What This Guide Covers
Spur's Team Shared Inbox is where all your customer conversations land: WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Live Chat, in one unified view.
This guide walks you through how tickets get created, assigned, prioritized, and resolved, plus how your team can collaborate without stepping on each other's toes.
Whether you're setting this up for the first time or optimizing how your team uses it, this covers both the basics and the deeper mechanics.
1. Unified Omnichannel Inbox
How It Works
Every message from every channel shows up in one inbox. By default, you see a mixed feed of all conversations across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Live Chat. But if you want to focus on just one channel, you can filter by it.
Filtering with who the ticket is assigned to:
Your inbox has five default views to help you navigate tickets:
Your Inbox – Shows only tickets currently assigned to you
Unassigned – Shows all tickets that haven't been assigned to anyone yet (this is where tickets land if there's no default assignee set)
AI Agents – Shows tickets currently being handled by the AI, these will be closed tickets until a human is roped in
Team – Shows tickets assigned to your team inbox (the shared queue where team members can manually grab tickets)
All – Shows every ticket across all channels, regardless of who it's assigned to (useful when you need to search for a specific customer or help a colleague find a conversation)
You can switch between these views with one click to focus on what matters in the moment.
Filtering with channel:
All Channels – See everything in one stream
Per Channel – Filter to see only WhatsApp, only Instagram, etc.
Filtering by read/unread status:
1. Read - It shows all the messages which anyone on your team has read. Opening the chat makes it ''read'' for Spur.
2. Unread - It shows all the messages which are not opened.
Sort by time:
1. Newest First: Fresh chats at the top (default)
2. Oldest First: Old tickets bubble up so you can clear em out
Search Functionality:
You can search across all channels at once. So if you're looking for a customer named "Jack," the search will pull results from WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Live Chat simultaneously. You don't have to search per channel unless you want to.
Why This Matters:
Your team doesn't have to juggle multiple tabs or apps. Everything is in one place, but you still have control over how you view it.
2. Understanding Ticket Status
Every conversation in Spur's inbox exists in one of two states: Open or Closed.
Open Tickets
A ticket opens automatically when:
A customer messages your brand
And no automation is triggered
It means the conversation requires attention.
Closed Tickets
A ticket is closed when:
Automation handled the message completely
A human or AI agent marked it resolved
A broadcast was sent
Closed = resolved. If a customer replies, the ticket reopens.
Why it matters:
Open tickets need action
Closed tickets clear the queue
If you don’t close tickets, they pile up and future replies bypass AI
How Tickets Get Assigned
Spur gives you multiple ways to handle ticket assignment depending on how your team operates.
Assigned To Default Assignee by Default
If no rules are set, new tickets land in the inbox of the person who created the account (the owner).
Assigned by Rules
When a new ticket is created, Spur checks for assignment rules in this order:
Automation Flow Assignment Block:
If the customer's message triggered an automation that includes an "Assign Ticket" action, that takes priority
Default Assignee:
All tickets go to one person
You can set a default assignee: a single person who gets every new ticket that comes in. This works if you have one person handling all support, or if you want a triage person who then distributes work to the team.
How to set it:
Go to your inbox settings and assign a default agent. Every ticket will automatically go to that person the second a message comes in. No delay.Team Assignment:
Tickets route to Team Inbox, agents grab manually
If you want tickets to go to a team instead of one person, you can route them to the Team Inbox. This is a shared queue where any team member can grab tickets manually.
How it works:
New tickets show up in the Team Inbox. Agents go in, see what's there, and pick which ones they want to handle. It's self-serve.When to use this:
If you have a distributed team and don't want bottlenecks, this keeps things flexible. Agents can grab tickets based on their workload or expertise.Round Robin (Optional)
If you want tickets distributed evenly across your team, you can enable round-robin. The system rotates assignments so everyone gets a fair share.
How it works:
Three tickets come in. Ticket 1 goes to Agent A. Ticket 2 goes to Agent B. Ticket 3 goes to Agent C. Then next ticket comes in will go to Agent A. And so on.
Unassigned: If none of the above are configured, the ticket lands in Unassigned
Example:
You have a default assignee set (Agent A)
You also have an automation that assigns returns-related tickets to Agent B
A customer messages "I want to return my order"
The automation triggers and assigns to Agent B
Agent A (the default assignee) never gets this ticket because the automation took priority
Self-Assignment (Reply = Assignment)
If you reply, the ticket becomes yours. Doesn’t matter if it was unassigned or owned by someone else.
Manual Assignment via Dropdown
Use the dropdown on the right panel to assign to:
A specific agent
A team
Leave unassigned
Special Cases: Broadcasts and Automations
Broadcasts
All broadcast tickets are closed and unassigned
If a ticket was already open, it stays open
If a customer replies, the ticket reopens
What Happens to Open Tickets After a Broadcast
When you send a broadcast:
All closed tickets remain closed and unassigned
Open tickets stay open and keep their current assignment
Why?
Because an open ticket means there's an active support conversation happening. Spur doesn't close it just because you sent a marketing message. The agent handling that ticket continues handling it.
