Home · Blog · Update: mail in “Dialogs”, channel selection in the widget and Unisender
Update: mail in “Dialogs”, channel selection in the widget and Unisender
We are bringing CHBT to a full-fledged omnichannel help desk: now not only Telegram, MAX, VKontakte and chat on the site, but also email converge into one “Conversations” inbox. The site visitor chooses where it is more convenient for him to write, and subscribers from the bot are synchronized to your Unisender. Below is what exactly appeared, how it works and how to enable it.
- Mail in "Conversations". Customer letters from your mailbox arrive in the same inbox as messages from instant messengers. The operator answers directly from the office - the answer is sent by letter.
- Selecting a channel in the widget. A chat on a website can show the first screen buttons “Write to Telegram / MAX / VKontakte / email / here” - the visitor selects a convenient channel, and all requests are still collected in one inbox.
- Unisender. Contacts who have agreed to the mailing list are automatically included in your Unisender list - further letters and unsubscribes are sent by Unisender, and CHBT keeps the audience up to date.
All this is about one idea: the client writes where it is convenient for him, and you conduct all conversations from one window and do not lose requests between channels.
Previously, CHBT could only send service letters (for example, notification of an lead). Now you can accept customer emails: you connect your support email, and the inbox appears in “Conversations” next to chats from Telegram and the widget.
Technically this works on top your own box: CHBT picks up new letters via IMAP and sends operator responses via SMTP - the same address from which you already communicate with clients. There is no need to change MX or DNS records, and there is no need to move mail anywhere.
An important consequence of omnichannel: writing auto-glued with a person via e-mail. If a client previously wrote to Telegram and left an email, but now sends a letter, CHBT will connect this with the same contact card, and the operator will see a single story, and not two different requests.
The operator’s response is sent to the client by regular mail and is included in the same mail conversation (we put the headers Re: and In-Reply-To, so that the correspondence does not break up into separate letters). Step-by-step connection - in the instructions “How to connect mail to CHBT”.
You can connect several mailboxes - for example, a separate “general” support@ and a separate mailbox for a specific department: both flows will come to “Conversations”, and they can be seen in the filter by channel type. There is no need to transfer mail or set up forwarding - CHBT works on top of your mailbox, and the channel can be turned off at any time without affecting the mail itself. To log in, use the “app password” of your email service, rather than the main password for your account - it’s safer and access can be easily revoked.
Who is this especially useful for: support, where clients write by mail out of habit; services with “long” requests, which are more convenient to handle by letters; and for everyone who doesn’t want to keep a separate tab with their email client for a couple of emails a day.
Chat on the site can now work as a “contact hub”: when opening the widget, the visitor sees not only the input field, but also the buttons for your channels - Telegram, MAX, VKontakte, mail and “Write here.” He chooses the one he uses every day, and gets into your bot there.
Links to channels CHBT substitutes itself from connected channels: you do not need to manually search for the address of a bot on Telegram or a community on VKontakte. In the widget settings, you only check the boxes which channels to show and, if desired, change the captions and order.
Why is this needed? Some visitors do not like to write in the chat on the site - they feel more comfortable in the usual messenger, where the history will remain and where they can return. Selecting a channel removes this friction, and you don’t lose anything: wherever a person writes, the conversation will come to the common “Conversations” inbox, and the same script and the same operators will respond to it.
Enabled in the “Widget” section → “Channels” tab: the “Show channel selection” toggle switch and a list of connected channels with checkmarks. If some messenger is not yet in the list, connect it in “Channels” and it will appear in the selection automatically.
CHBT has been collecting consent to the mailing list for a long time: the bot asks for permission and tags the contact “newsletter” (a ready-made template “Consent to mailing list” is in the scripts). New - what happens next: These contacts can be automatically synced to your Unisender account.
Connection is simple: in the “Promotion” → “Unisender” section you insert your Unisender API key and select (or create) a list. After this, each contact with the “newsletter” tag and the specified e-mail is added to this list; if the tag is removed or the person unsubscribes in the bot, the contact is excluded. The one-time “Synchronize Now” button transfers everyone who has already given consent.
Fair border: mailing letters are sent by Unisender, not CHBT. So deliverability, campaign design and legally required unsubscription remain on the side of the specialized service, and CHBT is responsible for what it does best - gather consent in the conversation and keep the audience relevant. This is not “another mailer”, but a bridge between your bot and your email marketing.
Synchronization is two-way in meaning: if you gave your consent, they added you, removed the tag or unsubscribed, you deleted it, so that your list in Unisender is not filled with those who have already left. The Unisender key is stored in encrypted form, and connection takes a couple of minutes: insert the API key and select the list. If consents have already been collected before, the one-time “Synchronize now” button will transfer the accumulated database in one action.
Let us remind you that CHBT had and still have broadcasts in the messengers themselves: text with variables based on tags in Telegram, MAX and VKontakte. Unisender adds email direction to this - on the side of the service, which specializes specifically in email campaigns.
Three updates add up to one picture - omnichannel help desk in which nothing is lost:
- One inbox for all channels. Telegram, MAX, VKontakte, chat on the website and now mail - in one “Conversations” window, with a single history for each client.
- Less friction at the entrance. The visitor writes where it is convenient for him, and not where you forced him.
- The audience is working. Consents collected by the bot do not lie as dead weight, but turn into a segment in your Unisender.
For a small team, this is especially noticeable: instead of five tabs with different services, there is one place where you can see all requests and who is behind them. How do we generally look at the difference between chat and form and why bring channels together - in analysis “Chat or feedback form”.
Imagine a small studio or clinic. Previously, requests came from everywhere and lived separately: someone wrote to the support email, someone wrote to Telegram using a link from a business card, someone opened a chat on the website. Three different windows, different stories, it’s easy to lose a person at the junction of channels.
With the update the picture changes. A website visitor opens the widget and sees a choice: it’s more convenient in Telegram - he clicks and writes there; got used to mail - sends a letter; wants it here and now - types directly into the chat. All this - one inbox “Conversations”. The administrator responds from the office, without switching between applications, and sees a single feed for each client: today’s letter, a past conversation in Telegram, a phone number they once left.
The client who agreed to receive news in the conversation automatically ends up on the Unisender list - and when the studio has a promotion, it makes mailing to this database a regular email marketing tool, without manually exporting contacts. The bot gathered consent and audience, Unisender completed the letter - everyone does their part.
The result for a team of one or two people: there is less routine and switching, not a single request hangs “between channels”, and consents to mailing lists do not lie dead weight in cards, but work.
- Mail. “Channels” → “Mail” card → enter the IMAP/SMTP of your mailbox (for Yandex/Mail.ru/Gmail the server addresses will be entered automatically) and the application password → “Check and connect”. Details - in the instructions by connecting mail.
- Selecting a channel in the widget. “Widget” → “Channels” tab → turn on “Show channel selection” and mark the ones you need. Pre-connect the necessary messengers in “Channels”.
- Unisender. “Promotion” → “Unisender” → insert the Unisender API key, select the list, if necessary, click “Sync now”.
Mail and Unisender are available on the Basic plan and above; channel selection in the widget works on all Plans. Compare Plans - on the page price, and connect any channel in the section chat section on the website and in the office.
Short answers to what is asked most often.
How to connect mailWebsite chatbotPlansChat or feedback form