How To Optimize Your Wix Inbox & Chat
Updated: Sep 19, 2019
By using the Wix Inbox and Chat for you business you will be taking advantage of the ability to automate and manage all your visitor messages in one place.
Wix Inbox and Chat allows you to respond to your Wix Contact Form submissions, initiate live chats with guests from your site, let guests contact you whenever you're online, and get a hold of customers who've interacted with your site through the Wix Stores or Wix Bookings apps.
You are also able to use the inbox and chat options on mobile!
In today's world timing can mean everything and the ability to be available for your audience and give direct communication is incredibly powerful for your business.
Wix has already created a very helpful list of articles that will help you learn how to complete each task in the Wix Inbox and Chat area you can visit here.
We will cover some of these quickly in the sections below but this article is meant to give you an overview of both areas and also how they interact with other Wix Ascend products in order to build a funnel for your business.
This article also focuses on Wix Inbox with a quick look into Wix Chat. If you would like me to write a complete breakdown about chat then leave a comment below and if there is enough interest I will create another separate post for Wix chat.
If you are curious about other Wix Ascend products and want to learn more about how these can help your business then read through my Complete Guide To Wix Ascend.
Accessing Wix Inbox & Chat
You site will need to be published and you will need to have added the Wix Chat app to your site in order to use Wix Inbox and Wix Chat.
Let's break the steps to access both in your dashboard.
Wix Inbox
1. Sign in to your Wix account and choose which site you want to access the dashboard.
2. Click on the "Customer Management" tab on the left-hand side menu. After clicking, you will immediately land on the inbox page.
3. If you have not already set up other important areas of your dashboard like business info, gmail connection, live chat, and facebook connection Wix will prompt you to do so here.
The inbox will collect all messages from visitors and also any messages about different contacts. To read more about the Wix Contacts List then look through my post here.
Basically all interactions from guests with your site are listed as a message in your inbox.
So if suzie pays and invoice or accepts a quote from you or buys a product from your store, you will receive a message in your inbox letting you know suzie has accpeted your quote or paid your invoice or bought your product.
This is incredibly important for you as a business owner to be able to access this information all in the same place, individually sorted, for each contact.
The left side will show you the contacts names.
You will also see several options under each contact name for you to archive, delete, mark as unread, report as scam, as well as a brief message that describes the interaction your contact made with your site.
You also have settings for all of your messages that allow you to mark all of your messages as read or you can "Edit List" by selecting specific messages and marking as read, deleting, or archiving.
The main message area is extremely helpful in quickly viewing interactions or simply replying to a message you received.
All messages will be sent either by email or text and you have options within your message to choose from a saved reply, insert a coupon, emoji, or attach a file.
The email used will be pulled from your inbox settings.
To easily access your inbox settings from your inbox look to the top right of your screen and click on the gear icon.
This will take you immediately to your inbox settings where you will be able to find-tune your outgoing emails subjects and signature, integrations with gmail and Facebook, notifications, and schedule chat hours if you have an upgraded Ascend plan.
You can also compose a new email by clicking the pen and paper icon in the top right of your screen.
This will allow you to pick from a previous contact you have set up or add a new contact.
The Wix Inbox also works with Wix Chat to be able to give you even more control of your messages and interactions on your site.
Wix Chat
I don't currently have Wix chat set up on my site so I thought it would be a good idea to use this post a reason to set it up!
Below are the steps to add the chat app from your editor.
1. Sign in to your Wix account and access your Wix Editor.
2. On the left-hand side menu click on the app marketplace icon
3. Type "Wix Chat" into the search bar and click on the search icon
4. Click on the "Add To Site" button
You should immediately see the chat app on your editor in the lower right hand corner.
From here you will be able to access the settings and change some of the details within the chat app like the layout, design, support, or even upgrade your Ascend plan for more features.
Once you have added all your details to your app and given it your brand colors then head over to your dashboard to see the new options you have for you chat.
We will be accessing the Wix inbox so follow the same steps that I outlined above.
You will now see a new option in the top right of your screen that says "Live Chat" and will have a green or black corresponding color depending if you are online or not.
Now, you will have to manually change this setting to let customers know if you are offline or online.
The only way to schedule your hours to have this become automatically is to upgrade your Wix Ascend plan. You will also be able to upload a logo and personal photo to your chat, making your branding complete.
The Ascend plan is a complete package that comes with other business solutions you can use throughout the Wix dashboard that can become very powerful.
If you want to learn more about what is included in the Ascend plan and how this can benefit your business then read my complete guide here.
It's important to keep in mind that the chat functions as a live customer representative for your business and if you have marked yourself as online and then do not respond to your messages immediately, you will be giving bad customer service to your clients.
I recommend aligning your chat with your office hours and downloading the Wix app.
This way you can receive notifications and respond directly from your phone giving you some flexibility to be accessible even on the move.
Using Wix Inbox To Create A Funnel
The best part about using the inbox and Ascend in general is to have all of your dashboard working together to create automatic funnels for you business.
By clicking on a contact in your inbox you will be able to see a button on the right hand side that says "Info" with a person icon on it. Click this button to get more options for you individual contacts.
Now you can send this person an invoice, quote, or schedule a service with them.
If you have been following all of the posts about Wix Ascend and have been setting up your automations and workflows then you will already have automatic emails being sent to your contact and cards created for them in workflows.
You essentially have created your CRM system and any quick action you take from your inbox will set off your automatic system to make sure your contact is properly labeled and organized for your business.
Using your inbox in this way along with the ability to have a live chat with visitors directly from your phone will give you control that is rarely located all in the same place for your to easily access.
Conclusion
Wix inbox and chat will come with your Wix premium account, giving you no reason not to take advantage for your business! Chat with visitors live straight from your phone and receive messages on any interaction made with your site!
Use the inbox, chat, and other Wix Ascend functions to set up funnels for your business that organize and manage your clients with automatic emails and labels for workflows.
Upgrading your Ascend can allow you to get more branding with the chat app on your site and also remove the Ascend branding that attaches itself to your messages.
Using the inbox and chat for you business? I'd love to know if you find it easy to use or if you are having trouble figuring out how to get the most out of this part of Ascend.
Comment below and let me know your experience and what you feel would have been helpful when you were just starting. This could be helpful to others who are trying to learn the platform better as well.
Please like or share if this post helped you learn more about the inbox and chat! This will tell me what I need to focus on and how to make more valuable content.
Need help with Ascend? Optimize your time, spend it where you want. Reach out and we'll get you headed in a direction that makes sense for your business.