Problem Statement

Organizations integrating WhatsApp with Dynamics 365 Contact Center using Azure Communication Services (ACS) currently lack the ability to programmatically send read receipts (e.g., blue ticks) back to customers or control when these indicators are displayed within the WhatsApp client.

While ACS supports receiving delivery and read status updates from WhatsApp for monitoring and analytics purposes, there is no supported capability within:

• Dynamics 365 Contact Center
• Copilot Studio
• Azure Communication Services (ACS)

to influence or trigger customer‑visible read receipts during bot‑to‑customer or agent‑to‑customer interactions.

This limitation creates a disconnect in conversational UX where:

• Customers may assume their message has not been seen
• Automated bot responses appear instantaneous without acknowledgment
• Agent handover scenarios lack expected conversational state signals
• Human‑like interaction simulations (e.g., delayed responses) cannot align with WhatsApp UI expectations

As a result, enterprises are forced to implement workaround acknowledgment messages such as:

“Thanks! I’ve received your message. Let me check that for you.”

which only simulate—but do not replace—the native read state experience expected in modern messaging channels.

Business Impact

This impacts customer experience in the following ways:

• Reduced trust in automated support interactions
• Inability to align bot and agent behaviors with user expectations in messaging platforms
• Perceived latency or message delivery failures
• Limited conversational realism for Copilot Studio bot deployments
• Inconsistent omnichannel messaging parity compared to native WhatsApp business integrations

In regulated or customer‑sensitive industries, lack of read acknowledgment can also affect service‑level transparency and digital communication assurance.

Proposed Enhancement

Introduce native support within ACS and Dynamics 365 Contact Center messaging integrations to:

• Programmatically trigger WhatsApp read receipts
• Configure read receipt behavior via Copilot Studio bot logic
• Allow agent‑side acknowledgment events to update customer‑visible message status
• Enable optional delay configuration aligned with message “read” state
• Provide API or workstream‑level settings to manage read receipt logic

This would allow enterprises to build more human‑like, transparent, and expectation‑aligned conversational experiences across WhatsApp and other supported social messaging channels.

Use Case Example

When a Copilot Studio bot receives a WhatsApp message:

1. The bot reads and processes the message
2. ACS triggers a configurable read receipt event
3. Customer sees the message as “Read” (blue ticks)
4. Bot responds after a defined delay or immediately

Similarly, during agent escalation:

• Agent opening the conversation triggers the read receipt
• Customer receives confirmation of human engagement