Integrating WeChat Channel with Zoho SalesIQ
Integrating WeChat with Zoho SalesIQ allows your operators to assist WeChat users directly from SalesIQ. When a customer sends a message to your business's WeChat official account, your SalesIQ operators can instantly connect and assist the WeChat user easily from within the SalesIQ operator dashboard.
Prerequisites for this channel integration:
- A WeChat official account. Learn more about the type of official accounts here.
- Access to all API permissions for your official account. You can check this in your WeChat official account details by navigating to Settings > Development > Interface Privilege > API Permissions.
- You also require administrator privileges for your SalesIQ account.
Integrating WeChat with SalesIQ
Follow the steps below to integrate WeChat with Zoho SalesIQ.
- Log in to your Zoho SalesIQ account and your WeChat official account.
- On the SalesIQ dashboard, navigate to Settings > WeChat under the Messaging Channels section.
- Click the Add button.
- Now, view all your available brands in your Zoho SalesIQ portal. You can add your WeChat account to any one of the available brands as you prefer. Select the brand you want to link your WeChat account with.
WeChat Configurations
IP whitelisting
- On the SalesIQ-WeChat channel page, copy the provided IP list in Step 1.
- Go to your WeChat official account. Navigate to Setup and Development > Development Interface Management.
- Then click on WeChat Developer Platform.
- On the WeChat Developer Platform, click My Business and Services > Service Account.
- Under Development Key, the API IP Whitelist section will be available. Click Edit.
- In the Set API IP Whitelist section, paste the IP list. Click Sure to save the changes.
- Scan the QR code for verification.
- Back on SalesIQ, check the box to confirm pasting the IP list to WeChat, and then click Next.
Account details
- Original ID
- The next step is to add your WeChat account details to SalesIQ.
- On your WeChat dashboard, on the same page as the API whitelist (i.e., My Business and Services > Service Account > Basic settings), copy the Original ID.
- Now paste the Original ID to SalesIQ's WeChat Original ID field.
- App ID
- Next, on WeChat, copy the Developer ID or App ID.
- Paste the App ID to SalesIQ's WeChat App ID field.
- App secret
- Next, get the Developer Password (App Secret) from WeChat, which is available under Development Key.
Note: The App Secret is provided during initial account registration. You can also reset the App Secret here, if required.
- Paste the App Secret to SalesIQ's WeChat App secret field.
- Token
- For the Token, you can either copy the token value from your WeChat dashboard under My Business and Services > Service Account > Domain and push notification configuration and paste it to SalesIQ, or you can also generate a random token on SalesIQ by clicking on 'Generate token' and paste it to your WeChat dashboard. It can be done both ways.
- Click on Generate token.
- A random token will be generated. Copy the value.
- On the WeChat dashboard, under Service account > Domain and Push Notification Configuration, click Edit.
- Paste the token value in the token field.
- Encoding AES key
- Similar to token value, you can either copy the Encoding AES Key from your WeChat dashboard under My Business and Services > Service Account > Domain and push notification configuration and paste it to SalesIQ, or you can also generate a random key on SalesIQ by clicking on Generate Encoding AES Key and paste it to your WeChat dashboard.
- Click on Generate Encoding AES Key.
- A random key will be generated. Copy the value.
- On WeChat, paste the key value in the Encoding AES Key field.
- Plain text mode
- Please ensure that you have enabled the Plain text mode for message encryption and decryption methods in your WeChat settings. This mode is necessary for proper channel linking with SalesIQ.
- Back on SalesIQ, click on Next to move on to the next step.
Webhook URL
- Copy the Webhook URL on SalesIQ.
- Now, paste it in the URL text box under My Business and Services > Service Account > Domain and push notification configuration > Edit.
- Click on Sure to save the changes.
- Back on SalesIQ, check the box to confirm pasting the Webhook URL to WeChat and then click on Next.
Department
- Select the SalesIQ department to which the WeChat chats must be routed.
Note: Chats from WeChat will be received in SalesIQ only if a department is selected here. If no department is selected here, the WeChat channel will not be fully configured, and chats will not be received in the SalesIQ dashboard.
- Click Next.
Verify installation
- Finally, verify all configurations, then click Done to save.
This will ensure that your WeChat official account is connected to your SalesIQ. This means that the messages received on your WeChat will be received on your SalesIQ dashboard, allowing your operators to easily handle chats from WeChat right inside SalesIQ.
After integration, you will be directed to the Account Info page, where you can view the details. If required, you can edit the account details from this page.
Preferences
Set a preferred time limit to close missed chats
When an operator does not attend a chat, the chat will be moved to the 'missed chats' section. You can set a preferred time limit to close the missed chat automatically. This will convert the missed chats to closed chats after the specified duration. You can keep the missed chats open for a period ranging from 15 minutes, hours, days, a week, or even a month as per your business requirement, after which they will be moved to the 'closed chats' section.
Note: Operators must respond to the missed chats before the set time here, as they cannot respond to closed chats.
Set a preferred time limit to close idle chats
You can set a preferred time limit of up to 24 hours to automatically close active idle chats in the "Close idle chat in" section. For instance, let's assume we set 24 hours here.
- When a chat connects to an operator and then subsequently becomes idle, i.e., there was no message sent by both the operator and visitor, the chat will still remain active for 24 hours, based on the time limit set here.
- After 24 hours of inactivity, the chat automatically closes and moves to 'Closed Chats.'
- If the visitor or the operator sends a message during this period, the timer will reset, keeping the chat active for another 24 hours.
Note: If the chatbot is enabled for the channel, these settings will not apply. The bot's idle chat configuration will be applied
Points to Note:
- 48-hour messaging window
- WeChat Official Accounts have a messaging window of 48 hours to reply to a WeChat user.
- In case the operator tries to send a message to the WeChat user in the existing conversation after 48 hours of chat initiation, the message will not be received on the user's end.
- In case the WeChat user sends a message again after 48 hours, it would be initiated as a new chat and the messaging window will be reset.
- 5 consecutive message limit
- While in conversation with a WeChat user, operators can only send up to 5 messages consecutively.
- If there was no response from the WeChat user and a 6th message was sent by the operator, this message will not be received on the WeChat user's end.
- If the WeChat user responds, the message limit will be reset.
Attachment types and limit
When in conversation with a WeChat user, the operator has the option to share attachments to enrich the chat and provide better assistance to the user. The attachment types supported and file size limits are listed below.
File Type | File Size Limit | Formats supported |
Image | 10 MB | jpeg, png, jpg |
Audio | 2 MB | mpeg, amr, mp3 |
Video | 10 MB | mp4
|
- In case there is use of offensive language by the user during a WeChat chat, the chat will be automatically closed after the abusive word limit is reached.
- This can be set up by navigating to Settings > Brands > Choose your brand > Flow controls > Profanity management.
Your users can connect with your business on WeChat by finding your official account from the WeChat social timeline (also called WeChat Moments) and following your business' official account on WeChat, by scanning a QR code, by searching your brands name on WeChat's search tool for Official Accounts or you can share a name card of your WeChat Official Account in order for users to follow it.
For more details, on WeChat official accounts click
here.