Chatbot conversations
The Chatbot section lets you review all interactions between your visitors and the chatbot across every channel — Website, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Email — in a single unified view. More importantly, it's where you train the bot to give better answers, saving you countless hours of repetitive questions.
Impact: The Fanz chatbot has saved over 10,000 human hours across all organizers, generated 5,000+ extra purchases, and contributed $500K+ in net revenue. It's like having an employee working 24/7 with all your knowledge.
Who can access
| Role | Access |
|---|---|
| Owner | Full access, can train bot |
| Administrator | Full access, can train bot |
| Producer | Assigned events only, can train bot |
| Analyst | Assigned events only, read-only |
Performance metrics
At the top of the view, the metric cards show chatbot performance:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Conversations | Total conversations, with resolved and pending breakdown |
| Revenue generated | Net revenue from chatbot-influenced purchases, with purchase count |
| Time saved | Hours and minutes saved (see calculation below) |
| AI Processing | AI processing cost (courtesy of Fanz — no charge to you) |
How time saved is calculated
- We estimate how long it would take you to find the answer without help
- We subtract the time waiting for the response + time to read it
- If the chat doesn't respond, we don't count any savings
The omnichannel inbox
All customer conversations — regardless of where they originated — appear together in one unified view. You no longer need to switch between platforms to stay on top of your audience.
Supported channels
| Channel | Description |
|---|---|
| Website | Conversations started via the chatbot on your website or event page |
| Messages received through your connected WhatsApp number | |
| Direct messages from your Instagram account | |
| Conversations initiated via email |
All four channels — Website, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Email — are fully available in the inbox. You can view and filter conversations from any of them in the same unified view.
Filtering by channel
Use the Channels filter to narrow the inbox to a specific channel. This is especially useful when you want to focus on WhatsApp follow-ups, review only Instagram DMs, or check web conversations for a particular event.
Searching conversations
Use the search bar to find conversations by text content — search for specific questions, keywords, or topics a visitor mentioned. The search runs across the full message thread, not just the first message.
Additional filters
Click the Filters button to also filter by:
- Date range (from–to)
- Status
Connecting channels
If you haven't connected a channel yet, click Connect channels in the inbox. This takes you to the chatbot settings where you can link your WhatsApp Business account, Instagram Business account, or Gmail. Once connected, conversations from those channels flow into the inbox automatically.
Important: Disconnecting a channel does not delete or hide conversations you already had on that channel. History stays visible in the inbox (use the channel filter). What stops is new inbound messages and automatic replies until you reconnect.
Conversations table
| Column | Information |
|---|---|
| Channels | Channel icon (Website, WhatsApp, Instagram, Email) |
| Conversation | Conversation title (event name or "General site chat" if on homepage) |
| Last activity | Most recent message |
| Status | Conversation outcome (see below) |
| Actions | View Purchase, Mark as read/unread |
Conversation status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Purchased | Visitor made a purchase after chatting — purple chip so it stands out at a glance |
| Bot paused | A human operator is handling this thread; the bot will not auto-reply |
| Contact captured | Visitor provided contact info — either upfront (Require Contact to Chat) or when the bot couldn't answer (Lead Capture) |
| Unanswered questions | Bot couldn't resolve the visitor's questions |
| Awaiting approval | A bot reply is waiting for review (Approval mode, or the bot requested human help) |
| Resolved | Bot successfully answered all questions |
Reading conversations
- Unread conversations appear bold and are always shown first
- Click a row or Mark as read to mark it as read
- Use Mark as unread to revisit later
Conversation detail modal
Click any conversation to open the full message thread.
Modal layout
Top bar:
- View Purchase button (if status is Purchased)
- Event name or "General site chat" (homepage)
- Channel indicator
- Navigation: Previous/Next arrows + unread count
- Mark as Unread button
Chat interface (center):
- Visitor messages: Dark blue, right side
- Bot responses: Left side — each bot message shows the chatbot's avatar and configured display name next to the bubble, making it easy to distinguish bot replies from customer messages. Response time in ms is also shown.
- Timestamp on each message
Conversation Info sidebar (left):
- Captured contact details (if any)
- List of unanswered questions
Bot message indicators
- Normal response: Shows "Give feedback" button below and "Add FAQ" option
- No Answer (red): Bot couldn't find an answer, shows "Train bot" button
- Manual reply: Messages you sent (from the inbox or the channel app) show a "Manual reply" badge and your brand name — they do not show train/feedback actions for the bot
- Discarded / Sent: On external channels, bot drafts show clear status chips (discarded in red, sent in green)
Chip-style selections in the chat
When Fanzly needs to clarify a short list of choices — for example, to confirm which event you're asking about — it may present those options as inline chips directly in the chat thread, rather than as larger cards. This keeps the interaction compact and fast.
Selecting a chip pre-populates the chat input field with the corresponding label, so you can review and send it as your next message (or adjust the text before sending). This makes clarification flows feel natural without interrupting the conversation.
Note: For longer or more complex option sets, Fanzly may still use a card-based selector instead of chips.
