# Chat Signals

> Small labels on Inbox chats that show what needs attention: the six built-in signals, your own signals and their rules, ready-made packs, who gets told, quiet hours, wait times and fixes.

Source: https://docs.theavoxai.com/chat-signals

**Chat signals** are small coloured labels on conversations in the [Inbox](https://docs.theavoxai.com/inbox). Each one tells
your team something about a chat at a glance: a customer has been waiting, someone asked for a person,
a new enquiry came in, a chat has gone quiet. They follow only the words and times you set, and they
can tell the right people in the bell at the top of the dashboard.

Set them up in **Settings > Chat signals**. The six built-in signals are on from the start.

> **Note**
>
> Signals only follow the words and times you set. They never guess what a message means and never look
> at health or other personal details. A signal appears only when a message has words you listed, when
> a time you set has passed, or when a contact has a tag, a detail or a table value you picked.

- [Built-in signals](#the-built-in-signals): Six signals every Switchboard has, ready to use.

- [Ready-made packs](#ready-made-packs): Signals for salons, clinics, stores, agencies and more.

- [Wait times](#wait-times): How long customers wait for your team, on Analytics.

## Where signals show

- **The Inbox chat list.** Each chat shows its signals under its name: the first two, then a count of
  the rest, like "+1".
- **An open chat.** All its signals show at the top, each with a small button to clear it.
- **The Inbox filter.** Under the search box, a filter (it starts on **All chats**) lists every
  switched-on signal with how many chats have it right now. Pick one to see only those chats. When none
  have it, the list says "No chats have this signal right now." with a **Show all chats** button.
- **Overview.** The **Chat signals** card shows how many open signals there are, then each switched-on
  signal with its count. Press one to open the Inbox filtered to it, or **Set up** to open the settings.
  When nothing is open, it says "Nothing needs attention right now."
- **The bell.** Signals you set to tell people add a **Chat signal** note to their bell. See
  [Who gets told](#who-gets-told).

The counts in the Inbox filter refresh about once a minute while the page is open.

## The built-in signals

Every Switchboard has six, listed under **Built-in signals**. They're on from the start. You can switch
each one off, rename it, and change its colour, icon, numbers, words and opening hours, when it clears
and who it tells. **Reset to default** in the editor brings back its first settings (it stays on or off
as it is). A built-in signal keeps its kinds of rule and can't be deleted
([AVX-3905](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3905)): to make something different, create your own.

| Signal | Appears when | Clears when | Tells |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Waiting for a person** | A customer has waited more than 30 minutes for a reply from the team, counted from their first unanswered message. | Someone on the team replies | Nobody |
| **Asked for a human** | A message has one of these: "human", "agent", "real person", "talk to someone", "speak to someone", "talk to a person", "call me", "customer care", "representative", "manager", or the Hinglish "insaan", "baat karni hai", "call karo", "call kijiye". | Someone on the team replies | Everyone who can see the Inbox |
| **New enquiry** | The first message from someone who has never written to you before. | Someone on the team replies | Nobody |
| **Hot chat** | 5 messages from the customer within 10 minutes, or a message with "price", "buy", "book", "order", "today", "how much", "available", "kitna", "kitne ka" or "rate kya hai". | 24 hours later | Nobody |
| **Going cold** | The team's last message has had no answer from the customer for 3 days. | The customer writes back | Nobody |
| **Unsubscribed** | The contact has the [Unsubscribed tag](https://docs.theavoxai.com/contacts/unsubscribe). | The tag is taken off | Nobody |

> **Tip**
>
> "Waiting for a person" counts every minute, nights and weekends included. Turn on **Count only opening
> hours** in its rule so only the time you're open counts. See [Opening hours](#opening-hours).

## Your own signals

Under **Your signals**, click **New signal**. A panel opens beside the list with four parts.

**1. Name and look**

A **Name** (up to 40 characters, and different from every other signal's name), a
**Description (optional)** for the team (up to 200 characters), a **Colour** and an **Icon**.
**Signal is on** switches it on or off: when it's off, it never appears on a chat. The panel shows
how the badge will look on a chat.

