How to turn client WhatsApp messages into tasks

To turn client WhatsApp messages into tasks, collect each client's requests in one place every day, split every message into single actions with a clear verb ("Add the brunch menu", not "menu stuff"), put them on that client's task board with a due date if they gave one, and reply to the client confirming what you've added. The hard part isn't the tool — it's doing it every day, so no request lives only in a chat.

Here is a process that works, and how to make it quicker.

Why requests get lost in chat

WhatsApp is where clients are, so that's where work arrives. A single message might hold three requests, a question and a thank-you. A week later it's forty messages up the thread, and nobody is sure whether "can you also change the hours?" was done. The usual failure isn't laziness; it's that a chat is a conversation, not a list, and nothing in it is ever marked finished.

A five-step process

1. Pick one time a day to clear client chats. Late morning is good: the overnight messages are in and there's time to act on them today. Answer urgent things as they come; capture everything else in one pass.
2. Split messages into single actions. "Can you add our Sunday brunch menu? And send a quote for a loyalty card page" is two tasks: Add the Sunday brunch menu and Quote for a loyalty card page. Start each with a verb.
3. Skip what isn't work. Greetings, thanks, your own replies, and anything already done don't belong on the board.
4. Put each task on that client's board. One board per client keeps priorities honest — you can see at a glance that Riverside has eight open tasks and Northwind has two. Add a due date only if the client gave one.
5. Confirm back. Reply with the list: "Added: brunch menu, loyalty card quote — brunch menu by Friday." The client knows they were heard, and any misunderstanding surfaces now rather than at delivery.

What a good task looks like

• "hey!! the hours are wrong on the site, we're 8-6 now" → Change website opening hours to 8–6
• "also can u swap the hero photo with the one I emailed" → Replace the hero photo with the emailed image
• "need the menu PDF updated before the weekend" → Update the menu PDF, due Friday
• "thanks so much, looks great 🙏" → not a task

Keep the client's own words where they help, and note who asked and where ("Maya · WhatsApp") so anyone on the team can go back to the source.

The same for Slack and email

The process doesn't change: clear once a day, split, skip, file, confirm. For email, forward client requests to a single address rather than leaving them in one person's inbox. For shared Slack channels, the end-of-day sweep matters most, because threads move fast.

Doing it faster

Splitting messages by hand is the slow part, and it's the part software is now good at. In Axzura, each client has their own board with a Paste message button: copy a stretch of the WhatsApp or Slack chat, paste it, and Axzura picks out the requests as separate tasks — skipping greetings, your own replies and work already done — so you can check them before they're added. Each board also has its own email address, so forwarded emails land on the right board too. You can ask the assistant to do the same thing in a sentence: "add these to Riverside's board".

Whatever you use, the rule is the same: a request isn't real until it's on the board. Once every client message ends up there, the board — not the chat — is the source of truth, and nothing gets forgotten forty messages up.