How Customers Reach You

Customers reach your support desk through several channels — an embeddable web chat widget, your support email inbox, a “Contact us” web form, and now WhatsApp and SMS. Whichever they use, it becomes one ticket your team handles in Microsoft Teams.

These are all customer channels — none of them need Microsoft Teams. Your customers chat, email, fill in a form, or message you on WhatsApp or SMS. Teams is only for your agents. See the overview.

The channels

Web chat

A chat bubble you add to your website with one <script> tag. The AI replies in the widget; an agent’s reply shows up there too. See the web chat widget.

Support email

Mail sent to your support address — a shared mailbox like support@yourcompany.com — becomes a ticket; replies go back to the sender by email. See support email.

Web form

A hosted “Contact us” form (or your own form posting to AB Support). The reply is emailed to the address the visitor left. See web forms.

A customer messages your desk’s WhatsApp number and it becomes a ticket, threaded like any other. The agent’s reply goes back out on WhatsApp.

SMS

The same for plain text messages: a customer texts your desk’s number, it becomes a ticket, and replies go back to them by SMS.

WhatsApp and SMS run through Vonage, our messaging provider. You connect the numbers per desk in Settings, alongside web chat, email, and forms.

Quick reference

Channel	How it reaches you	How replies go back
Web chat	Chat widget embedded on your site	Live, in the widget
Email	Your support mailbox	By email to the sender
Web form	Hosted or your own “Contact us” form	By email to the submitter
WhatsApp	Your desk’s WhatsApp number (via Vonage)	Back to the customer on WhatsApp
SMS	Your desk’s SMS number (via Vonage)	Back to the customer by SMS

The channel shapes the reply. A WhatsApp or SMS message reads differently from an email — it’s shorter, more conversational, and answered faster; email suits longer, more detailed replies. Same ticket, different tone and pace.

Whatever the channel, it becomes one ticket. The AI answers first and hands off to a person when needed — see how a ticket works.

You turn each channel on from your desk’s Settings — the web-chat embed snippet, the support mailbox, the hosted form link, and the WhatsApp and SMS numbers all live there.

Published on 2026-07-13

Last updated on 2026-07-25

Version 4

AB Support web chat email web forms WhatsApp SMS channels customer service

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