Manual replies and pausing the bot
When a human operator is handling a thread, the bot must not overlap with those replies. The inbox is built so you can mix automation and human support without stepping on each other.
When the bot pauses automatically
The bot pauses on that conversation for 30 minutes (sliding window: each new human reply renews the timer) when:
- You reply from the inbox composer (WhatsApp, Instagram, or Email)
- You reply from the WhatsApp Business, Instagram, or Gmail app (the platform detects your human reply on that thread)
While paused, new buyer messages still land in the inbox, but the bot does not generate automatic replies.
Manual controls
In the conversation detail you can:
- Pause the bot / Resume the bot yourself, even before you reply. A manual pause is indefinite: the bot won't reply again until you resume it (unlike the automatic 30-minute pause)
- See the Bot paused chip in the list and thread while the pause is active
Manual reply composer
| Channel | How you reply from the inbox |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp and Instagram | Text field at the bottom of the thread — Enter sends, Shift+Enter inserts a new line |
| Reply button that opens a rich text editor (bold, lists, links, etc.) to compose a full email |
WhatsApp — 24-hour window: Meta only allows free-form messages within 24 hours of the buyer's last message. If that window closed, the inbox shows a clear error and won't send a free-form reply. Wait for a new buyer message (or use an approved template outside Fanz).
When the bot can't answer alone
Beyond Approval mode, the bot has automatic behaviors so buyers aren't left in silence and bad answers aren't forced out.
Courtesy message on escalation
If the bot can't resolve a query on an external channel (WhatsApp, Instagram, or Email) and holds the draft for human review, the buyer gets one courtesy message along the lines of “let me check and I’ll confirm” — once per conversation. The copy sounds human and does not say there is a bot or that it “escalated to an agent”.
Frustration detection
If the buyer shows clear anger (insults, chargeback threats, repeated hostile complaints), the bot:
- Holds the reply for human review
- Sends the courtesy message (if not already sent on that thread)
- Notifies brand owners so they can jump in quickly
A hurried or insistent question does not count as frustration — only clearly hostile tone.
Voice notes and images
On WhatsApp and Instagram, the bot understands:
- Voice notes — transcribed so it can reply to what the buyer said
- Images — content is interpreted (for example a payment receipt or error screenshot) and can be used in the reply
If media can't be processed, the conversation continues with the text message or placeholder; the thread is never dropped.
Buyer language
On external channels the bot detects the buyer's language (Spanish, English, or Portuguese) and keeps that language for automatic messages (courtesy, contact prompts, etc.). If the buyer switches language mid-conversation, the bot follows.
Channel settings and Autopilot controls
Each connected channel has its own reply mode setting, accessible from the chatbot channels panel in settings. This lets you control exactly how the bot behaves per channel — independently of the others.
Per-channel reply mode
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Automatic | The bot sends replies to customers immediately without any human review |
| Manual | Every bot-generated reply is held for your review before being sent |
You can set WhatsApp, Instagram, and Email each to a different mode. For example, you might run WhatsApp on Automatic for instant responses while keeping Email on Manual so your team reviews longer replies before they go out.
When a channel is set to Manual, pending replies appear in the conversation view with the "Awaiting your approval" label. From there you can:
- Click Send to customer to send the reply as-is
- Click Edit to modify the text before sending
- Click Discard to reject the reply (with an optional reason) — and optionally regenerate a new one
Connection health
The channels panel also surfaces connection health information so you can quickly diagnose issues with any connected channel:
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Connection state | Whether the channel is currently active and connected |
| History sync status | Whether past message history has been successfully synced |
| Disconnect reason | If the channel dropped, the reason that was recorded — useful for understanding whether it was a credential expiry, a revoked permission, or a platform-side issue |
If a channel shows as disconnected or degraded, check the disconnect reason first. Common causes include expired tokens or revoked Meta permissions. You can reconnect at any time by clicking Connect again in the channels panel — the bot will resume responding on that channel as soon as the connection is restored.
Disconnecting a channel does not remove that channel's chat history from the inbox. Past conversations stay available to review, train on, or reply to manually; only new messages stop arriving until you reconnect.
Training the chatbot
This is the most powerful feature. When you train the bot, it learns to answer similar questions automatically.
When to train
- Click "Give feedback" to refine an existing answer
- Click "Train bot" when the bot had no answer
Training modal
The "Train Chatbot - Create Frequent Answer" modal opens with:
- Question: Pre-filled with visitor's question (editable)
- Answer: Pre-filled with bot's response (editable, or empty if no answer)
- Scope:
- Entire site
- This event only (only if question was on event page)
- Publish in FAQ page: Checkbox to also add to public FAQs
Where FAQs are published:
- If "Entire site" + Publish in FAQ page → Goes to Website FAQs
- If "This event only" + Publish in FAQ page → Goes to Event FAQs
Click "Create Frequent Answer" to save.
Training Hub — Managing FAQs
As your chatbot is trained over time, the knowledge base grows. The Training Hub gives you a central place to see, edit, and clean up all training data.
Accessing the Training Hub
Click the "Training Hub" button (or "Train" on mobile) at the top of the Chatbot view. It opens a tabbed view: FAQs, Knowledge, Objectives, and Playground.
