Engage Digital | Managing interactions in Routing mode
As we discussed in Intro to Routing mode, Routing mode allows you to check what to prioritize since your messages are grouped together according to their workflow status. Interactions are routed to agents based on how they are configured in the admin interface and according to agent competencies and level of urgency.
When a new interaction is received, it will first route to the Ongoing folder, and at that point the agent will get an alert that there’s a new interaction. When the agent accepts the interaction by clicking on the chat, the message thread will pop up in the middle panel.
Keep in mind that accepting incoming interactions in a timely manner is important. Your administrator may set a time limit for accepting interactions via the admin interface and any missed interaction will affect agent productivity. If set by your administrator, the notification for an awaiting interaction will no longer be visible once an awaiting interaction times out.
If there are inactive messages in the Ongoing folder, you will be alerted with a pop-up that the interaction has been inactive. You can declutter the Ongoing folder by choosing to defer that interaction to a later time, transfer it to another agent more capable of solving the interaction, or completing the interaction.
You can also use your message action items to perform interactions. It’s important to be familiar with these action items so you can respond to customers and categorize their messages efficiently. Let’s discuss the message action items available for you in Routing mode.
Message action items in Routing mode
Message action items can be used to respond to customer messages, transfer interactions, edit replies, and more. While some elements of the Inbox and Routing mode may differ, some message action items you’ll see in Inbox may also be available in Routing mode.
To access the action items for a message in Routing mode, simply hover your mouse over the message and the action items will appear to the left of the message.
Let’s review some of the message action items you can access in Routing mode. The following options may or may not be available to you, depending on how your admin configures your permissions.
- Resume: Indicated by a rightward arrow inside a square icon, this allows you to reply to a message. This will allow you to respond back to cases that are completed and transfers the interaction from the History folder to the Ongoing folder
- Categorize thread: Indicated by a tag icon, this categorizes messages to a different folder
- Defer: Indicated by a clock icon, this delays a response to the message for a specified time period
- Transfer: Indicated by a rightward icon, this transfers the interaction to another team or agent
- Complete: Indicated by a checkmark icon, this marks the interaction as complete
- View audit log: Indicated by a notepad icon, this opens the Audit log window, which displays all messages and activity for all cases
- Change language: Allows you to switch to a different language setting. Once clicked, the Message language edition window will open up where you can select your preferred language
- Ignore: Indicated by an archive icon, this ignores all future messages in the same message thread
- Mute: Indicated by a speaker and x mark icon, this mutes all future messages in the same message thread
- Lock thread: Indicated by a lock icon, this will close and lock the message thread. You can’t reply to a locked thread
- Unlock thread: Indicated by a lock icon, this unlocks the message thread
- Extra actions: Indicated by a three-dot menu icon, this allows you to see other action items that you can do for a message. Some of the action items enumerated above can be accessed here, depending on how it’s configured by your admin
Accepting an interaction
Now let’s discuss how to accept an awaiting interaction in Routing mode. Before you can reply to a customer message, you need to assign that message to yourself. Once you are alerted about an awaiting interaction in the left pane under the Ongoing folder, you can simply click on the message to accept the interaction. The interaction status will change to Ongoing case once accepted.
Each interaction has a status indicating whether it has been processed or not. Once you accept the interaction, the message status changes from New to Assigned. In this way, it prevents other agents from working on the same message. You can check the status of a message by hovering over the message near the agent initials.
Follow these steps to accept an interaction and respond to a message:
1. Navigate to Routing mode via the left-hand navigation bar
2. In the Ongoing folder, click on the awaiting interaction to accept and open the message thread in the right panel
3. Enter your response in the message window at the bottom
4. Click Send
Reply assistant in Routing mode
The reply assistant allows an agent to reply quickly to a customer with knowledge base replies and similar question replies. Knowledge base replies will contain a list of knowledge base entries configured by your administrator and organized into reply assistant groups. Similar question replies will display a list of previous replies on related subjects.
The reply assistant can be helpful when answering repeated inquiries from customers requiring similar responses. Note that the reply assistant is created and configured by your administrator.
Follow these steps to use the reply assistant in Tasks view:
1. Navigate to Routing mode via the left-hand navigation bar
2. Click on selected message to open the message thread in the middle panel
3. Below the message field at the bottom of the screen, click on the Reply assistant feather pen icon
4. Insert a keyword in the message field or select a reply from the list
5. Click Send
Another way to use the reply assistant is similar to what you can do in Inbox. You can simply insert a keyword in the reply text box and the preformatted message autofills for the corresponding reply.
Deferring an interaction
An agent can delay a response to a message for a specified time period. Once the agent defers the message, it will move to the Deferred folder. Please note that deferred messages will move back to the Ongoing folder at the specified time period the agent selects.
This is helpful when you need to get back to a customer at a certain time. Deferring an interaction can be helpful to organize your messages by decluttering the Ongoing folder. Depending on how it’s configured for you, all inactive interactions in the Ongoing folder will trigger a pop-up telling you that this interaction has been inactive for the specified time period your admin sets. You have the option then to transfer that interaction, defer, or complete it, so it doesn’t stay inside your Ongoing folder.
To defer an interaction, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Routing mode via the left-hand navigation bar
2. Hover your mouse over the message and click the Defer clock icon
3. Select a time or date from the dropdown menu
If in any case you need to reply to a deferred interaction before the specified time period you selected, you can manually transfer that interaction back to the Ongoing folder. To resume a deferred interaction, simply navigate to the Deferred folder, hover over the message and click the Resume rightward arrow inside a square icon.
Transferring an interaction
An agent can transfer an interaction to another team or agent more capable of solving the interaction. As soon as you accept an awaiting interaction, you have the option to immediately transfer the interaction, so it gets routed to the right agent in a timely manner.
To transfer an interaction, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Routing mode via the left-hand navigation bar
2. Under the Ongoing folder, select a message
3. Hover over the message and click the Transfer rightward arrow icon
4. Configure the settings as desired (see below for more info)
5. Click Transfer
The settings you encounter when transferring an interaction defined below:
- Agents: Transfer directly to another agent
- Teams: Transfer to another team or the next available agent
- Categories: Transfer to any agent with the matching categories associated in his or her profile
- Language: Transfer to any agent with the necessary language in their profile
- Comment: Leave any agent notes
- Bypass queue and force assignment to agent: Put an interaction on high priority before transferring to another agent. This is only accessible if you have supervisor access or permission to monitor interactions
Completing an interaction
Completed interactions are cases which have been solved by agents. All completed interactions are nested under the History folder. Please note that if an interaction has unread messages, it will be automatically ignored once you complete the interaction. You must ensure that the interaction is resolved before marking it complete.
To complete a case with disposition, take these steps:
1. Navigate to Routing mode via the left-hand navigation bar
2. Hover your mouse over a message and click the Complete checkmark icon
3. In the Disposition window, select a category from the Category dropdown field
4. Enter agent notes in the notes field (optional)
5. Click Save
If no disposition is needed, once you click Complete, the message will close and a pop-up message with a prompt that says ‘Interaction complete’ will appear.
If in any case you need to get back to a message you already marked complete, you have an option to resume that interaction. To do so, navigate to the History folder, hover your mouse over an interaction, and then click on the Resume rightward arrow inside a square icon.
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