Where your customers write to you
The phone first, then everything arriving in writing: the same receptionist, the same instructions, one inbox.
7 days, 20 answered calls, no card
A channel is the door a request comes through
A channel is simply a door: the phone, text messaging, the chat window on your website, private messages on Instagram or Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, the email inbox. The person who needs you picks the door that suits them, at the hour that suits them, and that hour often falls outside yours.
The phone is included in every base, with a local number, call qualification, the written request that reaches you afterwards, and the text sent to the person whose call did not connect. On the phone, the caller hears a voice from here, with a natural Quebec accent in French — several voices and styles, which you choose by listening before you publish. Written channels are added one at a time, when they match your clientele. A salon whose clients write on Instagram does not have the same doors as a property management office whose tenants send email.
What does not change from one door to the next is the receptionist. The same instructions, the same services, the same service area, the same urgency rule, the same way of qualifying. You do not write one version of your rules for the phone and another for chat.
One inbox, and one version of your rules
Every conversation lands in the same place, with a state and a person responsible, whatever the channel it came from. The channel then becomes a detail of the conversation rather than one more place to watch — which matters, because the real cost of an extra channel is not its price, it is the attention it demands.
The same person can also start on one channel and continue on another: they call, the call does not connect, they get a text, they reply in writing, they send a photo of the damage, and the conversation moves on. That is one request, not four.
Consent follows the same logic. Someone who asks not to be contacted has that opt-out applied across every channel of the same file, not only the one where they said it. That is what Law 25 expects, and it is easier to hold to than a list per channel.
What the channel imposes, and does not come from us
Each written channel has its own rules, set by its provider and not by Zenvox. WhatsApp and Messenger open a reply window after a person's message; outside that window, only certain approved formats go through. Social messaging requires the business account to be connected by someone who administers it. Sending commercial text messages in Canada requires the number to be registered with the carriers.
A closed window is therefore not a breakdown, it is a rule: each channel page states which one applies, what is counted, and what comes from the provider. Saying so in advance avoids the unpleasant surprise in month two.
Written replies are counted against a monthly allowance shared between the conversation channels you added. You see that counter in your dashboard, and it does not depend on which door the person came through.
Answering customers
A request comes in through the channel the person chose, not the one that suits you. The six written channels lean on the same instructions as your calls. A tenant writes at ten at night because that is when she gets home, a driver sends a photo of a warning light, a client asks on Instagram whether you have a slot on Saturday. In all three cases the receptionist answers from your rules, qualifies the request and hands it to you with what is needed to act on it. Anything outside your rules comes back to you rather than being improvised.
Booking and tracking requests
What can be booked by voice can be booked in writing, with the same availability check and the same reminders before the visit. Booking in writing also suits people who would not have phoned: someone in a meeting, someone still hesitating, someone for whom speaking on the phone in a second language is an effort. The reminder before the visit goes out on the channel where the conversation happened, and moving an appointment is settled in the same thread. When no calendar is connected, the request reaches you with the person's availability, and no hour is promised on your behalf.
Quoting, selling and getting paid
An estimate is followed up in writing, a deposit is requested through a link, an order is confirmed inside the thread. Writing has an advantage speech does not: the amount, the scope of the work and the date stay readable, and nobody misremembers them a week later. A photo the person sends — a crack, a worn part, a serial number — often saves a site visit. And a written follow-up stops on its own as soon as the person replies, declines or asks to be left alone.
Organising the team and the files
Every conversation lands in one inbox, with a state and a person responsible. The channel becomes a detail of the conversation, not a place to watch. A business with two locations keeps separate numbers, hours and crews under one account, and a conversation that landed in the wrong place is reassigned. The receptionist can answer from your authorised documents — cancellation policy, service area, list of services — instead of waiting for someone on the team to be free to repeat the same sentence.
