Why This Matters
Timely responses to your customers not only improve engagement but also impact your response time metrics within DriveCentric reporting. The Un-Replied Sidebar makes it easy to see which customers are waiting for a reply, so you can stay on top of conversations and maintain a great customer experience.
Where to Find Un-Replied Messages
The Un-Replied Sidebar displays incoming customer messages across email, text, and chat that have not yet received a response.
A timer shows how long each message has been waiting for a reply.
This timer continues until you respond, Acknowledge, or Ignore the message.
Responding, Acknowledging, or Ignoring a message will remove it from your Un-Replied Sidebar.
Responding to Customer Messages
When you reply to a message from the Un-Replied Sidebar:
The message is automatically cleared from the sidebar.
Responses can be sent directly from the Activity Timeline or the Conversations tab within the Customer Card.
Example: If you receive a text message from a customer and reply with a text, that message will be removed from your sidebar once your reply is sent.
How to Respond:
Click on the message from the Un-Replied Sidebar.
The Customer Card will open, showing the message in the Activity Timeline.
Type your reply and send. Done!
Acknowledging Messages
Some customer messages don't really need a written reply, like a thumbs-up reaction to something you sent, or a message that's just an emoji. For those, use Acknowledge to clear the message without it counting against your response time metrics.
When Acknowledge is available:
The message contains only an emoji, or
The message is a reaction to one of your previous messages.
Acknowledge from the Un-Replied Sidebar:
Hover over a qualifying message in the Un-Replied Sidebar.
An Acknowledge button appears in the upper right corner of the message (in the same spot where Ignore appears for other messages).
Click Acknowledge to clear the message from your sidebar.
Acknowledge from the Conversations Screen:
Open the Conversations screen and click on a qualifying message.
In the upper right corner of the conversation, you'll see a thumbs up icon.
Click the thumbs up to Acknowledge the message.
How Acknowledge affects Fumble metrics:
Acknowledging a message before it has been sitting for an hour keeps it from counting as a Fumble.
If a qualifying message sits in your Un-Replied Sidebar for more than an hour, it will count as a Fumble. Marking it Acknowledged after that clears it from your sidebar, but the Fumble stays on your metrics.
Access Note: The ability to Acknowledge messages is controlled under Permission Groups → Messages → Acknowledge. It is on by default for users with the appropriate permission.
Ignoring Messages in the Un-Replied Sidebar
If a message doesn't require a reply but still needs to be cleared from the sidebar, use the Ignore option.
Hover your cursor over the message in the Un-Replied Sidebar to reveal the Ignore icon.
Click the Ignore icon to remove the message from your list.
Only users with the appropriate access level can mark a message as Ignored.
Best Practice Tip: Whenever possible, end the conversation with your message, not the customer's last message. This helps maintain positive communication flow and impacts your response time metrics positively.
Finding Ignored or Acknowledged Messages Later
Even after Ignoring or Acknowledging a message, it remains accessible if needed:
Go to the Conversations screen (look for the icon with two stacked chat bubbles).
In the left column under Tags, select:
Ignored (circle with a line through it icon) to view all Ignored messages.
Acknowledged to view all messages you've Acknowledged.
Answering from the Conversations Screen
You can also reply to messages directly from the Conversations Tool:
Access it from the Main Menu (two stacked chat bubbles).
Find the Un-Replied inbox on the left side of the screen.
Respond to messages directly from this view. They will be removed from the Un-Replied Sidebar once you reply.
Responding to Un-Replied Messages on Mobile
Responding from the Un-Replied bar on Mobile
Use the notification bar across the bottom of your screen.
Tap the Un-Replied drawer (icon: two chat bubbles).
Select the message you want to respond to.
Use the message response section at the bottom of the screen to reply.
For Emails: Tap the circle with an arrow icon next to the message to reply within the same email thread.
Responding from the Conversations Screen on Mobile
Open the menu bar:
iOS: Swipe right from the main screen.
Android: Tap the menu icon in the upper-left corner.
Choose Conversations from the menu.
Select the message you want to respond to.
Use the message response section at the bottom of the screen to reply.
For Emails: Again, tap the circle with an arrow icon next to the email message to reply within the same thread.
Key Takeaways
✅ Always keep an eye on your Un-Replied Sidebar to ensure no customer message is missed.
✅ Use Reply when action is needed, Acknowledge for emoji-only messages or reactions, and Ignore for messages that don't require follow-up.
✅ Acknowledge messages before the one-hour mark to keep them from counting as a Fumble.
✅ Maintain clean communication records and optimize your dealership's response metrics.
Need Assistance?
For assistance, reach out to your Customer Success Team using the Support Icon in the bottom-right corner of DriveCentric!