Customers write when it suits them, not when your team is at their desks. Early morning, late at night, on weekends: the message arrives and the customer waits. Business hours in HellouOne decide what that wait looks like, inbox by inbox, so nobody falls into a silent gap.
Where business hours live
An inbox is a channel customers write to you through: a website chat widget, a WhatsApp number, an email address, a Facebook Page. Each inbox has its own collaborators, business hours and AI agent. Settings → Inboxes lists every inbox; the cog opens its settings, and only administrators create inboxes or change their settings. Among the things each inbox decides is when: the inbox's business hours and its out-of-office message.
What happens after hours
When a customer writes outside your hours, three things can happen. First, the out-of-office message answers for your team, so the customer knows when to expect a reply instead of staring at silence. Second, the message is still received and waiting in the inbox: nothing is lost, and your team picks it up when the day starts. Third, if the inbox has an AI agent connected, the agent keeps answering: it is the one that answers first, inside the hours you set for it.
Handovers after hours
AI agents follow business hours too. In the agent's Handover & hours section you switch on Use business hours, set the Time zone and the Weekly schedule. Outside those hours, a handover still opens the conversation for your team, except in areas set to Outside hours: register it and keep answering (do not open) — there the agent takes the details and keeps answering without opening the conversation. The out-of-hours message only reaches the customer when the handover message is switched on, and it starts off, so check both switches before you rely on them.
Set it once, per inbox
Business hours are per inbox, not per account: your WhatsApp sales line can keep longer hours than your support email. Set the schedule where the channel lives, in Settings → Inboxes, and review it whenever your team's hours change.
Read the full guide in the Hellou help center: https://help.hellou.ai/hc/hellou/articles/1791215206-inboxes-create-and-manage-your-channels