**2. When it appears**

Choose **Any rule is true** or **All rules are true**, then use **Add rule** to add up to 8 rules. See
[The rules](#the-rules).

**3. When it clears**

Any of: **When someone on the team replies**, **When the customer writes back**, **After a set time**
(**Clear after** 1 to 720 hours, so up to 30 days), and, for a signal with a tag rule, **When the tag
is taken off**. With none of them on, the signal clears only by hand.

**4. Who is told**

**Nobody**, **Everyone who can see the Inbox**, or **Chosen people**. See [Who gets told](#who-gets-told).

**Create signal** saves it. Changes reach chats within a minute.

Each signal in the list shows its badge, its rules in plain words after **Appears when:**, when it
clears, who it tells and how many chats have it open right now. People who can set up signals also see:

- **The switch** to turn the signal on or off. Switching a signal off takes it off every chat at once.
- **Up and down arrows** to move it within its list. The order sets which signal shows first on a chat.
- **Edit** (the pencil) to open the panel again, then **Save changes**.
- **Delete** (the bin), for your own signals only. The signal comes off every chat that has it, and
  this can't be undone.

### The rules

| Rule | What you set |
| --- | --- |
| **Message has words** | Type a word or phrase, then press Enter or a comma. Up to 60 words or phrases, each up to 60 characters ([AVX-3920](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3920)). **Has any of these**: a word or phrase appears as whole words and capitals don't matter, so "book" matches "Can I book?" but not "Facebook". **Is exactly one of these**: the whole message is the word or phrase, with punctuation and emoji around it ignored. |
| **Waiting for a reply** | **No reply from the team for more than** a number of minutes, from 1 minute to 7 days, with optional **Count only opening hours**. |
| **No answer from the customer** | **The customer hasn't answered the team's last message for** 1 to 60 days. |
| **First message from a new contact** | Nothing to set. |
| **Many messages in a short time** | **At least** 2 to 50 messages from the customer **Within** 1 to 120 minutes. |
| **Contact has a tag** | **Tag or category**: one of your tags or categories. |
| **Came from a smart link** | **Smart link**: **Any smart link** or one you pick, and **The chat started within the last** 1 to 30 days. See [Smart links](https://docs.theavoxai.com/chat-links). |
| **Value in a table** | A **Table**, the **Column with the contact** (a WhatsApp contact or phone column that finds the contact's row), the **Column to check**, **Is** or **Contains**, and a **Value** like "Paid". |
| **Contact detail** | The **Contact detail**: **Name**, **City**, **Country (2 letters, like IN)** or **A custom field** (type its **Custom field key**, like `membership`). Then **Check**: **Is**, **Contains**, **Is filled in** or **Is empty**. |

A few things worth knowing:

- **Words rules look at the customer's messages only**, never your team's. Capitals and extra spaces
  never matter, and the same word added twice is kept once.
- **Team replies** are messages from the Inbox, from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, or sent
  through the [Avox API](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-api). Messages sent by automations, [smart link](https://docs.theavoxai.com/chat-links) follow-ups
  and [broadcasts](https://docs.theavoxai.com/broadcasts) don't count, so they never clear a "waiting" signal.
- **When each rule is checked.** Words, first messages, many messages, smart links, tags, table values
  and contact details are checked each time the customer sends a message. A tag rule is also checked
  as soon as the tag is added. Time rules (**Waiting for a reply**, **No answer from the customer**) are
  checked every minute, so those signals appear within about a minute of their time passing.
- **Words and a wait together.** With **All rules are true**, a words rule next to a **Waiting for a
  reply** rule looks at every message the customer sent since they started waiting.
- **Contact details never include gender, birthday or age.** Signals don't use personal details like
  those.
- **Clearing by hand sticks.** A signal you clear isn't raised again for the same message, the same
  wait or the same tag. The next new message, or the next wait, can raise it again.
- **One at a time.** A chat has each signal at most once.