Example:
Agent A is in the middle of helping a customer with a refund issue (ticket is open)
You send a broadcast announcing a flash sale
The customer receives the broadcast, but their open ticket with Agent A stays open
If the customer replies to the broadcast message, it doesn't create a new ticket—it continues in the existing open ticket with Agent A
Automations
If automation handles the query, ticket stays closed and unassigned
If automation escalates to a human, ticket opens and routes per rules (default assignee, Team Inbox, or unassigned)
Default Behavior (Out of the Box)
If you don't configure anything, here's what happens:
Default assignee: Owner (Creator of workspace)
Working hours: 9 AM to 6 PM, all days
Assignment logic: Manual pickup from Team Inbox
You can change any of this later.
How One Conversation Can Have Multiple Tickets
1 Conversation → Multiple Tickets → Different Assignees
Understanding where a conversation appears and who can see it—is critical for team coordination.
Core Rule: One Conversation, One Inbox at a Time
A conversation will only appear in the inbox of the agent who is currently assigned to the latest ticket in that conversation.
What this means:
If Agent A handled the first ticket and closed it, the conversation stays in Agent A's inbox
If the customer messages again and a new ticket is created, that ticket gets assigned based on your rules (default assignee, team, or unassigned)
Once the new ticket is assigned to Agent B, the entire conversation moves from Agent A's inbox to Agent B's inbox
Agent A will no longer see the conversation in their active inbox
Why it works this way:
Because the latest ticket represents the current state of the conversation. Whoever owns the latest ticket owns the conversation. This prevents confusion where multiple agents think they're responsible for the same customer at the same time.
Example: Ticket Lifecycle and Inbox Transitions
Let's walk through a real scenario to see how this plays out.
Ticket 1:
Customer sends first message: "Hey, I need help with my order"
Ticket is created and assigned to Agent 1 (based on your assignment rules)
Agent 1 and customer exchange messages: Agent 1 helps them track the order
Agent 1 closes the ticket: Issue resolved. The ticket is closed but remains assigned to Agent 1 for record-keeping purposes
Where the conversation appears: In Agent 1's inbox (under their "Your Inbox" filter)
Ticket 2:
Customer messages again (5 days later): "Actually, I want to return this"
A new ticket is created within the same conversation
Initial assignment: The new ticket is first assigned to Agent 1 (because they handled the last ticket)
Agent 1 reassigns the ticket to Agent 2: Agent 1 sees this is a returns issue and Agent 2 handles returns
Agent 2 handles the conversation and closes the ticket: Ticket 2 is now closed and assigned to Agent 2
What Happens to Inbox Visibility:
Before reassignment: The conversation appears in Agent 1's inbox
After reassignment to Agent 2: The conversation immediately disappears from Agent 1's inbox and appears in Agent 2's inbox
Agent 1 can no longer see it in "Your Inbox": They would have to go to the "All" filter to find the conversation if they needed to reference it later
Agent 2 now owns the conversation: Even though Ticket 1 was handled by Agent 1, the conversation is now tied to Ticket 2, which belongs to Agent 2
Key takeaway:
The conversation follows the latest ticket. Whoever is assigned to the most recent ticket is the one who sees the conversation in their inbox.
Example around Ticket Assignment across different channels for the same customer
Customer messages on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook
Creates three separate tickets, each assigned separately
Why separate: Customers use different handles per channel. Spur avoids forced merges.
Teams can use customer notes to link identities across channels.
Can Different Channels Have Different Assignment Rules?
No. Assignment rules apply globally across all channels. You can't set WhatsApp to go to Agent A and Instagram to go to Agent B automatically. But you can use filters and manual assignment to handle this in practice.
3. How AI Fits Into Assignment
If you've enabled the AI Agent on a channel, it handles incoming messages first. The ticket stays with the AI until:
The customer confirms the AI helped them (ticket closes)
The customer asks for a human (ticket escalates)
The AI determines it can't help and escalates on its own
Critical: Close Tickets or AI Can't Take Over
Here's something most teams miss:
If you (the human agent) don't close a ticket after resolving it, the ticket stays assigned to you.
That means when the customer messages again—even if it's a simple query the AI could handle—it comes straight back to you instead of going to the AI.
Why this matters:
Most customer queries are straightforward. The AI can handle them. If you're not closing tickets, you're creating unnecessary work for yourself.
When should you close a ticket?
After you've resolved the customer's issue
If the conversation is done and the customer has no follow-up
What happens when you close it?
The next time the customer messages, the AI picks it up again. If the AI can't help, it escalates back to a human. But if it's something easy—like tracking an order or answering a common question—the AI handles it without bothering you.
The exception:
If the customer specifically requests a human or if the AI detects it can't help, it will escalate the ticket automatically using the "escalate to human" action (if you have it enabled).
4. Prioritization and Categorization
How to Mark Tickets as High Priority
Agents can manually tag tickets as high priority. There's no automatic detection based on keywords or VIP status by default.
But here's a workaround:
If you build a workflow in Spur's automation builder, you can set rules like:
If a customer says "urgent" or "emergency," auto-tag as high priority
If a customer is marked as VIP (via a custom field), auto-tag them
This requires setting up a flow, but once it's built, it runs automatically.
