Assignment workflow
How to assign WhatsApp chats to employees
Unassigned work stays in a queue. A person takes it, or Growth spreads new chats with round-robin. The next person gets a named owner and a note — not a screenshot. This is the workflow page, not the collision page.
InboxBay connects to WhatsApp Business. It does not replace it. Shared inbox hub.
Unassigned, named owner, then a note for the next person
Assignment is how a WhatsApp chat becomes someone’s job. Incoming threads land in the workspace. If no one is named, they sit in the unassigned queue — visible, not hidden in a pocket. A person takes the chat, or an automation hands it to a team. A note stays on the thread when the next person steps in.
“Anyone can take it” is how a booking sits for three hours while four people assume someone else saw the badge. A group message that says “please assign yourselves” is still a hope. The queue has to show work with no owner, and the owner has to be a person the next shift can name.
This is not a rewrite of the WhatsApp shared inbox or the shared inbox guide. Those are the hubs. This page is the assignment motion only: queue, owner, round-robin, handoff note. Two people typing at once is collision. Five people fighting over one handset is the five-person ops page.
The unassigned queue is the honest list
In InboxBay a conversation can have a team and/or an individual assignee. If team auto-assign is off, the chat waits in that team’s unassigned queue until a person takes it. That list is the work. It does not disappear because the manager’s phone is face-down.
Status sits next to ownership: open, pending, resolved. Pending is “we wrote, we are waiting.” Resolved is “the next shift should not treat this as new.” Status without an owner still lets a pending chat rot. An owner without status still lets two people argue whether it is done. The support-process page covers those three states as a care habit. Here they are just the flags on the assigned thread.
Unassigned
No name yet. Still in the queue. Someone must take it or an automation will.
Assign to a person
The next reply is that employee’s job. The customer does not see the name.
Assign to a team
The chat sits on that team. If auto-assign is off, it waits in their unassigned list.
Reassign
Hand it to the specialist. The note stays. The history stays on the same thread.
Round-robin is live — on Growth, not as a slogan
Round-robin spreads new conversations so they do not all land on the first person who opened the tab. Automations can also label a new chat, change its status, or hand it to a team. That routing is live today. We do not sell skill-based routing we do not ship.
Round-robin and automations are on Growth at AED 999 per workspace / month, and on Business at AED 1,999. Starter at AED 499 still has manual assignment, labels, notes, saved replies, and search. Plans are per workspace, not per employee. The first 7 days are a trial. Checkout is on Ziina. Full cards: pricing.
If you want a headcount guess from your chats per day and minutes per chat, use the team cost calculator. It only uses the numbers you type. It does not invent an industry average, and it does not include Meta’s WhatsApp fees.
Notes are for the next person, not the customer
The handoff fails when the only context is a screenshot and a “pls handle.” A private note on the conversation — already quoted AED 2,400, waiting on the supplier, prefers after 6 — is what the next assignee should read. Mentions pull a specialist in without forwarding the customer into a third chat.
Customers never see notes. They never see the assignee. They write the same WhatsApp Business number. InboxBay connects to that account. It does not replace WhatsApp Business and is not a BSP. New chats land after you connect; do not plan on a full history import the day you flip the switch.
A first-week assignment habit
- 01
Connect the number
Keep WhatsApp Business. Invite the people who answer. They sign in to the workspace.
- 02
Watch unassigned
Treat that list as the real pile. Do not let it hide in personal notifications.
- 03
Name an owner
Assign to a person or a team. On Growth, turn on round-robin for new chats if the pile is uneven.
- 04
Write the note
Before you go off shift, leave the one sentence the next person cannot see in the public thread.
InboxBay is a Chatwoot MIT core plus an InboxBay overlay. Assignment, notes, labels, saved replies, automations, and round-robin are live. AI suggested replies are coming soon — a person still sends. Demo at demo.inboxbay.work.
Straight answers
How do I assign a WhatsApp chat to an employee?
In InboxBay the conversation can take a team and/or an individual assignee. If team auto-assign is off, the chat sits in that team’s unassigned queue until a person takes it. The customer still writes the same Business number.
What is the unassigned queue?
Work with no owner, still in the list. It does not hide in a personal badge or a forwarded screenshot. Someone picks it up, or an automation / round-robin (Growth) hands it over.
What is round-robin, and which plan has it?
Round-robin spreads new conversations so they do not all land on the first person who opened the tab. It is live on Growth (AED 999) and Business. Starter has manual assignment, notes, labels, and saved replies.
How do notes help the next person?
A private note sits on the conversation — VIP, waiting on a supplier, already quoted Tuesday. The customer never sees it. The next assignee reads the note instead of starting from a screenshot in a staff chat.
Is this the same as stopping double replies?
No. Assignment is who owns the next reply. Collision is two people typing at once. The collision page is a different URL. This page is the workflow.
Does assignment change what the customer sees?
No. They write the WhatsApp Business number they already saved. They do not see the assignee, the unassigned queue, or the note.
Who pays Meta’s WhatsApp message fees?
Meta bills WhatsApp per delivered template or marketing message. Conversation-based pricing was deprecated as of 1 July 2025. InboxBay does not collect or mark up Meta’s fees. You keep the WhatsApp Business number.
Related pages
Put a name
on the thread.
Start the demo, connect WhatsApp Business, invite the people who actually answer. Assignment is live today.
demo.inboxbay.work · Login and Start free go to the same workspace