The FAQ table
Every FAQ the chatbot has been trained on is listed here — both event-specific and site-wide.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Question | The question the bot knows how to answer |
| Answer | The response the bot provides |
| Scope | Event-specific (blue chip) or site-wide (purple chip) |
| Visible | Whether it's published on the public FAQ page — Yes (green) or No (grey) |
| Last Updated | When the FAQ was last edited |
| Actions | Edit and Delete buttons |
Filters
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Search | Find by question or answer text |
| Scope | All scopes, Event-specific, Site-wide |
| Event | Filter by a specific event (available when Scope = Event-specific) |
Creating a new FAQ
Click "Add FAQ" to open the creation form:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Question | What the chatbot should recognize |
| Answer | What the chatbot should respond |
| Apply to | "This event only" or "Entire site" |
| Event | Select the event (shown when "This event only" is chosen) |
| Publish in FAQ page | Check to also show on the public FAQ page |
Editing an existing FAQ
Click Edit on any row to update the question, answer, scope, event, or visibility. Changes apply immediately to chatbot training.
Deleting an FAQ
Click Delete on any row. A confirmation dialog is shown before the FAQ is permanently removed from chatbot training.
Note: Deleting a training FAQ does not delete the conversation that originally created it.
Mobile layout
On small screens, FAQs display as cards (question, answer, chips, date, action buttons) instead of a full table — no horizontal scrolling required.
Efficient review workflow
When you have many unread conversations:
- Open the first unread conversation
- Use Previous/Next arrows to navigate through all
- Train the bot wherever needed
- The modal shows how many unread remain (top left)
- Each opened conversation automatically marks as read
Tip: You'll see a notification badge on the Chatbot menu item when unread conversations exist. Navigate to /chatbot from the dashboard sidebar to check regularly!
Why train the chatbot?
Save time
Every question you train is a question you'll never answer manually again. The bot handles it 24/7.
Increase sales
A well-trained bot:
- Answers purchase questions instantly
- Removes buying friction
- Captures leads when it can't answer
- Never sleeps, never takes breaks
Build knowledge
Your bot accumulates your entire team's knowledge. New staff? The bot already knows everything.
Delegate repetitive work
Stop answering "What time does the event start?" for the hundredth time. Train it once, forget about it forever.
Best practices
Review conversations weekly
Set a routine to check conversations. Even 10 minutes weekly makes a huge difference over time.
Train for no-answer situations first
These are your biggest opportunities. Every "no answer" is a lost potential sale.
Be specific in answers
Write answers as if you're talking to a customer. Include relevant details, links if needed.
Use event-specific training
For recurring events with unique details, use "This event only" to avoid confusion.
Match reply mode to channel urgency
WhatsApp and Instagram users expect fast responses — consider Automatic mode for these. Email conversations are often less time-sensitive, making Manual a good fit if you prefer to review before sending.
Pause the bot when you jump in
If you're going to reply yourself, reply from the inbox or the channel app — the bot pauses on its own for 30 minutes. If you only want to watch without the bot speaking, use Pause the bot manually — that pause is indefinite, so remember to hit Resume when you want the bot back.
The Chatbot is a top-level section in the dashboard sidebar. Click Chatbot in the left navigation to go directly to /chatbot.
All four supported channels appear together: Website, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Email. Use the Channels filter to focus on one at a time.
If a visitor makes a purchase within a session where they interacted with the chatbot, we attribute it as chatbot-influenced.
The bot stores the question-answer pair. When future visitors ask similar questions, it uses this training to respond accurately.
Yes. On the website it follows the visitor's language. On WhatsApp, Instagram, and Email it automatically detects Spanish, English, or Portuguese and keeps that language for automatic messages. Train answers in the languages your audience speaks.
The bot pauses on that thread for 30 minutes (renewed with each reply you send). Buyer messages still arrive in the inbox, but the bot won't auto-reply until you resume or the pause expires. This works whether you reply from the inbox or from WhatsApp Business, Instagram, or Gmail.
Open the Email conversation and click Reply. A rich text editor opens so you can compose the email. After you send it, the message is marked as Manual reply and the bot pauses on that thread.
WhatsApp only allows free-form messages within 24 hours of the buyer's last message. If that window closed, the inbox tells you. Wait for a new buyer message to reopen the window.
Yes, on WhatsApp and Instagram. Voice notes are transcribed and images are interpreted (for example a receipt). The rest of the conversation flow stays the same.
On external channels, besides holding the draft for your review, the buyer gets a courtesy message (once per conversation) saying you'll confirm shortly. It does not say there is a bot or that it “escalated to an agent”.
No. Disconnecting a channel only stops new messages and automatic replies. That channel's conversation history stays visible in the inbox.
Contact info can be captured in two ways: if Require Contact to Chat is enabled, the visitor provides their email or phone before the chat starts. If Lead Capture is enabled instead, the bot asks for contact info when it can't answer a question. Either way, these are potential customers you can follow up with. Both options are configured in Website → Chatbot.