How Teams Use This
High-priority tags help agents sort their workload. If you're an agent juggling 50 tickets, you can filter by priority and knock out the urgent ones first.
5. Real-Time Collaboration
How Teams Work on Tickets Together
If Agent A is handling a ticket but needs Agent B's help, here's what they can do:
Option 1: Internal Notes
Leave a note inside the ticket that only your team can see. Agent B can check the ticket later and read the context.
Option 2: Transfer the Ticket
Reassign the ticket directly to Agent B. They'll get notified (if notifications are on) and it'll show up in their inbox.
Option 3: Chat Outside Spur
Agents can text each other on WhatsApp, Slack, or wherever they normally communicate and say "Check the ticket with [customer name]."
Option 4: View All Tickets
If Agent A says "Hey, check Mark's chat," Agent B can go to the inbox, filter by "All" (all tickets assigned to anyone), search for Mark, and jump into the conversation.
Can Two Agents Be in the Same Ticket at Once?
Yes. But they won't see each other typing. They can both reply, and the last person to reply gets the ticket assigned to them.
Customer Notes:
You can also leave notes on the customer's contact profile. These are visible to your whole team and stay with the customer across all their tickets.
6. Comprehensive Conversation History
What Gets Shown
When an agent opens a ticket, they see the full conversation history for that channel.
Example:
If a customer messages you on WhatsApp, the agent sees all past WhatsApp conversations with that customer.
What About Other Channels?
If the same customer has also messaged you on Instagram and Facebook, those conversations are stored separately. You cannot pull in past interactions from other channels into one unified view.
Why?
Because customers use different handles, phone numbers, and accounts across platforms. Forcing a merge would create confusion. Each channel is treated independently.
What If a Customer Messaged 6 Months Ago and Comes Back?
The agent sees the old conversation automatically. It's all in the same thread. No need to search for it.
What Gets Tracked
Spur's Agent Analytics measures how your support team performs. Here's what it tracks:
Response Time – How quickly agents reply to customers
Resolution Time – How long it takes to close assigned tickets
Ticket Volume – How many tickets each agent has handled
Working Hours Calculation – Distinguishes between business hours and 24/7 time
When Can You See This Data?
You can view analytics in real-time. You can also filter by:
Daily
Weekly
Any custom date range
What to Do With This Data
Benchmarks and Red Flags:
If you see an agent with:
High response time – They might be overwhelmed or need training
Low resolution rate – They might be escalating too much or need help with certain issue types
High ticket volume – They might need backup, or they might just be really efficient
How Teams Use This:
Managers use analytics to:
Reward top performers
Identify who needs coaching
Spot bottlenecks (e.g., certain issue types taking too long)
Adjust team workload distribution
8. Seamless Handoffs
AI to Human Escalation
When the AI escalates a ticket to a human, here's what happens:
If you have a default assignee set:
The ticket goes to that person. They get notified (if notifications are on) and it shows up in their inbox.
If you don't have a default assignee:
The ticket goes to Unassigned. An agent has to manually grab it from there.
Agent to Agent Transfer
If Agent A transfers a ticket to Agent B, Agent B gets notified and the ticket shows up in their inbox.
What Does the Customer See?
Nothing.
The customer doesn't know which agent they're talking to unless they ask directly ("Hey, who am I speaking with?"). From their perspective, they're just talking to your brand.
There's no automatic message like "You're now speaking with Agent B." It's seamless.
9. Setup and Configuration
What's Required to Get Started
At minimum, you just need to connect your channels (at least one):
WhatsApp
Instagram
Facebook
Live Chat widget
Once connected, messages start flowing into the inbox immediately.
Optional Configuration
You can also set up:
Default assignee (who gets new tickets)
Working hours (when your team is available)
Round-robin assignment (if you want even distribution)
AI escalation rules (when AI should hand off to humans)
Default Settings (Out of the Box):
Default assignee: Owner who created the Spur workspace
Working hours: 9 AM to 6 PM, all days
Assignment logic: Manual pickup from Team Inbox
You can change any of this in your inbox settings.
10. Quick Reference
Scenario | What Happens |
New message comes in | Goes to default assignee (if set), Team Inbox, or round-robin queue |
AI handles a ticket | Stays with AI until customer confirms help or requests a human |
Agent replies to a ticket | Ticket gets assigned to them |
Two agents reply at once | Last reply wins the assignment |
Ticket is closed by agent | Next time customer messages, AI picks it up again (if enabled) |
Agent transfers ticket | New agent gets notified, ticket shows in their inbox |
Customer messages on 3 channels | Creates 3 separate tickets, no merging |
Agent gets removed from team | Their tickets go back to Unassigned |
Customer asks "who am I talking to?" | Agent can answer, but no automatic identification |
11. Who This Guide Is For
This guide is written for:
Customer support managers setting up or optimizing Spur's inbox for their team
Support agents who need to understand how tickets flow and how to collaborate effectively
If you're a founder or business owner, this still applies—you'll just be wearing both hats.
Need help? Hit us on chat or check out our other guides.