What are instant and non-instant messaging channel modes?
Introduction
Settings clear expectations to your customers and making sure you deliver on your promises is very important within customer care. That is why the Agent Inbox is built to deliver on those promises and distinguished between conversations that are considered 'instant' and non-instant' (within one of the messaging channels).
Instant channel mode explained
When configuring a messaging channel within the agent Inbox, you can mark it as "Instant". When doing so, you define that your organisation expects the customer to be treated instantly when they initiate a conversation in order to deliver on their expectations.
Explained with an example:
When a customer initiates a live chat conversation, they will most likely expect to be responded to within 30 seconds. If they are not responded to within this timeframe, there is a high likelihood that this customer will leave the chat disappointed and generate bad sentiment.
Conversely, if a customer sends a WhatsApp message to an organisation, they may not expect the organisation to respond within 30 seconds, but rather 30 minutes.
Therefore, based on this precedent and the context in which the messaging channel is used, a channel may require it to be handled instantly to comply with expectations.
When is a conversation handled as instant
Even though a channel may be marked instant and you have the intention to handle it instantly, you may not have the ability to do so. For instance, you have a live chat channel available for your customers to contact you trough, but all agents are offline (as it is outside of office hours), this means that even though you want to respond instantly, the customer reasonably still expects you to reply as soon as you have time.
Therefore, if a conversation is initiated. on a channel that is marked as instant, but no agents are available (due to for example everyone being away, busy or offline. The conversation is not marked as instant, and therefore treated as non-instant.
Non-instant conversations
If a conversation is not treated as instant, it is handled like any other. It is routed to an agent and handed within its allocated SLA. However, the instant mode effects are not initiated.
Effects of an instant mode
In order to make sure that instant conversations are handled within the customers expectation (instantly), the agent inbox provides the customer service agent various aids to do so.
Instant workload inbox and indicator
The first thing that is new when using instant conversations is the "Instant workload indicator" in the top right corner of the screen. This indicator shows how much instant capacity is available at that moment in time, and how many of the incoming instant workload (read new conversations) how not yet received a first response.
In addition, a new "Instant workload inbox" dedicated to these conversations is introduced for instant mode conversations. This inbox show what Instant conversations are waiting for a response in realtime.
First response count down & 30 seconds alert
When a conversation is received that is within mode "instant", then the conversation is shown in the Instant workload inbox, as well as the personal inbox of the agent. An Instant mode conversations can be distinguished from a 'non-instant mode' by it's waiting for first response count down (top right corner). Which indicates the waiting time of the customer. Once the waiting time exceeds 30 seconds, the inbox item turns red, as can be seen in the image below.
Max waiting & instant conversations
As capacity and operations differ per organisation, the max waiting instant conversations (conversations that are considered instant and are waiting for a response) and the total number of instant conversations that can be allocated to you as an agent can be set within the settings of an agent.
Learn more
To learn more about the instant workload workload indicator, please view:
- How do the (Instant) workload indicators work?