Customer service automation across WhatsApp, Instagram and email
Slide, by Synquic, answers routine customer service questions on WhatsApp, Instagram and email with menu bots and an AI agent that works from your own knowledge base, and hands everything else to your team in one shared inbox with the customer's answers attached. WhatsApp can reopen a closed conversation with an approved template; Instagram allows replies only within 24 hours of the customer's last message; email arrives from a connected mailbox. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges for WhatsApp service replies after the first 1,000 each month per business number.
Facts on this page were last reviewed on 11 October 2026. See the key facts and sources.
The buyer and the problem
Support and operations teams that answer customers on more than one channel, such as a WhatsApp number, Instagram DMs and a support mailbox, and want one place where the whole team sees every conversation.
Questions arrive in three apps and are answered by whoever happens to see them. The same few questions arrive all day, nothing is recorded against the customer, and a complaint that starts in a DM loses its history when it moves to email. Automating the routine part only helps if the rest reaches a person with the context intact.
Supported capabilities, mapped to the product
One inbox for WhatsApp, Instagram and email
WhatsApp conversations support assignment and notes, with a countdown for the 24-hour reply window and approved templates offered once it closes. Email threads from a connected mailbox can be assigned and marked open or closed. Instagram DMs sit in the same inbox.
Menu and keyword bots on WhatsApp
Button and list menus answer the predictable questions, check what the customer types, branch on the answer, and save answers to contact fields and tags.
Source:Automation builder guideAn AI agent on every channel
An AI agent answers from a knowledge base you provide: as an automation step on WhatsApp and Instagram, and through channel routing on email and website chat. With a connected Shopify store it can look up orders. It replies in the customer's language only if its instructions say so, and AI steps depend on your plan.
Instagram DM automations
Keyword rules, quick-reply questions and branching answer DMs, comments and story replies. A teammate who replies in the thread takes over from the AI agent. Image and voice-note DMs do not start automations.
Handoff with the answers attached
A handoff step leaves the conversation in the inbox with what the customer already said and notifies the team by email. There is no hand-back step, and a new message from the customer can start an automation again.
Source:Automation builder guideOne contact record per customer
Every channel writes to one contact, matched on phone number first and email second, with tags, custom fields and lifecycle stage, so a returning customer is recognised whichever channel they use.
Source:Contacts guide
A delivery complaint that starts on Instagram and finishes by email
An online homeware store handles support on Instagram, WhatsApp and email from one Slide workspace, with its Shopify store connected. This is one complaint, from the first DM to the record it leaves behind.
- Trigger
A customer sends a DM
A customer writes "my order still hasn't arrived" to the store's Instagram account. The text DM starts the store's support automation, and Meta's 24-hour reply window opens with the customer's message.
- Customer interaction
Quick replies narrow it down
A quick-reply question asks whether this is about an order, a return or a product, and the customer taps "An order". The flow asks for the email address used at checkout and saves it, which links the conversation to the customer's existing contact record.
- Action
The AI agent looks up the order
The AI agent finds the order in the connected Shopify store and replies with its status: shipped, with the latest fulfilment update.
- Qualification
The real problem surfaces
The customer replies that the parcel has now arrived, damaged. A replacement is outside what the agent is instructed to settle, so the flow moves to a handoff.
- Human handoff
A teammate takes over in the thread
A handoff step emails the support team and leaves the conversation in the inbox with the order and the complaint already captured. A teammate replies in the Instagram thread, and that reply takes over from the AI agent. Instagram threads cannot be assigned to a named person, so the team has agreed who watches the Instagram inbox.
- Exception
The fix will take longer than 24 hours
The replacement needs a warehouse check that will outlast the 24-hour window, and Slide sends nothing on Instagram after it closes. The teammate tells the customer the update will come by email and writes to them from the store's connected mailbox; the customer's reply arrives in the Slide inbox as an email thread that can be assigned and closed.
- Recorded outcome
One record of the whole case
The Instagram thread, the email thread, the order and the tag "damaged in transit" sit on one contact, matched on the email address, and each automation run is logged step by step.
An illustration of how the workflow runs, not a customer case study. Names, numbers and messages are examples.
