Connect your WeChat Official Account to your CINNOX service. Your visitors and customers' messages on your WeChat Account become social enquiries in your CINNOX service, which any of your staff can attend as one-on-one conversations.

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What is WeChat Official Account (公众号)?

WeChat Official Account (公众号) includes Subscription Account (订阅号) and Service Account (服务号).

Click to learn more about WeChat Official Account.

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Not Support Mini APP (小程序) & WeChat Work or WeCom (企业微信)

Mini APP (小程序) & WeChat Work (企业微信) (also named WeCom) are not WeChat Official Account, therefore, it is not support to integrate with CINNOX.

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If you don't have an official WeChat account yet but want to test how the integration of WeChat and CINNOX works, try the CINNOX - WeChat Sandbox to test it out.

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Reminder:

• After the activation, it will automatically forward your visitor's and customer's WeChat Official Account messages to your CINNOX account.

• Automatic replies and custom menus set in the WeChat Official Account Platform will no longer apply. See How to reactivate or edit Custom Menu after enabling Developer Mode.

• Changes in any settings in the WeChat Official Account Platforms will affect your CINNOX WeChat channel. Please follow how to Configure and Enable the Basic Configuration Settings if you change any configurations.

 

Here is a simple flow to set up your CINNOX and WeChat Official Account (WOA).

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If you don't have a WeChat Official Account and wants to connect CINNOX with the WeChat sandbox environment check the detailed guide Connecting WeChat Sandbox

 

Refer to the following step by step for the configuration.

Step 1: Sign in to WeChat Official Accounts Platform

• Open the Login page of WeChat Official Account Platform.

• You may change the platform's language setting to the one you want to use (1).

• If you do not have a WeChat account, you may register for one before proceeding to the next step (2). Refer to the Guide provided by the WeChat Open Platform (available in Chinese language only).

• If you already have an existing WeChat account, make sure it has Administration Access to your Official Account, then authorise it by scanning the QR Code on the Official Accounts Platform page (3).

 

Step 2: Navigate to WeChat Basic Configuration

• After you have successfully logged in, go to Development > Basic Configuration (开发 > 基本配置).

 

Setting up the Basic Configuration the first time

If it is your first time setting up, click on Change Configuration (修改配置) to update the basic configuration settings (1) and refer to Step 3: Setting up the Basic Configuration.

 

Basic Configuration already setup

If you have already made changes to the Basic Configuration, click on Enable (启用) for your settings to take effect (2) and refer to Step 4: Enable Basic Configuration.

 

Step 3: Connect your WeChat Official Account to CINNOX

From the CINNOX Dashboard navigation menu, go to Channels > Social.

• On the Social page, click the Connect Social button located in the top-right corner.
• Click Connect to WeChat.

 

On the Select WeChat page, click +Connect your WeChat Official Account.

 

On the Connect your WeChat Official Account to CINNOX page, you have to sign in to your WeChat dashboard to fill in the following fields:

• Official Account Name - you can input your WeChat Official Account name.

• Developer ID (AppID) (1) - copy the App ID value located in the WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration page and paste it in the CINNOX side.
• Server Address (URL) (2) - copy it that appears on the CINNOX side and paste it on its respective field located in the WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration page.
• Token (3) - copy the Token that appears on the CINNOX side and paste it on its respective field located in the WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration page.

 

• Developer Password (AppSecret) (4)- generate the Developer Password located in the WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration and paste it in the CINNOX side.

• Message Encryption Key (EncodingAESKey) (5) - go to WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration then under Message Encryption Method (消息加解密方式), select Plaintext Mode. Click on the Random Generation, copy the code and paste it in the CINNOX side.

 

• Original ID (6) - go to WeChat Platform > Settings > Account info > Account details and copy the Original ID and paste it on the CINNOX side.

 

• IP Whitelist (7) - copy the IP addresses on the CINNOX - IP whitelist section and paste it on the IP whitelist section of WeChat Platform > Development > Basic Configuration page.
  • Click on the Config/View link of the IP Whitelist. The IP whitelist setting window will display.

 

• Add one IP Addresses to each row of the IP whitelist.
• Click on the Confirm modification button.

 

• To confirm and save the change, you will need to use an administrator account or a long-term operator of the WeChat Official Account to scan the QR Code to verify the action.

 

• Once all information is given to the CINNOX side, click on the Next button, and you will be redirected to the Configure the settings page and proceed with Step 5: Configure the Routing Rules in CINNOX.

 

Step 4: Enable Basic Configuration in WeChat

In the WeChat Official Account, click on the "Enable" button

• After you click on the Enable (启用), a pop-up message will appear, asking you to confirm the action.
• Click on Confirm.

The following will then happen in the background:

• The WeChat server will send a verification request to the webhook with the query.
• CINNOX will respond to the verification query once it successfully receives it.

 

Step 5: Configure the Routing Rules in CINNOX

Set how to distribute incoming enquiries from this channel to the target destinations.

Channel Name

• Add a name for your WeChat channel. The channel name can be up to 40 characters.

Routing Settings

Select for the Routing Rule and add Destinations based on the operational support to your channel.
Please check our detailed guide Alternative, Percentage, Time and Sticky Routing for more information.

 

Step 6: CINNOX Auto-Message Message Settings

You can enable and configure the following Auto-Reply Messages:

• Welcome Messages: They are greetings sent to a customer when they first message you.
• Away Messages: They are only sent if no staff are available to answer an enquiry.
• Close Enquiry Messages: They will be sent to the visitors' chatrooms when the staff or the system closes the enquiries.

