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Setting up business hours for your support team ensures that customers are aware of your availability and helps manage their expectations. In this guide, we will explain how to set up basic business hours in the settings, discuss the pros and cons of this feature, and provide recommendations for handling business hours within your flows.

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Setting Up Basic Business Hours

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Step-by-Step Guide

1

Navigate to Settings

Go to Settings > Working Hours in your Hilos account.
2

Set Your Business Hours

Define your business hours by specifying the days and times your support team is available. business hours
3

Customize the After-Hours Message

Optionally, you can customize a message that will be sent to customers who contact you outside of business hours. After-Hours Message

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Pros and Cons

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Pros

  • Easy to Set Up: Configuring business hours is straightforward and can be done quickly.
  • Customizable Message: You can customize the message sent to customers outside of business hours to inform them of your availability.

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Cons

  • Global Setting: Currently, business hours can only be set globally for all WhatsApp accounts. They cannot be set per individual account.
  • Message Triggering: The after-hours message is triggered outside of business hours. If a WhatsApp account has an inbound flow, the after-hours message will be sent first, followed by the flow. This may create a contradictory impression, as the message indicates the business is closed, but the chatbot continues to ask questions.
Given the limitations, it is recommended to set up business hours without an after-hours message if you have a flow. Instead, handle business hours within your flows using conditional logic. This allows you to manage business hours per flow and control the logic as needed.

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Handling Business Hours in Flows

To handle business hours within your flows, you can use a combination of conditional steps, message steps, delay steps, and go-to steps. Here’s an example of how to set it up:

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Step-by-Step Guide

1

Create a New Flow

Navigate to Flows in your Hilos account and click on + Flow Editor to create a new flow. New Flow
2

Add a Conditional Step

Click on the + button to add a new step, select “Conditional” from the list of step types, and configure the condition to check if the business is currently within business hours.
3

Configure the Path 1 Branch

Add the steps you want to execute during business hours. This could include questions, message steps, and other logic.
4

Configure the Else Branch

Add a message step to inform the user that they are contacting outside of business hours. For example: “Our support team is currently unavailable. We will get back to you during our business hours.”
5

Add Another Conditional Step

After the message step, add another conditional step to check again if the business is within business hours.
6

Configure the False Branch of the Second Conditional

Add a delay step with a delay of 3 hours and a go-to step to loop back to the second conditional step to check again.
7

Configure the True Branch of the Second Conditional

Add a go-to step to resume the flow once the business is within business hours.

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Example Flow Structure

Your flow might look something like this:
  1. Trigger: Any incoming message.
  2. Conditional Step: Check if the business is within business hours.
    • Path 1 Branch: Proceed with the normal flow.
    • ELSE Branch:
      • Message Step: Inform the user of after-hours.
      • Conditional Step: Check again if the business is within business hours.
        • ELSE Branch:
          • Delay Step: Wait for 3 hours.
          • Go To Step: Loop back to the second conditional.
        • Path 1 Branch:
          • Go To Step: Resume the flow.

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Final Steps

  1. Test the Flow:
    • Send test messages to ensure the conditional logic works correctly and the flow handles business hours as expected.
  2. Monitor and Optimize:
    • Monitor the performance of your flow and make adjustments as needed to improve handling of business hours.

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Conclusion

Setting up business hours in Hilos is a simple process, but it comes with some limitations. By handling business hours within your flows using conditional logic, you can provide a more seamless and customized experience for your customers. This approach allows you to manage business hours per flow and control the logic as needed. Start setting up your business hours and flows today to enhance your customer support experience!