Which WhatsApp chats need a follow-up?
At the start of the day, a rep or manager needs a practical list of customers who have spoken and are still waiting for a reply. Ask Signal for unanswered conversations, then open the relevant thread in Conversations to decide what to send.
What to ask Signal
Open Signal, start an analysis, and try:
- “Which WhatsApp chats from the last 7 days are waiting for an owner reply? Show the owners and supporting conversations.”
- “Show only Alex's unanswered chats from the last 48 hours.”
- “Widen the window to the last 30 days so I can check older active conversations too.”
- “Show unanswered conversations at the end of October 26 through November 1.”
Alex is a fictional member. Use a real workspace member's name when asking. A historical question answers a different question from “who needs a reply now,” so check the window before acting.
What Signal gives you
The chat can name the conversations and their owners, summarize waiting times, and suggest where to start.
The Analysis canvas can show an Unanswered conversations table with the count, median wait, mean wait, and sample count. Supporting conversation links can appear below it. A table and linked list may be more useful here than a chart.
Coverage tells you what synced messages were retrieved. Open Details to verify the date range, owner filter, timezone, and other scope settings.
Matches, when present, identify the supporting conversations. Some results instead show links directly under the metric. Use the links in the canvas even if the chat's explanation does not repeat them.
Example from Signal. Names, messages and numbers have been replaced with fictional data.
What “unanswered” means
For this metric, a direct chat must have a message in the selected window, and its latest message at the window end must be from the customer. For a period that reaches the present, the result uses the retrieval snapshot.
The displayed waiting time starts at that latest customer message and runs to the window end. It is different from the completed response-time metric, which measures the first customer message in an episode through the owner's reply.
An unanswered chat is a review candidate. A customer's latest message might simply be “Thanks” or “Okay.” Read it before deciding that a follow-up is needed.
Open a conversation and follow up
Step 1: Check the list
Confirm the owner and waiting time. Start with the longest waits, then consider urgency and the customer's actual request.
Step 2: Open the source
Click a supporting conversation in the canvas. Signal can take you into Conversations and highlight the source message. Read the surrounding messages and check whether someone has already responded since the analysis was created.
Step 3: Reply from Conversations
Use the available reply controls in Conversations. If a WhatsApp Business API reply window has closed, the interface may require an approved template instead of a free-text message.
Signal identifies and explains the conversation; you choose and send the reply in Conversations.
Step 4: Check again when needed
An analysis describes the data at retrieval time. Ask again after handling the backlog to get a fresh result.
Limits and useful tips
Signal uses conversations from the last 90 days. A short window can miss older chats with no recent activity, so “no unanswered chats in the last 48 hours” does not mean there is no older backlog. Widen the period when clearing outstanding work.
For historical results, the unanswered flag describes the end of that period and may differ from today's status. Check the current conversation before contacting the customer.
Complete coverage applies to the selected synced data, not unsynced messages or every channel a customer might use. AI can misread intent, so use the message itself to decide whether to reply.
Need help?
For any questions, email us at support@cooby.co 💜
Updated on: 06/11/2026
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