Display Name Format
You may include staff display names in your messages. Choose from the following options:

• No name to display
• Staff first name
• Staff first name + last name

Welcome Message

• CINNOX provides a default welcome message.
• Toggle the switch on to enable it.
• After toggling on it, you can change the default message according to your need.

Away Message

• CINNOX provides a default away message.
• Toggle the switch on to enable it.
• After toggling on it, you can change the default message according to your need.

Close Enquiry Message

• CINNOX provides a default close enquiry message.
• Toggle the switch on to enable it.
• After toggling on it, you can change the default message according to your need.

 

Created channels listed on the Social page.

 

Step 7: Enable CINNOX Channel Custom Info

Channel Custom Info allows you to add your channel details that your staff would see in the call screen and chat room whenever they are serving an enquiry. The custom info can be about the standard procedure or operation details of handling the enquiry.

• Toggle the switch on to enable the Channel Custom Info.
• A blank space adds the required basic information about the channel.
• Click the Next button to complete all configurations, and the customised info appears on the Channel Custom Info.

The custom info is displayed on the staff side at the chat room section for the chat enquiry.

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Important Notes

• You can customise the Channel Custom Info per Channel - Directory/Tag, Number, Social and Third Party Channel.
• Channel Custom Info is available for call and chat enquiries.
• The Channel Custom Info does not support Direct Staff Enquiry and Enquiry from the Campaign Web Link.
• The Channel Custom Info you can add is 10,000 chars per channel. Please ensure it is not more than the limit to work correctly.
• The Channel Custom Info will still be displayed as a chatbot message in the enquiry room if an enquiry is missed.

 

Manage WeChat Channels in CINNOX

To edit, suspend, or delete your WeChat channels in CINNOX, refer to Managing Social Pages section of this Guide.

 

Serving Chat Enquiries

Refer to Serving Chat Enquiries for more information on how to serve an enquiry via the WeChat channel.

 

How to Reactivate or Edit Custom Menu

If you activated the Developer Mode, by default, WeChat would disable your Custom Menu Configuration.

Reactivate Custom Menu

To re-enable it after enabling the Developer Mode, please follow the steps below:

• Click “+ Add Plugin-ins (+ 添加功能插件)" and find "Custom Menu (自定义菜单)"

• Select "Custom Menu (自定义菜单)" and enable it.

Then, you will see the Custom Menu is back in your WeChat Official Account;

 

Edit Custom Menu

In the case that you want to edit the Custom Menu after enabling Developer Mode in the future, please follow the steps below:

• Disable 服务器配置 in the Development > Basic Configuration

• Navigate to the Custom Menu in the Function > Custom Menu and click save.

• Enable 服务器配置 in the Development > Basic Configuration

• Click “+ Add Plugin-ins (+ 添加功能插件)" and find "Custom Menu (自定义菜单)"

• Select "Custom Menu (自定义菜单)" and enable it.

 

Connect to WeChat Sandbox

Suppose you want to test the capability of "CINNOX x WeChat" before you apply for an official business account. You can use WeChat Official Business Account Sandbox for testing.
Note that the WeChat Sandbox is only available in Simplified Chinese.

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Precondition

You will need a WeChat personal account

Step 1: Go to WeChat Official Business Account sandbox: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/debug/cgi-bin/sandbox?t=sandbox/login

Step 2: Scan the QR Code with your WeChat personal account and click confirm to authorise in the WeChat Account pop-up window.

Step 3: In the Sandbox, all information you need is provided on a single page. Input the given information from CINNOX to WeChat Sandbox and vice versa.

Step 4: Scan the QR Code in "测试号二维码" as an end-user to follow the testing official account.

Step 5: Make sure you have set up the routing in CINNOX for this channel. When the end-user sends a message to this WeChat Business Account, it will create an enquiry to the destination set.

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WeChat Sandbox environment information is different from the production environment.
Unlike the production, the Wechat sandbox does not require allowlisting CINNOX's IP address and does not support encryption options.

 

Known Limitations

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• You can only connect your WeChat Official Account to CINNOX. You cannot connect CINNOX to other WeChat Accounts (e.g. Personal Account).

• A WeChat Official Account can only connect to one CINNOX service.

• Supported Text, Media Content-Types and Size Limit

  • You can only send up to 3,900 characters per message.
  • You cannot recall messages in any Social enquiries.
  • Media (image, audio, video or emoji) is only available for the Chinese WeChat Official Account. It does not support an Oversea WeChat Official Account (it only supports plain text)
  • PNG and JPG should not exceed 5 MB for an image
  • AAC, MP4, AMR and MPEG and should not exceed 16 MB for audio
  • MP4 and 3GPP and should not exceed 16 MB for a video

• WeChat Official Account has a 48-hour idle conversation limit.
  A message will appear in the chat room when the staff attempts to send a message to the visitor, but the conversation has lapsed due to being idle and has reached the time limit: Sorry, your message can no longer send; the 48-hour message window has lapsed. Close this enquiry, or wait until the visitor sends a message again.

• When a visitor has unsubscribed to your WeChat Official Account, the above message will appear also.

 

Help and Support

If your CINNOX service is not receiving messages from your WeChat customers and visitors:

• Log on to your WeChat Official Account and check the details of your Basic Configuration and Account Details and please ensure all are the same with your CINNOX channel details.

• Send a test message to your WeChat Official Account and check if your CINNOX service receives it.

If your CINNOX service is still not receiving any messages, contact our CINNOX Support Team at [email protected].