What you need, and the launch sequence
Requirements
- WhatsApp: a verified portfolio and a free number
A Meta business portfolio, business verification before sending at scale (allow several business days), and a number that is not registered on the WhatsApp consumer or Business app. Templates for replies after the 24-hour window are approved by Meta.
Source:WhatsApp Business setup guideMeta Business Manager guideWhatsApp Business setup guide - Instagram: a professional account linked to a Facebook Page
A Business or Creator account linked to a Facebook Page, with admin access through the Meta business portfolio. Personal accounts cannot be connected.
Source:Instagram setup guide - Email: an authenticated domain and a connected mailbox
Add the sending domain's DNS records and verify them, then connect the support mailbox so customer emails reach the inbox. Slide reads that mailbox by polling, so new emails do not appear in real time.
Source:Email channel setup guide - Content for the AI agent
Policies, delivery times, return rules and product notes. Connect a Shopify store if the agent should look up orders.
Source:Automation builder guideIntegrations guide - A wallet balance for WhatsApp
Per-message WhatsApp charges are drawn from a prepaid wallet, and sends stop when it is empty, so keep a buffer.
Source:Billing and wallet guide
Launch sequence
List the questions you answer most and decide, for each, whether a bot, the AI agent or a person should handle it.
Connect the channels: WhatsApp through Meta's signup window (WhatsApp guide), Instagram (Instagram guide) and the support mailbox (email channel guide).
Build the flows in the automation builder, and end every branch in either an answer or a handoff step.
Add WhatsApp opt-out keywords. Slide blocks a contact who opts out, but the keyword list starts empty.
Agree who watches the Instagram inbox, since those threads cannot be assigned, and how the team continues a case that will outlast the 24-hour window.
Submit utility templates for WhatsApp follow-ups, top up the wallet, and test every branch from a team member's phone and account before you go live.
Customer service by channel and market
- WhatsApp in UAEHow UAE businesses use Slide to answer WhatsApp support questions in Arabic and English, route cases to a bilingual teammate, and what service replies now cost.
- WhatsApp in IndiaHow Indian businesses use Slide to answer WhatsApp support questions with bots and AI, hand the rest to a team inbox, and what it costs since October 2026.
- WhatsApp in NigeriaHow Nigerian businesses use Slide to answer WhatsApp support chats, turn call-back requests into a handoff, and plan for templates, consent and USD billing.
What these claims rest on
- Go Waka Travels runs menu-driven WhatsApp enquiry journeys with handoff
Published setup: 27 automations live on WhatsApp, separate journeys per package type, handoff that carries the collected answers. The page states its figures describe the setup, not an outcome.
- Mirza International runs WhatsApp, Instagram, email and voice on one contact record
Published setup: 18 automations live across six channels; contacts matched on phone first, then email; flows reused across channels.
- A shared team inbox handles WhatsApp, Instagram and email conversations
The inbox supports assignment and notes for WhatsApp; it shows a countdown for the 24-hour window and offers templates when it closes. Email threads support assignment and open or closed states.
- An automation can hand a conversation to the team, with the collected answers on the contact
The handoff step notifies the team by email and leaves the conversation, with what was collected, in the inbox. On WhatsApp it also assigns the conversation to the teammate chosen in the step, or else to the contact's owner, or leaves it in the shared inbox. It does not pause the bot permanently: a new customer message can start an automation again, and there is no hand-back step. On Instagram, a teammate's reply takes over from the AI agent.
- From 1 October 2026 Meta charges for service messages and for utility messages inside the 24-hour window
"Effective October 1, 2026, Meta will charge for service messages, which have not been charged since November 2024." Rates match utility and authentication rates for the market, with no volume tiers. Meta's main pricing page still shows the older "free" wording.
How the cost is made up
There are separate costs. The Slide plan sets which features you get, including whether AI steps are available; plans and current prices are on the pricing page, and paid plans start with a 14-day trial. A workspace created with an Indian number is billed in rupees, and any other in US dollars.
WhatsApp usage is charged per message by Meta, by message category and the customer's country, and drawn from your Slide wallet. Messages customers send you are free. Since 1 October 2026 Meta also charges for service replies inside the 24-hour window, at the same rate as utility messages in that market, after the first 1,000 service messages each month for every business number; utility templates sent inside the window are charged too. A conversation that starts from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page button is free for 72 hours when you reply within 24 hours.
