Messaging and Voice Channels

Customers reach you on the channels they already use. Achilles can connect one agent to WhatsApp, Instagram direct messages, voice and email notifications, and all of them go through the same safety controls, approvals and audit record as the website widget. This page explains what each channel does and what you need to prepare.

What is supported

Channel	Direction	How the person is identified	Set up in
Website widget	Two-way	Your site passes their role	Deployments, Channels, Web Widget. See Website widget
WhatsApp	Two-way, text	One default role for everyone on the number	Deployments, Channels, WhatsApp
Instagram	Two-way, text	One default role for everyone on the account	Deployments, Channels, Instagram
Voice	Two-way	Your site passes their role	Agent settings. See Voice
Email	Outbound only	Not applicable	Handoff notifications and email abilities

The most important choice: the default role

On WhatsApp and Instagram, people are not signed in to your systems, so the agent cannot tell one customer from another. Every sender on the channel is treated as one role that you choose. That role decides which abilities and data they can reach.

Choose the narrowest role

Pick a role that only has what an anonymous member of the public should have, such as general product questions or a lead capture. Do not connect a role that can look up personal policy or account data. If you need customer-specific answers, use the website widget behind your login, or send the customer to a secure page.

WhatsApp

You connect a WhatsApp Business number. Each number serves one agent.

What you need

• A WhatsApp Business account with a number set up through the Meta Business platform.
• Access to the Meta developer settings, or someone who has it.
• The access details from Meta that IT will paste into the console. They are stored securely and are never shown again after saving.

Setup steps

1. Open Deployments, then Channels, then WhatsApp, and create a channel.
2. Give it a name, choose the agent, and choose the default role.
3. Enter the details from Meta when asked.
4. Copy the verification value shown once, and give it to whoever manages the Meta settings so they can point Meta at the address shown in the console.
5. Send a test message from the console and check the reply.
6. Try a request that should trigger a handoff.

Good to know

• Messages are queued before they are acknowledged, so they are not lost if there is a brief problem. Duplicates are ignored.
• If the agent temporarily cannot answer, it retries, and if that fails the customer receives a polite apology.
• Non-text messages such as images get a reply asking for text.
• Each customer has one continuous conversation per business number, so history carries over.
• There is a limit on how many messages one person can send per minute, which protects you from misuse.

Instagram

Instagram direct messages work the same way, using an Instagram professional account that is linked to a Facebook Page. You provide the account identifier and the Page details from Meta, choose the agent and the default role, and follow the same steps as WhatsApp. Text messages only are supported.

Voice

Voice lets people speak to the agent, and the agent speaks back. It is switched on for an agent in its settings, and speech providers are checked on the Integrations page under Resources. It uses the same identity and role as the website widget, so it suits signed-in experiences. See Voice for how to design good spoken conversations, and note that long lists and reference numbers need special care when they are read aloud.

Email

Email is outbound today. It is used for two purposes.

• Handoff notifications, so the right person is alerted. See Human handoff.
• Sending an email as an ability, which is restricted to a list of approved recipients, rate limited and logged.

Customers cannot email the agent and receive a chat reply. If you need that, tell your Achilles contact.

Compare before you choose

Need	Best fit
Customer-specific answers, such as their policy status	Website widget or voice, behind your login
Reach people where they already are	WhatsApp or Instagram, with public-safe abilities
Alert your team	Email or a webhook notification
Hands-free experience	Voice

Rolling out

1. Start with one channel and one agent.
2. Test with a small internal group.
3. Confirm the audit record shows the channel conversations in Sessions.
4. Announce to a limited set of customers, then widen.
5. Review conversations each week. See Monitor your agent.

Credentials for each channel can be rotated or disabled from the same page at any time, and every change is recorded in the Audit Log. For technical requirements, see the IT overview.