A Switchboard can have up to 100 signals, built-ins included, on any plan
([AVX-3917](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3917)).

### Opening hours

A waiting rule with **Count only opening hours** counts only the minutes you're open. It starts on
Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 18:00, in your device's time zone. Change the **Time zone**, the
**Open days**, **Opens at** and **Closes at**. A closing time earlier than the opening time runs past
midnight into the next day ("Closes after midnight, the next day."). The opening and closing times
can't be the same ([AVX-3921](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3921)).

## Ready-made packs

**Ready-made packs**, under your signals, add a few signals made for one kind of business. Words are in
plain English, plus some common Hindi and Hinglish words customers really use. **Preview** shows every
signal a pack adds and the words each one looks for.

**Add pack** copies its signals into **Your signals**: each one is on, clears when someone on the team
replies, tells nobody, shows where it came from in the list (like "From the Clinic pack"), and is
yours to change or delete. Only the
pack's signals that aren't already there are added, so adding a pack again brings back one you deleted.
When every signal in a pack is already there, its card says so, like "All 4 added", and there's
nothing more to add ([AVX-3911](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3911)).

| Pack | Signals it adds |
| --- | --- |
| **Salon and spa** | Wants a booking, Change or cancel, Price question, Asked about offers |
| **Clinic** | Wants an appointment, Change or cancel, Asked for a report, Asked for directions |
| **Restaurant and cafe** | Table booking, Wants to order, Order is late, Complaint |
| **Online store** | Where is my order, Return or exchange, Payment problem, In stock?, Ready to buy |
| **Agency and B2B** | Wants a quote, Wants a meeting, Invoice question, Urgent |
| **Coaching and school** | Admission enquiry, Fees question, Class timings, Wants a demo class |
| **Real estate** | Wants a site visit, Price question, Home loan question, Ready to book |
| **Support-heavy teams** | Complaint, Refund request, Unhappy customer, Repeat follow-up, Wants a manager |

Every pack signal looks for words. **Repeat follow-up** also appears when the customer sends 4 messages
within 30 minutes.

> **Note**
>
> The Clinic pack follows only words about appointments, changes, reports, bills and directions. It never
> looks for symptoms or anything about someone's health.

## Who gets told

Each signal's **Who is told**:

- **Nobody**: the badge shows in the Inbox, and that's all.
- **Everyone who can see the Inbox**.
- **Chosen people**: use **Pick people** to choose up to 50 people. Only people who can see the Inbox
  are in the list ([AVX-3906](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3906)).

When the signal appears, each person gets a **Chat signal** note in the bell at the top of the
dashboard, like "A chat needs attention: Asked for a human.", with **Open chat**. Someone is told about
the same chat and signal at most once an hour. The note stays in the bell while the signal is open, for
up to 24 hours, and goes when the signal clears or is switched off.

- **Quiet hours.** Chat signal notes never make a sound or pop up, so quiet hours
  (**Settings > Personalisation > Notifications**) don't hold them back: the note waits in the bell
  for later, and the badge shows in the Inbox as usual.
- **Turning notes off.** Anyone can hide chat signal notes for themselves: set **Chat signals** to
  **Hide** in **Settings > Personalisation > Notifications**. Your teammates choose their own.

## Clearing a signal

A signal clears by itself when its **When it clears** rule is met, within about a minute. Anyone who
can reply in the Inbox can also clear one by hand: open the chat and press the small button on its
badge. If someone else cleared it first, nothing changes ([AVX-3915](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3915)).

## While your Switchboard is paused

While the [Switchboard is paused](https://docs.theavoxai.com/switchboard#pausing-a-switchboard), chat signals rest too:

- **No new signals and nobody is told.** Messages, waits and tags during the pause don't raise a signal,
  and nothing goes to the bell.
- **Signals already showing stay as they are**, and clear by their rule within about a minute of the
  Switchboard being resumed, without any note in the bell.
- **No catching up after you resume.** Signals that would have appeared during the pause aren't raised
  later, so you don't get a flood of old notes. From the moment you resume, new messages, waits and tags
  raise signals as usual. A customer still waiting from before the pause gets a "Waiting" signal again
  from their next message.