Email replies draw on the plan's email credits. For a support line, the total depends on how many conversations you answer, how many replies each takes, and how many follow-ups go out as templates after the window closes. The exact per-message WhatsApp price for your account is shown in the wallet.
When this fits, and what it does not do
A good fit when
- A steady flow of repeated questions with stable answers, arriving on more than one channel.
- Several people answering the same WhatsApp number, Instagram account or support mailbox.
- A Shopify store where many questions are about orders.
Needs a person when
- Complaints, refunds, damaged goods and anything that needs judgement.
- An Instagram case that will take longer than 24 hours: move it to email or WhatsApp before the window closes.
- A customer who asks for a person, or a message the bot cannot classify.
Not established by this page
- Any reduction in response time or support cost: Slide publishes no measured outcomes for support automation.
- Ticket priorities, SLA timers or SLA reports: the inbox offers assignment and open or closed states, not a ticketing desk.
- Where customer data is hosted. Ask the Slide team before you sign.
Direct answers
How do we automate customer service on WhatsApp, Instagram and email with Slide?
Connect each channel, build a WhatsApp menu bot for the questions you answer most, add an AI agent that answers from your policies, and end every path in either an answer or a handoff to your team. All three channels arrive in one shared inbox: WhatsApp with assignment and notes, email threads with assignment and open or closed states, and Instagram DMs alongside them. Every conversation is stored on one contact record per customer.
Source:Getting started guideAutomation builder guideAutomation builder guideAutomation builder guideContacts guideWhat happens when the bot or AI agent cannot help?
A handoff step leaves the conversation in the inbox with what the customer already said and notifies the team by email, which is the only alert channel today. It does not pause automations for good: a new message from the customer can start an automation again, and there is no step that hands the conversation back to the bot. On Instagram, a teammate replying in the thread takes over from the AI agent, but the thread cannot be assigned to a named teammate. Design each flow so the handoff is its last step.
Source:Automation builder guideCan our team reply to an Instagram DM after 24 hours?
Not through Slide. Instagram lets a business reply only within 24 hours of the person's last message. Meta's rules allow a person, not a bot, to reply for up to 7 days with a human-agent tag when an issue cannot be resolved in time, but Slide does not use that tag. If a case will take longer, ask for the customer's email address, or their WhatsApp number and permission, while the window is open and continue there.
Source:Meta: Instagram Messaging API (opens in a new tab)Meta: Instagram Platform overview (opens in a new tab)Is Slide a helpdesk with tickets and SLAs?
No. Email threads can be assigned and marked open or closed, and WhatsApp conversations can be assigned and annotated, but there are no ticket priorities, SLA timers or SLA reports. Inbound email is read from the connected mailbox by polling, so it is not real time. If contractual response times drive your support, check in a demo how Slide's inbox would sit next to the tool that tracks them.
Source:Getting started guideEmail channel setup guideWhat does WhatsApp customer service cost since October 2026?
Meta now charges for service replies, the free-form messages you send inside the 24-hour window, at the same rate as utility messages in the customer's market, after the first 1,000 each month for every business number. Utility templates sent inside the window are charged too, and templates sent after it are charged as before. Messages customers send you are free, and a conversation started from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad is free for 72 hours when you reply within 24 hours. In Slide these charges come from the prepaid wallet, separately from the plan.
Source:Meta: Pricing for non-template messages (opens in a new tab)WhatsApp Business: FAQ (opens in a new tab)Meta: WhatsApp pricing (opens in a new tab)Meta: WhatsApp pricing (opens in a new tab)Billing and wallet guideCan the AI agent answer in our customers' languages?
Yes, if you tell it to: replying in the customer's language depends on how the agent's instructions are written, not on a platform setting. Free-form WhatsApp replies inside the window can be in any language, and the WhatsApp template editor offers 25 languages, including Arabic, Hindi, French, Spanish and Portuguese; Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Afrikaans, isiZulu, Urdu and Punjabi are not among them. The Slide dashboard itself is in English.
Source:Automation builder guideDoes customer service automation work differently by country?
