Create Outbound Request

An outbound request helps you contact a client without waiting for a new incoming message. Use it to start a new dialog, continue communication in another channel, send an email from a quick reply, or create an internal follow-up for the team.

When Needed

You need to contact a client proactively.
You want to start a new dialog with an existing client.
You need to write to a new client by phone number.
You need to create a ticket for internal tracking.
You need to send a client an email based on a ready quick reply.

What's Important to Know

Outbound request - a dialog or ticket initiated by an operator, not by the client.
Write to the client - opens a dialog for contacting an existing client or creating a new client contact.
Message to a new client - switches the dialog to creating a new client contact.
WhatsApp service window - WhatsApp allows regular text replies only within 24 hours after the client's last WhatsApp message. Each new client message restarts this window; operator messages do not extend it.
Send template - appears in WhatsApp dialogs when a regular text reply is not available. Use an approved WhatsApp template to start or reopen the conversation.
Templates - a button in the email window. It inserts one of the quick replies available to you in chat into the email.
"Send template" and "Email Templates" are different things. "Send template" in WhatsApp sends an approved WhatsApp template. "Email Templates" in settings hold the header and footer of emails.

Prerequisites

You are logged in with operator rights.
You have navigated to OperatorLine via Menu -> Operator Panel.
You know the client contact: phone number, chat ID, username, or email.
For WhatsApp, the selected bot has an approved template available.
For an email from a quick reply, you have an email bot and at least one quick reply available to you for it. Which replies you see depends on the "Quick Replies Source" field in your profile: see Choose which quick replies you see.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Start a Dialog with an Existing Client

In OperatorLine, click "Add" above the folder list and select "Write to the client".
In the search field, find the client by phone, username, chat ID, or email.
Select the needed client from the list.
If the client already has an active dialog, click "Go to dialogue".
If there is no active dialog, pick a topic in "Request topic" under the client card. See Request topic.
Click "Start Dialog".

Start a Dialog with a New Client

In OperatorLine, click "Add" above the folder list and select "Write to the client".
Turn on "Message to a new client".
Enter the client's phone number.
In "Select a channel", choose the channel you want to use. For WhatsApp, choose WhatsApp.
In "Choose bot (direction)", select the bot that will send the message.
In "Request topic", pick a topic. See Request topic.
Click "Start Dialog".

The dialog opens in the active chat area. Continue from the message field or from the WhatsApp template button, depending on the channel rules.

Request topic

The "Request topic" field is in the "Write to the client" window in every mode: existing client, new client and email. The chosen topic shows in the header of the new dialog right away.

Topics are listed as a tree: a subtopic sits indented under its topic. Both a topic and a subtopic can be picked. To find a topic, start typing its name in the list's search field.
If showing topics by skill groups is on in the operator settings, the list has only the topics of your skill groups. When there are none, the list says "There are no topics available": ask your administrator to add you to a skill group with topics.
Usually the topic is optional: the dialog is created without a topic.
If your administrator turned on "Require a request topic when an operator starts a chat", a red asterisk * follows the field name. Without a topic you see "Select a request topic: the chat can't be created without it" under the field, and "Start Dialog" and "Send email" are disabled. With no topics available you can't start a dialog until you get a skill group with topics.
If this client already has an open dialog in this channel and bot (yours, another operator's or in the queue), that dialog opens and its topic does not change. You see "A chat with this client already exists — the topic wasn't changed". To change the topic of an existing dialog, click the topic in its header.

If the Channel is WhatsApp

After the WhatsApp dialog opens, check the footer of the chat.
If the regular message field is available, type your message and send it as usual.
If you see "Send template" instead of the message field, click it.
In "Templates available for Whatsapp 360 dialog channel", select the approved template.
Check the Preview block.
Fill in Template fields if the template contains placeholders.
If the template has buttons, check Button text and fill Button value only when the template requires a value.
Click "Send".

Until the client replies, regular text messages remain unavailable in this WhatsApp dialog. You can send another approved template if you need to continue the contact before the client responds.

Send an Email from a Quick Reply

You can start an email to a client from a quick reply — the same ones you use in chat.

