Personal channels
A personal channel is a private conversation between one customer and your store. You create the channel once. Each customer who opens it gets their own copy that only they and you can see. Use it for support, VIP concierge, or any conversation that should stay between you and the customer.
How personal channels work
Every channel has a Type: Public or Personal. A public channel is one shared conversation. A personal channel is a template for many private ones.
| Public channel | Personal channel | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees the messages | Every customer who joins | One customer and you |
| What a customer sees | One shared channel | One entry that opens their own private conversation |
| What you see on the Communities page | One conversation | A list of conversations, one per customer |
Here is what happens on the customer side:
- The customer sees the personal channel in their channel list with a Join button.
- The first time they click Join, Toki creates their private conversation. It takes the channel's name, description, logo, banner, and settings.
- From then on, the customer sees only their own conversation, with an Open button. Nobody else can open it, and the customer can't open anyone else's.
Customers see only channels with the status Active.
Create a personal channel
- In the Toki app, click Communities in the left navigation.
- Click New.
- Under Type, choose Personal.
- Fill in the rest of the form and save.
You choose the Type once, when you create the channel. For a public version of the same topic, create a separate channel. The other fields on the form are described in Channels.
Find a customer's conversation
- On the Communities page, click the personal channel in the Channels list.
- The list switches to show one entry per customer, newest first.
- Type a name or email in the search field to narrow the list.
- Click a customer to open their conversation in the Channel panel.
- Click Back to return to your channel list.
A customer appears in this list once they have opened the channel for the first time. The list refreshes on its own, so new conversations and messages show up without reloading the page.
| On each entry | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name and email | The customer this conversation belongs to, with their profile picture when there is one. Customers without a name on file show as Anonymous. |
| Active / Draft | The channel's Status. Every conversation follows it. |
| +N new | Messages you haven't read yet. Opening the conversation marks them as read. |
Inside the conversation, you write and read messages the same way as in any other channel. See Chatting with customers.
Change settings for every conversation
Customer conversations have no settings of their own. You manage everything on the personal channel itself, and your changes apply to every existing conversation and every new one.
- On the Communities page, click the edit (pencil) icon next to the personal channel. This opens the Edit Channel page.
- Change the Name, Description, Status, logo, banner, or channel settings.
- Save.
Two settings are worth a closer look for personal channels:
| Setting | What it does in a personal channel |
|---|---|
| Status | Active shows the channel and every conversation to customers. Draft hides them all until you switch back to Active. You still see them on the Communities page. |
| Message writing access | Applies inside every conversation. All lets both you and the customer write. Admins lets only your team write, and the customer reads. See Who can post. |
Delete a personal channel
- Open the channel's Edit Channel page.
- Click Delete and confirm.
Deleting the channel also deletes every customer conversation in it. This can't be undone.