Wait times keep being recorded during a pause, because they come from your team's real replies.

## Wait times

**Analytics** has a **Wait times** section that shows how long customers wait for your team, for the
range at the top of the page (**7d**, **30d** or **90d**):

| Figure | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **First reply** | How long a new chat waited for the team's first answer. The big number is the median. |
| **Reply time** | How long customers waited for any answer from the team, not just the first one. The big number is the median. |
| **Waiting now** | Chats whose customer wrote last, in the past 7 days, and hasn't had an answer from the team yet. |
| **Reply time by day** | The median reply time each day, and the time 90% of replies came within. Days are UTC days. |
| **Time to answer by signal** | For each signal: **Raised** (how often it appeared), **Median answer** and **90% within** (how long the team took to reply once it did). Answer times count the signals that cleared because the team replied. |

A wait starts at the customer's first unanswered message and stops at the next reply from your team:
the Inbox, the phone app or the API. Messages sent by automations, smart link follow-ups and broadcasts
don't stop the clock. The **median** is the middle time (half were faster), and **90% within** is how
long it took to answer 9 in 10 chats.

Wait times need the **See analytics** permission and a plan that includes [Analytics](https://docs.theavoxai.com/analytics).
Reply times are kept for 13 months, and so is what Avox remembers about each chat's turns (when the
customer last wrote and when your team last replied); cleared signals are kept for 180 days. Older ones
are removed every day. A chat that still has a signal showing keeps what it needs.

## Who can do what

| To | You need |
| --- | --- |
| See signal badges in the Inbox, the filter and the Overview card, and open **Settings > Chat signals** | **See chat signals** (badges in the Inbox also need **See the Inbox**) |
| Clear a signal on a chat | **See chat signals** and **Reply in the Inbox** |
| Create, edit, switch off, reorder and delete signals, and add packs | **Set up chat signals** |
| Be told in the bell | **See the Inbox** |
| See wait times on Analytics | **See analytics** |

Admins have every permission. Managers can see signals and clear them on chats they can reply to; an
Admin can give them **Set up chat signals**. Without it, the settings page shows the signals with "You
can see chat signals but not change them." See [Members and roles](https://docs.theavoxai.com/switchboard/members).

## Troubleshooting

**A signal didn't appear**

Check that it's switched on and that its words match the message as whole words (or the whole message,
for **Is exactly one of these**). With **All rules are true**, every rule has to match at once. Changes
in Settings take up to a minute to reach chats. A signal you cleared by hand isn't raised again for the
same message or wait.

**Waiting for a person shows up at night**

Turn on **Count only opening hours** in its waiting rule, with your time zone and opening times.

**A waiting signal is still there after an automated reply**

That's on purpose: messages sent by automations, smart link follow-ups and broadcasts don't count as a
reply from your team. It clears when someone on the team answers, from the Inbox, the phone app or the
API.

**Nobody was told**

Check the signal's **Who is told**, that the people can see the Inbox, their quiet hours, and that they
haven't set **Chat signals** to **Hide** in their notification settings. Someone is told about the same
chat and signal at most once an hour.

**Pick the table and its columns again**

A table rule points at a table or column that changed, or the table has no WhatsApp contact or phone
column to find the contact's row ([AVX-3908](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3908)). Pick them again in the rule.

**Chat signals are missing from my dashboard**

If the settings page says **Chat signals are turned off**, they were turned off for your account
([AVX-3912](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3912)): contact hello@theavoxai.com. Otherwise, ask an Admin for **See chat
signals**.

All chat signal error codes are in [Error codes](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes).

## Related

- [Stop and unsubscribe](https://docs.theavoxai.com/contacts/unsubscribe): The Unsubscribed tag and the STOP and START automations

- [Smart links](https://docs.theavoxai.com/chat-links): Short links and QR codes that open a chat with you