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Use Ada with social media channels

Overview

Integrate with third-party channels to bring the chat experience everywhere your chatters are, including email and a variety of social media channels.

This guide will walk you through the setup process, feature compatibility, and channel variable usage for third-party channels in Ada.

Configuration methods

Configure Channels in Ada

To set up channels with one of the following handoff methods, contact your Customer Success Manager:

  • Salesforce Live Chat

  • Zendesk Email Ticketing

  • Email

Configure with Sunshine Conversations

To set up channels with a handoff to Zendesk Messaging, you will need a Sunshine Conversations license. If you do not have a Sunshine Conversations license, your Ada team can help you get set up with one.

Additionally, you will need to configure Sunshine Conversations in Ada, along with the Messaging integration. For setup help, see Configure and use Sunshine Conversations.

Supported channels currently include:

  • WhatsApp

  • Facebook Messenger

  • Twitter DM

  • Instagram Direct

  • Twilio SMS

Note

The Zendesk Live Chat handoff is not compatible with social media channels.

See Configure and use Sunshine Conversations for help setting up channels with Ada.

Understand how handoffs interact with social channels

There are four methods to hand off conversations to human support in third-party channels. Depending on the handoff methods you use, you may be able to continue a live agent conversation within the channel, or you may have to move the conversation to email:

  • Handoff to Zendesk Messaging: Chatters are directly connected to a live agent within the third-party channel.

  • Handoff to Salesforce Live Chat: Chatters are directly connected to a live agent within the third-party channel.

  • Handoff to Zendesk Email Ticketing: Chatters are asked for their email address and receive support from an agent via email.

  • Handoff to Email: Chatters are asked for their email address and receive support from an agent via email.

Feature compatibility

The following table lists the social media channels you can use with Ada, as well as the features and blocks each one is compatible with.

Note

In some cases, features might be partially supported or work differently in some channels. In those cases, click the 🗒 icon for more information.

Feature

Ada Web Chat

WhatsApp

Facebook Messenger

Twilio SMS

Instagram Direct

Twitter DM

Sunshine Conversations Web Messenger

Greetings

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

🗒

Quick replies

✔

🗒

✔

✔

🗒

🗒

✔

Proactive campaigns

✔

✘

✘

✔

✘

✘

✘

Predictive suggestions

✔

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

Answer review

✔

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

Blocks

Text

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Picture

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Video

✔

🗒

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Link

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Capture

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

🗒

Redirect

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Authentication

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

List option

✔

🗒

🗒

🗒

🗒

🗒

🗒

Conditional

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

HTTP Request

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Satisfaction Survey

✔

✔

✔

✔

✘

✘

🗒

Ada apps

✔

✔

✔

✔

🗒

🗒

🗒

Ada actions

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Handoffs

Email handoff

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✘

Zendesk email handoff

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✘

Ada Glass for Salesforce - Live Agent

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✘

Ada Glass for Zendesk - Live Chat

✔

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

✘

Zendesk Messaging

✘

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

✔

Additional notes

For more information on how some channels may work differently from others, please click each expander below.

Search for unsupported blocks

When third-party channels have been configured, a channel icon might appear for some Answers. This indicates that the Answer contains blocks that are not supported across all channels. To filter for these Answers, search <unsupported:sunshine> in the Answers view.

CleanShot_2020-10-23_at_14.45.102x.png

Blocks that are not supported by all channels will have a "Channel specific" tag in the header.

CleanShot_2020-10-23_at_14.46.292x.png

Use channel variables to customize conversations in different channels

Channel variables allow you to create different chat experiences across varying channels. To do so, add a conditional block with the sunshine_end_user_channel variable and set the input to one of the following:

Channel

Variable Input

WhatsApp

Whatsapp

Facebook Messenger

Messenger

Twilio SMS

Twilio

Instagram

Instagram

Twitter

Twitter

Here is an example of how to personalize the experience by channel.

CleanShot_2020-10-23_at_15.07.492x.png

Use fallbacks for unsupported blocks

To ensure the chat experience is not affected by unsupported blocks, a fallback flow must be created for incompatible channels using channel variables.

Here is an example of how to set up a fallback for unsupported blocks.

fallback.png

Have any questions? Contact your Ada team—or email us at help@ada.support.

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