidentiality of client data. You can review security settings regularly and ensure that agents follow best practices for maintaining security.
4. Encouraging collaboration
Team members can be encouraged to use internal notes and tagging in the shared inbox in order to ask each other questions or offer insights.
5. Staying customer-centric
Regularly asking customers for feedback is a good way to make sure that you are offering good services to them. By gathering feedback, you can adapt or alter your strategies to improve customer service.
Troubleshooting Common Issues with WhatsApp Team Inbox
When you are first setting up WhatsApp Team Inbox, you could run into some installation issues that you require professional help for. Even as your team starts using the WhatsApp shared inbox, some issues could crop up.
Read below to learn more about the common issues that arise with using a WhatsApp Team Inbox.
1. Lack of ownership
If there is a delay in assigning messages to your team members, it could lead to a lack of ownership among employees. This can be avoided by automating conversations through a chatbot. They can be used to qualify leads and then assign them to the appropriate resource.
2. Mundane replies
Another issue could be that multiple team members reply similarly to the same message. This could confuse the customer on how they must proceed. Setting up flows for customizing a customer's journey through lead qualification can help avoid this issue. Based on qualifying questions asked by an automated chatbot, questions can be directed to a particular team member.
3. Extensive confusion
WhatsApp Team Inbox allows multiple users to add context to conversations by pinning internal notes that the rest of the team can access. However, if multiple resources are involved in communicating with a customer, it can result in extensive confusion. Such a situation can also arise in case of escalation of issues raised by customers.
At such times, the team needs to step back and take stock of the situation. You must immediately designate the person expected to handle the customer's queries through the WhatsApp Shared Inbox. That would significantly help ease any issues regarding accountability.
Improve Conversions Rates with WhatsApp Team Inbox Today!
WhatsApp Team Inbox offers a range of features that can be used to increase lead conversion and improve resolution of customer issues. Through this tool, you can also stay updated on your team's performance and productivity.
Assign tasks and messages to your team and check in later to review their progress. Keep an eye on lead conversion and assess whether strategies need to be changed based on incoming messages. By Q4 2024, WhatsApp Business had over 765 million monthly active users using its various benefits, including the Shared Inbox. This might be a good time to review how you want to move your business forward.
Contact Gallabox, which will help you easily set up the WhatsApp Team Inbox and also integrate your existing systems with it.
Sign up to Gallabox and see how it can help your business achieve seamlessness in operations.
FAQs
1. What integrations are available with WhatsApp Team Inbox?
WhatsApp Team Inbox can be integrated with various apps and platforms. For instance, it can be integrated with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, customer support platforms, tools like Jira for issue tracking, and Google Contacts for easy access to customer information.
2. Can WhatsApp Team Inbox help with customer support during peak hours?
You can add automation to your WhatsApp Team Inbox to help with customer support during peak hours. For instance, common queries can be responded to by a chatbot, freeing up human resources for more pressing tasks.
3. What is the WhatsApp shared inbox app?
The WhatsApp Team Inbox is the WhatsApp shared inbox platform, which allows multiple people to access the same WhatsApp account for business communications.
4. How do I set up a WhatsApp shared inbox?
You can reach out to a WhatsApp Business Service Provider (BSP) like Gallabox to set up your WhatsApp Team Inbox.
5. Who has access to a WhatsApp Team Inbox?
The business owner decides which team members need to be a part of the WhatsApp Team Inbox. The solution can be scaled as per the business's requirements.
