Your First Conversation

You have your account created, WhatsApp connected, and your team invited. Now it's time to handle your first WhatsApp conversation from Trochai. In this guide, we'll walk you through the complete flow, from when a customer messages you to when you reply and activate the AI bot.

Receiving a message

When a customer sends a WhatsApp message to the number you configured in Trochai, here's what happens:

1. Meta receives the message and sends it to Trochai's webhook.
2. Trochai processes the message and stores it in the database.
3. A conversation is created automatically (if this is the first time that contact has messaged you) or the existing conversation is updated.
4. The message appears in your inbox in real time, without needing to refresh the page.

Finding the conversation in the inbox

Replying to the customer

The WhatsApp 24-hour window

One of the most important concepts when using the WhatsApp Business API is the 24-hour window.

How it works

• When a customer sends you a message, a 24-hour window opens during which you can freely reply with text messages, images, and other content.
• After 24 hours from the customer's last message, the window closes and you can no longer send free-form text messages.
• To communicate with the customer outside the window, you must use a message template approved by Meta.

Window indicator in Trochai

In the conversation toolbar (above the message area), Trochai shows an indicator that tells you the window status:

• Window open -- You can send messages freely. The indicator shows how much time remains.
• Window closed -- You can only send templates. The text field will display a message indicating you need to send a template.

Sending a template when the window is closed

If you need to contact a customer whose window is closed:

1. Click the Send template button that appears in the message area.
2. Select an approved template from the list.
3. Fill in the template parameters if applicable (for example, customer name, property name).
4. Send the template.

When the customer replies to the template, a new 24-hour window will open.

Conversation tools

When you select a conversation, the toolbar at the top offers several options:

Conversation status

Change the conversation status to organize your workflow:

• Open -- Active conversation that needs attention.
• Resolved -- Conversation that's been completed or addressed.

Agent assignment

Assign the conversation to a specific agent on your team:

• Click the assignment selector.
• Choose an agent from the list of available members.
• Or select "Unassigned" to return it to the general inbox.

Assignment is useful for distributing workload among the team. For more details, see the assignments section.

Tags

Add tags to the conversation to categorize it (for example, "Interested in house," "Follow-up," "VIP"):

• Click the tags icon.
• Select an existing tag or search for one.

Internal notes

Add internal notes that only your team can see (the customer doesn't receive them):

• Click the notes icon.
• Write your note and save it.

Notes are useful for documenting relevant information about the customer or the conversation.

Activating the AI bot

Trochai includes an artificial intelligence assistant that can automatically respond to customer inquiries about properties.

Activate the bot for a conversation

In the conversation toolbar, you'll see a bot icon with a toggle switch:

• Enabled (toggle on) -- The bot responds automatically when the customer writes.
• Disabled (toggle off) -- Only human agents can respond.

To activate the bot, simply turn on the toggle. The bot will start responding to the customer's next messages in that conversation.

What the bot does

When the bot is enabled and a customer sends a message:

1. Classifies the intent of the message (greeting, property search, general inquiry, etc.).
2. Searches for relevant properties in your inventory if the customer is looking for something specific.
3. Generates a natural, personalized response based on the available information.
4. Sends the response automatically to the customer.

If the bot can't respond or detects that the inquiry requires human attention, it escalates the conversation and notifies the team.

Bot typing indicator

When the bot is processing a response, you'll see a "The assistant is typing" indicator in the message area. Bot messages are identified with an "AI Assistant" label.

Temporarily pausing the bot

If you manually reply to a conversation that has the bot enabled, the bot will automatically pause for that conversation. This prevents the bot from interfering with the human agent's handling.

You'll see an informational banner indicating that the bot is paused. You can reactivate it by clicking the Reactivate bot button in the banner.

Escalation banner

If the bot detects that it needs human intervention, a prominent banner will appear in the conversation indicating that agent attention is required. You can:

• Reply to the customer directly.
• Click Resolve to mark the escalation as handled.

Configure the bot globally

In addition to enabling or disabling the bot per conversation, you can configure the bot's overall behavior from Settings > Bot. There you can:

• Enable or disable the bot for new conversations by default.
• Customize the bot's instructions (on Pro plans and higher).
• Configure the response language.

For more details, visit the bot configuration section.

Search conversations

The conversation list includes a search field at the top. You can search conversations by:

• Contact name.
• Phone number.
• Last message content.

You can also filter by channel if you have multiple WhatsApp numbers configured.

Recap

In this guide you learned to:

1. Receive a WhatsApp message in the inbox.
2. Select and reply to a conversation.
3. Understand the 24-hour window and when to use templates.
4. Use conversation tools (status, assignment, tags, notes).
5. Activate and understand the AI bot.

Next steps

Now that you've mastered the basics, we recommend exploring these sections to get the most out of Trochai:

• Load properties -- Add your inventory so the bot can respond about them.
• Configure the bot -- Customize the AI assistant's instructions and behavior.
• Create templates -- Prepare approved messages for communicating outside the 24-hour window.
• View analytics -- Monitor your team's and bot's performance.