The product is the same everywhere. What changes is the WhatsApp rate for the customer's country, the template languages your customers need, and the local law on personal data and marketing. Workflow pages cover those differences for WhatsApp support in India, the UAE and Nigeria; other markets are summarised under locations.
Source:Meta: WhatsApp pricing (opens in a new tab)What should we compare when choosing a support automation platform?
Ask every vendor the same questions: which channels share one inbox, how handoff works and whether the bot stays paused after it, whether the AI agent can look up orders in your store, which integrations are built today rather than planned, how per-message WhatsApp charges are passed on, where data is hosted, and which certifications are complete. For Slide: WhatsApp, Instagram and email share one inbox, handoff alerts by email and does not pause automations permanently, Shopify order lookups are built, and SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001 are in progress, not achieved.
Source:Getting started guideAutomation builder guideIntegrations guideKey facts: Customer service with Slide
Slide is a reasonable fit for a support team whose load is mostly repeated questions spread across WhatsApp, Instagram and email, and who need one shared inbox and one record per customer: the bots, the AI agent, Shopify order lookups and handoff are built. It is a weaker fit if you need a ticketing desk with priorities and SLAs, real-time email intake, Instagram replies after 24 hours, or a bot that stays paused after every handoff.
- Product
- Slide (also "Slide by Synquic"), a platform for automating customer messaging across channelsSource:About Synquic
- Company
- SynquicSource:About Synquic
- Workflow
- Customer service on WhatsApp, Instagram and email: bots and an AI agent answer routine questions, and a handoff puts the rest in one shared team inboxSource:Automation builder guideAutomation builder guideInstagram setup guideAutomation builder guideGetting started guide
- Prerequisites
- WhatsApp: a Meta business portfolio, business verification and a number not on the WhatsApp apps. Instagram: a professional account linked to a Facebook Page. Email: an authenticated sending domain and a connected mailboxSource:WhatsApp Business setup guideMeta Business Manager guideInstagram setup guideEmail channel setup guide
- Human handoff
- An automation step hands the conversation to the team in the shared inbox with the collected answers and notifies them by email. It does not pause automations permanently, and there is no hand-back stepSource:Automation builder guide
- Email support
- Connected mailbox threads in the shared inbox, with assignment and open or closed states; inbound mail is read by polling, not in real timeSource:Getting started guideEmail channel setup guide
- WhatsApp usage charges
- Meta charges per message by category and by the recipient's country. Since 1 October 2026 service replies are charged too, after 1,000 free each month per business number. In Slide these charges come from the prepaid wallet, separately from the planSource:Meta: WhatsApp pricing (opens in a new tab)Meta: Pricing for non-template messages (opens in a new tab)WhatsApp Business: FAQ (opens in a new tab)Billing and wallet guide
- Verified integrations
- Shopify, HubSpot, Google Sheets and Forms, Meta lead ads, Cal.com, outbound webhooks and a public API. WooCommerce, Zoho, Salesforce, Calendly and Google Calendar are not builtSource:Integrations guideAPI reference
- Limitations
- No ticket priorities or SLAs; no Instagram replies after the 24-hour window and no assignment of Instagram threads; handoff alerts by email only; English-only dashboard; AI replies in the customer's language only when instructedSource:Getting started guideAutomation builder guideAutomation builder guide
- Pricing source
- The current pricing page, slide.synquic.com/pricingSource:Slide pricing
- Last factual review
Where to go next
- All use casesWhat WhatsApp, Instagram and email automation can do for a business, outcome by outcome, and which channel supports each one fully, partly or not at all.
- Messaging automation by channelWhich channel to automate with Slide: WhatsApp, Instagram or email. How their rules, costs and limits differ, and how one workflow can use all three.
- Slide pricingCurrent plans, what each includes, and how channel usage is charged.
- Retail and ecommerce teamsHow retail and ecommerce teams use messaging automation.
- Slide for healthcareThe separate healthcare product, with scheduling and reminders.
- Professional services teamsHow agencies and service firms use messaging automation.
- Automotive teamsHow dealerships and service centres use messaging automation.
- Travel and hospitality teamsHow travel and hospitality teams use messaging automation.
Put every support conversation in one inbox
Start on the free plan and connect your first channel, or book a demo and walk through your most common questions with the Slide team.