Start a new conversation with a customer not yet in Discourse

Feature
1

Continuing discussion from Discourse as a private email support portal:

For me two major features are missing:

Start a new conversation with a customer not yet in Discourse

Currently it’s possible to reply to an email which has come into Discourse Group Mailbox…

… but you can’t initiate first contact with a customer / external user.

I’m imagining allowing the entering of an email address (and a name too) where you currently select a user, existing dialog:

For reference here is an example of “New Conversation” form for HelpScout (note the email icon selected at the top):

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Log or note a conversation with a customer

In this case an ability to start a “New Conversation” where the first post is a “note” (or “whisper” as it’s called in Discourse) would be very welcome.

Handling customer support not only done online but also via “support calls” or real world contact.

Personally I use these extensively as open support tickets when receiving customer calls and internal “todo” items, replying to the conversation when the item is complete or further information is required.

For reference here is an example of “New Conversation” form for HelpScout (note the phone icon selected at the top):

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2

OK, we support this now per @nbianca’s work.

When creating a PM you can type in an “email” address as staff, this will stage a user.

Then once created you can add whatever group you want to the PM.

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