Understanding Conversation Channels and Message Types

Channels and Message Types

Conversations in Helpium can come from multiple channels, and messages have different types that indicate their origin.

Supported Channels

Each conversation belongs to a specific channel:

• Widget: Messages from the embedded chat widget on your website
• Email: Messages from email forwarding
• WhatsApp: Messages from WhatsApp Business
• Instagram: Messages from Instagram Direct Messages
• Messenger: Messages from Facebook Messenger
• API: Messages created via the API

The channel is displayed as a badge on each conversation in the inbox.

Message Types

Messages in a conversation can be:

• Customer messages: Sent by the customer
• Agent replies: Sent by a team member
• Bot messages: Generated by the AI chatbot
• System messages: Automated messages (e.g., agent assigned, status changed)
• Internal notes: Visible only to agents, not sent to the customer

Cross-Channel Behavior

• Agents always reply from the Helpium dashboard, regardless of the channel
• Replies are delivered through the original channel the customer used
• The AI chatbot can be enabled or disabled per channel
• All channels support real-time updates via WebSocket