In OperatorLine, click "Add" above the folder list and select "Send email". The "Write to the client" window opens.
In "Through which bot are we writing?", select the email bot.
Check or enter the client's address in "To". Do this before you pick a template: template variables are filled in at the moment the template is inserted.
To the right of the "Email body" label, click "Templates". If the button is missing, check the prerequisite above.
To narrow the list, choose a category in "Choose a category" or type a word in "Search by text or keyword". Type a keyword without #: the list shows keywords with # in front.
Select the template you need. Its text fully replaces the editor content without asking for confirmation, as in chat. You can edit the text afterwards.
Check the template attachments under "Files". While a file shows "loading", the "Send email" button stays disabled.
To drop a file you do not need, click the cross next to it.
Fill in "Email subject": the template does not fill in the subject.
In "Request topic", pick the topic of the request. This is not the email subject: it shows in the dialog header. See Request topic.
Click "Send email".

The "Write to the client" window: the "Templates" button, category, search, inserted text and template attachments

You can also start from a client: on a client card or in the client list, click "Actions" → "Send email". This item is shown only when the client has an email. The same window opens with "To" already filled in, and template variables take this client's data.

Keep in mind:

Template variables ({{client_name}} and others) take client data only when you open the window from a client card or the client list. If you type the address in "To" yourself, even the address of an existing client, only the address is known, so the client name stays empty.
The email gets the operator signature if "Add the operator's signature" is checked. The checkbox appears only when you have a signature set up.
Files you add yourself stay when you pick another template. A new template swaps only the attachments of the previous template.
If a template attachment fails to load, you see the warning "Template attachment failed to load". You can send the email without that file.
In WhatsApp and other channels, quick replies are available in the chat after the dialog is created: see Use quick replies.

Close the Request After Sending

If the email needs no answer (a summary or a confirmation, for example), you can close the request right away, without a separate step in the dialog. The instance administrator turns this option on; if you do not see it in the window, it is not enabled for you.

Fill in the email as described above.
Under the email body, check "Close the request after sending".
In "Closing status", check the status. The list has only the statuses that close the dialog and are available for the selected process. If "Statuses that trigger a rating (CSAT/NPS)" is set in the operator settings, the first such status is already selected. If there is only one closing status, it is selected. Otherwise pick a status yourself: without it the button stays disabled.
Look at the hint under the status:
- green — the process sends a rating request by email: the client gets a separate rating email if the scenario sends it for the selected status;
- yellow — the process does not send a rating request by email: the email goes out and the request is closed, but the client gets no rating request.
Click "Send and close".

Keep in mind:

The option is not remembered: it is off every time you open the window.
Whether the client gets a rating request is decided by your instance's scenario, the same as after closing a regular dialog. The rating request comes as a separate email a few seconds after yours. The scenario may skip a repeated request to the same address if it limits how often one is sent.
The duration of such a request in statistics is close to zero: it is closed right after it is created.

What Happens After

The request appears in the request list and opens as the active chat. For regular channels, you can continue the dialog from the message field.

For WhatsApp, the regular message field becomes available after the client replies. The 24-hour window starts from the client's latest WhatsApp message.

After you send an email, the "Write to the client" window closes and the new dialog with the email opens in the active chat area.

If "Close the request after sending" is checked, the dialog does not open: you see "Email sent. The request is closed with status ..." and the request moves to the closed ones. If the email went out but the request could not be closed, you see "Email sent, but the request was not closed. Close it manually." and the dialog opens — close it the usual way. The email is not sent again.

How to Verify It Worked

Check that the new request appeared in the request list.
If you picked a request topic, check that it shows in the dialog header.
Check that the dialog opened in the active chat area.
For WhatsApp templates, make sure the template message appeared in the dialog feed and does not show a failed delivery status.
After the client replies in WhatsApp, check that the regular message field is available again.
For an email, check that the dialog shows the sent email with the template text and the attachments you kept under "Files".

Other Ways

You can create a ticket without sending a message to the client. Use this when the issue needs internal tracking. See How to create a ticket in OperatorLine.
Scenarios configured by your team can create some requests automatically.