Getting your business known
Social channels also serve to speak first: prepared posts, an up-to-date Google profile, review replies approved by you. An account that receives messages but has published nothing in a year answers badly the question people ask themselves before writing, which is whether you are still active. A review request goes out after a finished job, on the channel where the conversation happened. And nothing goes out under your name before you have read it: drafted, approved, published, in that order.
Improving the conversations
What comes back in writing reads more easily than what was said on the phone: it is the most useful material for correcting your instructions. A question asked ten times in writing is spotted at a glance, while the same question asked ten times on the phone disappears with the calls. You then correct the instruction rather than the conversation. The choice of voice, the extra language and the way requests are qualified are all set in one place, then applied across every channel.
Included in your base
Without adding a single written channel, you already have this.
- Answering calls in French and in English, during the hours you set
- A text to the person whose call did not connect
- A written summary after every conversation, on your phone
- An alert when the situation matches your urgency rule
- One local number, and the calls included each month in your base
What each channel adds
Each channel is added and removed separately. None is switched on unless you choose it.
- Conversational text messaging: the person replies, sends a photo, and the conversation keeps going
- Chat on your website: the same receptionist, for people who will not phone
- Instagram and Messenger: the requests that land in your private messages
- WhatsApp: within the windows and templates the provider allows
- The email inbox: reading, drafting or sending permitted replies, and attaching them to the right file
- An extra language, when your clientele speaks a third one
Each channel page states what is counted, what comes from the provider, and which reply windows apply.
What a channel does not allow
Some limits come from us, others from the channel's provider. Both read better before the purchase.
- A channel closed by its provider does not open from our side. Outside the WhatsApp or Messenger reply window, only the formats the provider approves go out.
- No channel connects without a business account you administer. A personal account, a page you do not have rights on, or a shared mailbox without authorisation stay out of reach.
- The receptionist does not contact a person who did not approach you. It answers, follows up an existing file, and stops at the opt-out.
- An opt-out on one channel applies to every channel of the same file. That is deliberate, and it means no door stays open after a refusal expressed through another one.
- A landline that cannot receive text messages will not receive more of them with Zenvox. The missed-call text goes to the number of the person who called, not to your line.
- Adding a channel does not add customers. It captures what was already slipping through that particular door; if nobody writes to you on Instagram today, adding it will not change that.
- This is not a bulk-sending tool. Channels carry conversations, one person at a time.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is a channel?
It is the door someone reaches you through: a call, a text message, the chat window on your website, a private message on Instagram or Messenger, WhatsApp, an email. The phone is included in every base. Written channels are added one at a time, with the same instructions and the same way of qualifying as your calls.
Do my customers have to install anything?
No. They use the app already on their phone, or they type in the chat window on your website. Nothing to download, no account to create, no special address to know.
Do I keep my phone number?
Yes. Every base includes a local Zenvox number, and your current line can be forwarded to it from your provider. Your customers keep dialling the number they know; the Zenvox number is the internal address the call is routed to. You can also use the new number directly.
Why does a reply on WhatsApp or Messenger sometimes take a different form?
Because both channels open a reply window after the person's message, and outside that window only formats approved by the provider can be sent. It is not a breakdown, it is a platform rule. Each channel page states which one applies.
Can I add text messaging only?
Yes. Each channel is added and removed separately, and removing one leaves the others alone. Many businesses start with the phone included in the base, then add a single written channel — the one where their clientele already writes.
What happens if someone writes at night?
The receptionist answers from the instructions you set for those hours. It can capture the request and state when you will call back, or alert you on the spot if the situation matches your urgency rule. You are the one who writes the difference between the two.
Do I see every conversation in one place?
Yes. Calls, text messages, website chat, social messaging and email all land in a single inbox, with a state, a person responsible and the history of the conversation. The originating channel stays visible, but you do not have six places to watch.
For email, does it answer on its own?
That depends on what you authorise. It can stay at reading and filing, draft a reply for you to review, or send the replies you permitted and attach the exchange to the right file. All three levels are set by you, and changed along the way.
Where to next
By need, by price, or in practice.
Where your customers write to you