In this article, you'll learn how to email a customer from their conversation thread. Texts, emails and calls with a customer all land in the same thread, so when an email fits better, say for something longer, you can switch to it without leaving the conversation.
To open a conversation:
- In the menu, click Conversations.
- Click the conversation you want to reply to.
Sending an email on the web
Your reply goes out as a text unless you pick something else. To the left of the message box there's a round button showing the icon for how your reply will go, with a small arrow beside it. That's where you switch to email.
- Open the conversation.
- Click the round button at the left of the message box. A list opens with the ways you can reach this contact: Message, Email and Facebook message. Only the ones this contact has show up, and the one you're using has a dot beside it.
- Click Email. A Subject box appears above the message box, and the box now reads Type your email…
- Type a subject.
- Type your email.
- Press Enter, or click the send button at the right of the box.
If you leave the subject blank, the CRM fills in a plain one that starts with "Message from". It's worth typing your own so the customer knows what the email's about.
If the email can't go out, your subject and words come back into the boxes, and a short note in red under the box says why.
In a narrow browser window
When the browser window is phone-sized, the conversation looks like the phone app and the round button isn't there. Click + beside the message box instead. Your choices sit at the top of that menu: Text, Email and Facebook message. Pick Email. A line above the box shows Emailing and the address, and the Subject box appears. Then carry on from step 4. If the email can't be sent, you'll see a pop-up saying why instead of the red note.
Sending an email on the phone app
- Open Conversations and tap the conversation.
- Tap + beside the message box.
- At the top of the menu, tap Email. The other choices are Text and Facebook message, and the one you're using has a dot beside it.
- A line above the box shows Emailing and the address it'll go to. Type a subject in the Subject box.
- Type your email in the box that reads Type your email…
- Tap the send button.
If it doesn't go, a Message not sent alert tells you why, and your subject and words are put back so you can try again.
Switching back to a text
Email stays picked while you're in that conversation, so your next reply goes by email too. To text again, open the same menu and pick Message (or Text in a narrow window and on the phone app).
Photos and videos with email
You can't attach photos or videos to an email from a conversation. Pictures only go out with texts. On the web and on the phone app, Camera and Photos and videos in the + menu are greyed out while Email is picked. On the phone app, if you'd already attached pictures before switching to Email, they're removed and a short alert says pictures go out by text only. If you need to send pictures, switch back to a text and attach them there.
How emails look in the thread
An email you send shows in the thread like any other message, marked Email. On the web, its subject sits in bold above the words. On the phone app and in a narrow window, an email shows just its subject in bold; tap it to open the full message, and tap again to fold it back up.
