First-run setup
The short setup wizard that runs after you install Enscale — your timezone, when you're open, and your first channel.
Right after installing, Enscale opens a short wizard. You can't get to the rest of the app until it's done, and that's deliberate: without these answers your automations will misbehave.
The clearest example — if Enscale doesn't know your timezone, an "out of hours, we'll reply tomorrow" auto-message will fire at completely the wrong times for every customer you have.
Takes about two minutes. Both answers can be changed later.
Step 1 — Your basics
Your timezone
Pick the timezone your support team actually works in — not necessarily where your store is registered or which currency you sell in. If you sell in USD but your team is in Mumbai, pick Mumbai.
This one setting drives:
- Whether a conversation counts as "out of hours".
- When scheduled campaigns actually go out.
- Every timestamp you'll see in the app.
When can customers reach you?
| Your choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Always available (24/7) | Every conversation is treated as in-hours. No out-of-hours messages, ever. |
| Only during business hours | You set your opening hours. Customers messaging outside them can get an automatic "we'll get back to you" reply. |
Pick business hours if you want customers to know when to expect an answer. It's the difference between someone thinking you're ignoring them at 11pm and knowing you open at 9.
Choosing business hours also unlocks the Conversation Out of Hours automation trigger, so you can do more than just auto-reply — route to a night-shift teammate, or hand to an AI agent.
Step 2 — Connect one channel
You need one channel to finish the wizard. You can add the others whenever.
| Channel | How long it takes | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Webchat | 5 min, no approvals | Webchat widget |
| 5 min | Instagram setup | |
| 5 min | Facebook setup | |
| 10–15 min, plus Meta approval | WhatsApp setup |
Which should you pick? Two reasonable answers:
- Webchat, if you want to see it working right now. It needs no Meta account and no approval from anyone, so you'll have a real conversation in your inbox within five minutes. Good for confidence.
- WhatsApp, if you know that's your main channel. It's the one that campaigns, most automations and template messaging all assume you have — so you'll end up here anyway, and the Meta approval clock starts sooner.
Doing webchat first and WhatsApp straight after is a perfectly good plan.
After the wizard
You land on your dashboard, with a checklist tracking what's left. Nothing is blocking you any more — work through the full checklist at your own pace.
One thing worth knowing: your 7-day trial started the moment you installed, not when you finish setting up. So it's worth connecting a channel sooner rather than later, to get real use out of it.
Next steps
- Onboarding checklist — everything else to set up.
- Channels overview — how channels differ.
- Settings reference — changing any of this later.