What is chat auto-assignment?

Chat auto-assignment feature is that the chat is distributed according to the manager(assignee)’s ability. If you set the maximum number of auto-assignments, Channel Talk automatically distributes chats according to the real-time response volume.

In order to find the most suitable person in charge, Channel Talk approached it as a "Team" rather than an individual. If you assign the team in charge that is most knowledgeable about customers’ inquiries, the system finds and automatically assigns one person in the team who can respond in real-time to engage with customers’ inquiries immediately.

The manager who handles chat consultations quickly will receive more chats, and new employees who need more time, will be assigned to fewer chat consultations so that they can take their time in responding. This feature helps you to increase your work efficiency and save customers time.

Auto-assignment settings

Set up a team

Team settings

You can customize your team settings. If you want the system to assign the chat automatically among team members, turn the “Assign chats automatically” on.

• How to set: [Channel settings] - [Teammates] - [Team] - [Assign chats automatically]

• What if you don't have a team yet? (→ Check how to set up a team)

  

Setting the maximum capacity of auto-assignments per person

The maximum number of auto-assignments (Capacity) is the number of ongoing(opened) chats that can be handled by a team member. If you set the number of automatic assignments according to each manager's capacity, the chat will be automatically distributed without exceeding the maximum limit.

• You can set the limit up to 100.

• How to set: [Preferences] - [Manager settings] - [Inbox] - [Auto-assign limit]

  

Check the auto-assign limit in Inbox

1. If the number of chats in progress is exceeding or is equal to the limit, the number of chats in progress is displayed in orange numbers in the Inbox.

   • In this status, the system no longer assigns a new chat, but you can manually assign a new chat by clicking the ‘Assign to me’ button.

   • You will still receive new user chats that meet the requirements set by the chat automation rule/support bot action.

2. If the number of chats in progress is below the limit, the number of chats in progress is displayed in black numbers in the Inbox.

Assign a team to the chat

Manually assign a team

When a new chat comes in, you can manually assign the team who knows best about the customer’s inquiries.

Automatically assign a team

If you are subscribing to an operation add-on, you can set the chat automation rule to assign a team in charge of an inquiry.

• Example 1) By setting a chat automation rule, you can assign a ‘Personal Shoppers’ team to a chat when the message contains the word ‘recommendation’ (→ Learn more about chat automation rules)

  

• Example 2) By setting the action in the Support bot step, you can assign a ‘Personal Shoppers’ team to a chat when the customer leaves an inquiry after clicking the [Speak to a representative] button (→Learn more about the Support bot)

  

3. Automatically assign an assignee

Chat auto-assignment Criteria

Chat is automatically assigned to the manager when (1) the maximum number of auto-assignments is within the limit, (2) is not in Do Not Disturb mode, and (3) has the fewest number of ongoing chats.

• Chat auto-assignment works when the number of ongoing chats is less than the maximum auto-assign limit.

• Managers who have turned on Do Not Disturb mode are excluded from chat auto-assignment. (→ What is Do Not Disturb?)

• The chat will be given to the manager with the fewest number of ongoing chats. If the number of ongoing chats is the same among the members, the system will randomly pick one manager. (Chats in Snoozed or Closed statuses are not included)

Example)

• In the following situations, when a new chat comes in, the system will automatically assign it to Manager A:

Cases where chats are not automatically assigned

If the chat auto-assignment does not work even if you assign a team to the chat, please check whether the following applies:

• When all team members exceed the maximum auto-assignment limit

  • Increase the maximum auto-assignment limits for team members, or update chat status to “Closed” for ended chats to free up the number of ongoing chats.

• When all team members are in Do Not Disturb mode

  • Turn off the Do Not Disturb mode to secure a team member who will be available to accept chats.

• If the team's auto-assignment setting is off

  • Turn on the chat auto-assignment setting in the team settings

Check the status of each manager(individual team member)

• In [Operation] - [Chat manager], you can check the auto-assignment limit, notification settings for unassigned chats, and Do Not Disturb mode status for each manager(individual team member).

FAQ

Can each manager be assigned the same number of chats?

Channel Talk’s chat auto-assignment function is designed to provide a real-time assignment based on each manager’s capacity. If you do not consider the individual response time and distribute the chat equally among the team members, the customers assigned to the new hires may have to wait for a longer time compared to experienced team members.

The manager who handles chat consultations quickly will receive more chats, and new employees who need more time, they will be assigned to fewer chat consultations so that they can take their time in responding. This feature helps you to increase your work efficiency and save customers time.

Equal distribution is difficult to completely apply in this updated function, but we plan to consider applying it in the future.

I want to automatically assign to all members of the company, not to a specific team.

You can create a team and invite all members of the company to join the team. Then by assigning the team for chats, all members will be available for the chat auto-assignment.

Are “Snoozed” and “Closed” chats included in counting the chat auto-assignment limit?

Snoozed and Closed chats do not affect the chat auto-assignment limit. Only ongoing chats are considered.

Chat auto-assignment works when there are fewer ongoing chats than the maximum chat auto-assignment limit.

If both managers are in the same conditions, who will be assigned to the new user chat?

When both managers have the same number of ongoing chats and both are not in Do Not Disturb mode, the assignee will be picked at random.

What if I don't set a maximum number of auto-assignments?

1. The maximum auto-assignment limit is set to 10 by default.

2. If the manager sets the maximum auto-assignment limit to 0, they will not receive any user chats automatically.

3. If the maximum auto-assignment limit for all team members is 0, no one will be assigned a chat. But you can manually assign a manager for each chat as an assignee.

I received a new user chat through the auto-assignment feature but I want to change the assignee to someone else.

1. If you update the user chat to “No assignee”, a new assignee will be automatically assigned again. However, the previous assignee is not completely excluded from the nominations. Depending on the number of real-time responses, the same person may be assigned as an assignee again.

2. You can manually change the assignee, even if they are not part of the assigned team.

What happens if I change the assigned team for the chat?

1. When changing the assigned team, if the current assignee is not part of the new team, the assignee will be removed.

2. Automatically reassign assignees from members of the newly assigned team.

   Example) In a situation where there are members A, B, and C in the marketing team/members B, C, and D in the design team:

   You want to assign the design team for the chat and currently, member A is the assignee, the assignee status will be changed to ‘unassigned’ because member A is not part of the design team.

   If member B is the assignee and the assigned team in charge is changed from the marketing team to the design team, the assignee status will not change because member B belongs to both teams.