A multi-agent WhatsApp button, in Squadkin’s catalog, is a list the shopper chooses from. Each person has a phone number, a name, an avatar, and a greeting. You can limit an agent to page types, so wholesale questions and delivery questions do not have to hit the same handset. The app opens WhatsApp for the number the shopper picked. It does not assign chats, run a queue, or keep a shared transcript in Shopify.
Use the chooser when sales and support already answer on different WhatsApp numbers and customers currently dump every question into one of them. Skip it when several people must work one number, leave internal notes, and see who owns the thread. That operating model is an inbox. This app does not document one.
When a chooser helps
One number feels simple until the owner of that phone is in a stockroom and a wholesale buyer is waiting on a price. A chooser puts the split on the storefront, where the shopper can see it, instead of inside a routing rule they never meet. The popup copy in the catalog is a “choose who to chat with” list. The shopper taps a name. WhatsApp opens that person’s chat.
This helps a small team with two or three real numbers: a founder on sales, a warehouse lead on delivery, a showroom on repairs. It also helps when a page type already tells you the job. Product pages can show the sales number. A shipping-policy page can show the delivery number. The optional page-type scope is how you do that. The catalog does not document geo-IP routing by country, and it does not document round-robin across people who share a login.
Business hours are set for the widget: per-weekday open and close times, plus a timezone. They are not documented as a separate clock on each agent. Outside those hours the popup text changes and the button dims. The button stays visible. An agent avatar is a picture you upload. It is not a live “online now” lamp.
What each agent record contains
Add only people who will answer. An empty name trains shoppers to tap the first row and hope.
- Phone number: the WhatsApp account that should open. Test it. A digit error sends the shopper to the wrong chat.
- Name: a role shoppers understand, such as Sales, Delivery, or Wholesale. A first name is fine when that person is the public face of the shop.
- Avatar: a photo or a simple mark so the rows are easy to scan. It does not show presence.
- Greeting: the pre-filled message for that agent. Sales can ask for size. Delivery can ask for an order number.
- Page types: an optional limit so that agent appears only on the templates you choose.
The default pre-filled message on the widget still supports {{ current_page_url }} where that variable is used. The catalog does not add a product-title variable on top of the agent greeting. If the greeting must name a product, type the words or include the page URL.
A consent checkbox, when you enable it, disables Send and the agent links until the shopper checks it. The choice is stored in that browser. Write the checkbox sentence yourself. The catalog does not keep an exportable consent archive.
What this list does not assign
Two agents cannot share one WhatsApp thread inside Shopify through this feature. There is no documented handoff, no internal note, and no “take this chat” button. If Maya is away, the shopper who tapped Maya still reaches Maya’s number. You change the list, or you answer on Maya’s phone. The app will not move that thread to Sam.
The same gap applies to reporting. Analytics count button clicks, popup opens, and send taps by day. They do not document a per-agent leaderboard, a handle time, or revenue from the chat. Google Analytics and Meta Pixel can receive the click events if you enable passthrough. Those events are still clicks.
Extra contact rows for Telegram, Instagram, phone, and email can sit under the panel. They are additional links, not extra seats in a queue. If the team’s real requirement is one WhatsApp Business number with assignment and a transcript in a tool, stop here and shortlist an inbox product. Forcing this chooser into that job leaves messages stranded on personal phones.
Write the button label for the choice
The pill style can carry text and an image. On a multi-agent store, “Chat with us” is clearer than a silent icon, because the next step is a choice rather than an instant thread. The round logo and the custom uploaded logo are the other documented styles. Size runs small, medium, and large. Place the button bottom left, bottom right, middle left, or middle right, with offsets, so the popup has room to list two or three names without covering add to cart.
Keep the list short. Four roles that all say “support” make the shopper guess. Two clear rows beat a directory. If you only have one number, skip the chooser and use a single click-to-chat button. A list of one is an extra tap.
Test two numbers before you announce it
Use two phones you control. Name them Sales and Support in the app. Open a product page and a page type you scoped differently, such as a contact page.
- Confirm the product page shows the agent you scoped to product pages, and hides the one you excluded.
- Tap Sales and confirm WhatsApp opens the sales number with that agent’s greeting.
- Tap Support and confirm the other number opens, with the other greeting.
- Look in Shopify admin afterward. You should not find a new ticket or a shared thread. The proof is the WhatsApp apps on those two phones.
- If the consent checkbox is on, confirm the agent links stay inactive until it is checked.
Repeat the test outside business hours. You should see dimming and the offline popup text, with the button still on the page. Then read both greetings out loud. If either one promises a reply you cannot make, change the sentence before customers see it.
Questions about the agent list
Can the app round-robin chats?
No. The catalog documents a list the shopper chooses. It does not document automatic assignment or a rotating queue.
Can two agents share one WhatsApp account?
Not inside this app. Each agent record points at a number. Sharing one WhatsApp account is a WhatsApp question, and a shared transcript with notes is an inbox product. This catalog has neither a shared inbox nor the WhatsApp Business API.
Do hours apply per agent?
The documented schedule is the widget’s weekday hours and timezone. Offline mode dims the button and changes the popup text for that schedule. Per-agent clocks are not described.
See how the chooser is described on the WhatsApp Chat Button page. Install WhatsApp Chat Button when shoppers should pick a number. If they should be assigned instead, use an inbox and leave this button for simple click-to-chat.