Follow up in Conversations

A conversation is a private thread between you and one person about what they told you: a comment you want to understand, a low score to follow up, a check-in a month after someone joined. You write in Polzy; they receive it by email, SMS, WhatsApp or Slack and reply as they normally would; the reply lands back in the thread. When the answer was anonymous, Polzy relays the messages so you never learn who they are.

Before you start

• A channel to reach people on. Email works on every plan. SMS and WhatsApp need Business and a provider of your own to receive replies; Slack needs Business and the Slack app. See Channels.
• For anonymous answers: the survey or campaign must have Allow anonymous follow-ups switched on, and people are told before they answer. See Anonymous replies.

Start a conversation

A conversation always starts from something: an answer, an action or a person.

• From a comment. Under Analytics → Comments, or on a survey's Comments tab, click Follow up under a named comment, or Reply anonymously under an anonymous one. Once a thread exists, the button reads Open thread. See Read your results.
• From an action. In an action's panel, under Start a conversation:, click the channel to use — Email, SMS, WhatsApp or Slack. A channel that cannot be used is greyed, with the reason. See Actions.
• From a person's record. Click Start conversation to write to them by email. See Contact insights.
• From a workflow. The Start conversation step opens one automatically, for example a day after a low score. See Workflows.

The thread opens in Conversations with your first message ready to write.

The inbox

In the sidebar, open Conversations. The number beside it counts threads with a reply waiting.

• Open, Closed and All. Tabs above the list.
• Search and Channel. At the top of the page: find a thread by name or text, or show only Email, SMS, WhatsApp or Slack.
• Each row. Who it is with — a name, or Respondent R-4471 for an anonymous answer — what it is about, the score their answer gave, and a dot when A reply is waiting.

Read and reply

Click a thread to open it. The head says who it is with and how they are reached ("Email · jan@acme.com"), or, for an anonymous thread, their group and identity protected by Polzy. Under it, where it started: "Started from a comment on …" or "Started from the action …", with Open the task.

1. Write in the box at the bottom. In an anonymous thread, it says your reply is sent through Polzy and the person stays anonymous.
2. Optionally click Draft a reply and Polzy writes one from the thread for you to change. It uses AI credits.
3. Click Send.

Their replies appear in the thread as they arrive, and you are told in the app. Your own messages are marked with your name "(via Polzy)", because Polzy sends them on your behalf.

The More menu has:

• Create action. Opens a new action linked to this thread, such as "Follow up with Jan". See Actions.
• Close. After you confirm, no more messages can be sent or received on it; the history stays. The thread reads This conversation is closed.

Anonymous follow-ups

When the answer was given anonymously, you write to an alias, never a person:

• Polzy delivers your message by email to an address nobody in the workspace can see, and passes back whatever they choose to reply. Replying is their choice.
• Nothing in the thread names them. They are Respondent R-4471, with their group. Automatic replies such as out-of-office messages are dropped, because their signatures carry names. If a message does not arrive, the thread says Not delivered without the reason, because the reason can name them.
• Only the right people can write. An admin, or an Editor whose reporting line the answer falls in.

See Anonymous replies for what people are told and how to switch it on.

WhatsApp and the 24-hour window

WhatsApp lets a business send free text only within 24 hours of the person's last message. Outside the window, the composer says WhatsApp only allows free replies within 24 hours of their last message. Send an approved template to reopen it.

1. Under Choose an approved template, pick a template your WhatsApp Business Account has had approved by Meta.
2. Fill in its values, in the order the template asks for them.
3. Click Send template. When they reply, the window opens again for 24 hours.

If the list is empty, the composer says No approved templates yet. Templates are approved in Meta's WhatsApp Manager — see Meta: Create message templates — and there is no screen in Polzy to add one yet: contact support with the template's name, language and values. Your provider's guide explains WhatsApp: Telnyx or Twilio.

Channels in a conversation

An anonymous follow-up always goes by email, through the relay.

Troubleshooting

Useful links

• Meta: Create message templates — how WhatsApp templates are created and approved.