Side conversations

A customer asks a question. Answering it cleanly requires looping in a teammate — engineering needs to confirm a fix, a vendor needs to verify shipping, legal needs to review a refund clause. You could shuffle between Slack, email, and Atender, copy-pasting context. Or you could open a side conversation.

A side conversation is a private thread attached to a customer conversation. It lives in its own panel, has its own message history, and is invisible to the customer by default. The agent gets a focused workspace for the back-channel coordination, and the customer-facing conversation stays clean.

What channels side conversations support

Atender supports two side-conversation channels:

• Email — You need to loop in someone outside Atender — a vendor, an external partner, an internal team that doesn’t use Atender — Sends a real email to the recipient with reply tracking. The thread is captured in the side-conversation panel
• Slack — The teammate is in your Slack workspace — Posts to a Slack DM, group DM, or channel. Replies in Slack thread back into Atender

Email side conversations capture a recipient name and subject line. Slack side conversations let you target a person, a group, or a channel.

What it looks like

The Side Conversations panel sits in the right rail of the conversation detail. From there you:

• See every side conversation already attached to this customer thread
• Open any of them to read the back-and-forth
• Reply directly inside Atender — replies route to the right channel
• Start a new side conversation when needed

Each side conversation has its own thread of messages and its own participants — separate from the main customer thread.

CC the customer (optional)

Email side conversations can include the customer on the email if you choose. Use this when:

• The customer needs to be in the loop on the escalation (“we’ve forwarded your case to engineering”)
• A vendor needs to communicate directly with the customer (“the courier will email you tomorrow”)
• Transparency builds trust — the customer can see the work happening on their behalf

By default, the customer is not CC’d. You explicitly choose when to include them.

Side conversation vs. internal comment vs. main reply

Three different tools for three different audiences:

• Reply — The customer — Answering or progressing the customer-facing thread
• Internal comment — Other Atender users on the conversation — Quick note to a teammate; @mention them; no external email
• Side conversation — A specific person (often outside Atender) — You need a real back-and-forth with someone who isn’t already a participant

If you’d send a Slack DM or a quick email anyway, it’s a side conversation. If it’s “FYI for whoever picks this up next,” it’s an internal comment.

When to use side conversations

• Escalating to engineering — Slack the on-call channel from inside the conversation, keep the link
• Vendor coordination — Email the courier or supplier, capture their reply where the customer thread is
• Cross-team handoffs — Loop in finance for a refund approval without losing context
• Asking a teammate — Slack a colleague who knows the product area better

When NOT to use side conversations

• Quick “hey, take a look” notes to teammates already on the conversation — use internal comments with @mention
• Anything customer-facing — that’s a reply
• Permanent reference documentation — that’s the Knowledge Base

Side conversations and engagement

Side conversations don’t change the main conversation’s engagement state. The ball stays in whichever court it was in — sending a Slack to engineering doesn’t suddenly mean “we replied to the customer.” See Engagement state.