Choose the right inbox type

Chatlane offers two ways to organise conversations: a standard inbox (grouped by customer) and an entity inbox (grouped by order, ticket, or another business record). This article explains the difference, when to use each, and how to set up and use entity inboxes and records.

Two ways to organise conversations

Standard inbox — Conversations are grouped by customer (contact). Each thread is about one contact. When you open a conversation, you see that contact's name and all messages to and from them. This is the right choice when you think in terms of "everything from this customer."

Entity inbox — Conversations are grouped by a business record (e.g. an order, a support ticket, or a project). Each thread is about one record. When you open a conversation, you see the record at the top (e.g. "Order #12345" or "Ticket #789") and all messages about that order or ticket—even if several people (buyer, recipient, support) are involved. Everyone on the team sees the full history for that order or ticket in one place. This is the right choice when you think in terms of "everything about this order or ticket."

When to use an entity inbox

Use an entity inbox when you care more about "everything about this order/ticket" than "everything from this customer." Common use cases:

• Support tickets — Each conversation is about one ticket; you can attach multiple contacts (e.g. requester, assignee) and see all messages for that ticket.
• Orders — Each conversation is about one order; you can attach buyer and recipient contacts and keep all order-related messages together.
• Projects — Each conversation is about one project; stakeholders can see the full thread for that project.
• Any record you track — If your business tracks a type of record (e.g. shipment, booking), you can define it as a custom entity and use an entity inbox so conversations are grouped by that record.

Setting up a custom entity

Before you can create an entity inbox, your team needs a custom entity type—the definition of the record you're grouping by (e.g. "Order" or "Ticket"). Team admins define:

• Name and slug — e.g. "Order" or "Support Ticket."
• Fields (attributes) — What each record has: e.g. order number, status, date, amount. You choose the field type (text, number, date, email, link, or a dropdown).
• Contact roles — How people relate to the record: e.g. "Buyer," "Recipient," "Requester." When you attach contacts to a record, you assign them a role so the team knows who is who.

One entity type is linked to each entity inbox. So you might have one entity inbox for "Orders" and another for "Support Tickets," each with its own entity type and fields.

Creating records

In the app: Go to your team's Custom Entities (from the sidebar or team menu), pick the entity type (e.g. "Order"), and create a record. Fill in the fields (e.g. order number, status, date). If you use an external system (e.g. your e‑commerce or ticketing system), you can enter an external ID so you can match records to that system. You can then attach contacts to the record with roles (e.g. buyer, recipient)—so when someone emails about that order, you know which contact they are.

Via API: If you use integrations or your own tools, you can create and update records through the Chatlane API. This is useful for syncing orders or tickets from another system. For authentication and request format, see the Chatlane API Documentation (or your organisation's API guide).

How conversations look in an entity inbox

In an entity inbox, the conversation list shows the record (e.g. "Order #12345" or "Ticket #789") instead of the customer's name. When you open a conversation:

• You see the record at the top (with its fields and external ID if set).
• You can switch between records or create new ones from the inbox so you're always working in the right context.
• When replying, you choose which contact on that record you're replying as (e.g. buyer vs recipient)—so the reply is sent from the right identity and the thread stays clear.

In a standard inbox, the list and header show the customer's name (contact) instead. There's no record selector; each conversation is simply "this contact."

Benefits for support and managers

• Full history in one place — Everyone sees all messages about that order or ticket; no hunting across threads or channels.
• Managers can assign conversations by record, filter by entity type or status, and track resolution per order or ticket.
• Founders can track volume and resolution by entity type (e.g. orders vs tickets) and see how the team performs per record type.

For step-by-step setup of your first inbox (including choosing standard vs entity), see Get started with Chatlane. For connecting channels to an entity inbox (including the special address format), see Connect your channels.