Configure a WeChat channel

  • 7 minutes

Dynamics 365 Omnichannel for Customer Service lets you configure WeChat communication channels to take advantage of the social media trend and engage with your customers in a personalized experience.

Prerequisites for adding WeChat support

Before you can use any social messaging platforms in Omnichannel for Customer Service, make sure that social messaging is done through the Manage Omnichannel Instances page.

For more information on enabling social capabilities, see Provision Omnichannel for Customer Service.

To use WeChat, organizations need an active subscription to the WeChat service account or a sandbox account (if using sandbox for testing) must exist and be stored as a contact on your phone. You'll initiate WeChat conversations by contacting the subscription account. For more information, see WeChat Documentation.

Create a WeChat channel

Before you create the WeChat channel in Omnichannel for Customer Service, you should get the following information for your WeChat application:

  • Original ID - Original ID in the WeChat service or sandbox account.

  • Developer ID - Application ID that is associated with your WeChat service or sandbox account.

  • Developer password - Application secret that is used for authentication.

  • Token - Customer-defined string.

  • Message encryption key - Message encryption key in WeChat. If you're using a sandbox WeChat account, use a key of your choice.

Create a WeChat messaging account

You'll need to create a messaging account that connects to your WeChat account details. After you've created the messaging account, you can create a WeChat workstream, and add the messaging account as a channel. You can create the messaging accounts in the Customer Service admin center application. Navigate to Channels and select Manage next to Messaging accounts.

On the Add account page, you'll need to provide the following information:

  • Original ID - Specify the WeChat service or sandbox account number.

  • Developer ID (AppID) - Specify the WeChat developer ID.

  • Developer password (AppSecret) - Specify the WeChat developer password.

  • Token - Specify the WeChat token.

  • Message encryption key (EncodingAESKey) - Specify the WeChat message encryption key for the service account. If you're configuring a sandbox account, use a key of your choice.

Account details data comes from your WeChat service account. IP whitelist needs to be added to your WeChat service account.

After you save the record, the details are displayed in the Callback information section. Copy the information that is displayed in the IP whitelist and Server address (URL) boxes. This step is required only for the WeChat service account.

Configure WeChat workstream

After you've created your WeChat messaging account, you'll need to configure a new workstream to begin working with WeChat messages. You can create the workstreams in the Customer Service admin center.

When creating a social workstream, you'll need to define the following information:

  • Name - Simple name that is used to identify the workstream.

  • Type - Defines the type of channel communication that the workstream will process. For social channels, the type needs to be set to Messaging.

  • Channel - The communication channel type for the workstream. The type must set to WeChat.

  • Work Distribution - Specifies how work items from this workstream will be assigned to agents. You can select one of the following options:

    • Push - Conversations will be assigned to agents automatically based on capacity and presence.

    • Pick - Conversations will go to the open work items section of the agent dashboard. Agents will pick the conversation they work on.

  • Fallback queue - Defines which queue to route items to by default when a conversation isn't automatically routed to another queue.

Screenshot of create workstream page for a new wechat workstream.

Configure WeChat workstream options

After you've created your workstream, you'll need to set up a WeChat channel that will use the workstream. This step is required and is done by selecting the Set up WeChat button.

Configure a WeChat channel with the following information:

  • Channel details - Defines the name, type and channel details. The type and channel field will be prepopulated and can't be changed.

  • WeChat - Defines the WeChat number messaging account that you want to use with the channel.

  • Language - Defines the language that will be associated with the channel.

  • Behaviors - Defines the behaviors you want to auto-perform when a customer starts a WeChat chat. You can turn on the following behaviors:

    • Custom automated messages - Allows you to create your own personalized messages that will be used in different situations, such as when an agent is assigned to the conversation or when the customer is attempting to engage outside of business hours. For more information, see Creating custom automated messages.

    • Post-conversation survey - Uses customer voice to send a survey to the customer about their experience once the conversation is complete. For more information, see Post-conversation surveys.

  • User features - Defines another features that you want to enable as part of the WeChat channel. You can enable file attachments and configure it to allow the following features:

    • Customers can send file attachments

    • Agents can send file attachments

For more information, see Enabling file attachments.