You may want to set up an Automation that directs inbound messages to the right internal team. With Textline, you can do this by setting up Routes, Teams, and this Automation. The Route to Specific Team Automation helps assign inbound messages to the agents who can best help. For example, you could set up several teams to route conversations to, such as:
In this Automation, a customer who initiates a new conversation would receive an automated message that says “Hi, what team would you like to speak with? Reply Sales, Support, or Other.” Based on the reply, the conversation would get automatically assigned to the right team and agent.
Here’s a brief look at what this stacked Automation would look like:
When a new inbound message is received, this automatic message triggers:
The conversation automatically routes based on the contact’s reply:
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">1</div><p class="step-text" id="step1">Navigate to Messaging Tools > Automations > New Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">2</div><p class="step-text" id="step2">Select Build From Scratch.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">This ensures you start a new Automation without any pre-existing conditions or parameters.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">3</div><p class="step-text" id="step3">Name your Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">4</div><p class="step-text" id="step4">Select the Message Received Automation Type</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">5</div><p class="step-text" id="step5">Set the rules or conditions you want met.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">Conditions are rules that cause an Automation to proceed or prevent it from doing so. For this Automation to fire, you’ll want to add a condition that it is the First message in a conversation.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">6</div><p class="step-text" id="step6">Choose the Send a message action and type your message.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">You’ll want to specify explicitly which word customers should reply with to continue the workflow.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">7</div><p class="step-text" id="step7">Preview the first Automation.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">Review your setup, conditions, and actions. Plus, proofread your message!</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">8</div><p class="step-text" id="step8">Click Create Automation, and you’re ready to start the second Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">9</div><p class="step-text" id="step9">Start back at square one. Click New Automation and Build From Scratch.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">10</div><p class="step-text" id="step10">Name your Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">11</div><p class="step-text" id="step11">Choose the Message Received Automation Type.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">12</div><p class="step-text" id="step12">Add the proper conditions. In this case, the condition would be Message body must exactly match Sales.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">You can mark if it should be case-sensitive.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">13</div><p class="step-text" id="step13">Under Actions, choose Route conversation using, and select your Sales team route.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">14</div><p class="step-text" id="step14">Preview and create your Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">15</div><p class="step-text" id="step15">Repeat steps 9-14, tweaking copy, parameters, and Routes to mention Support instead of Sales.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">Here’s a look at what the Support Automation looks like on the preview window.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">16</div><p class="step-text" id="step16">Click Create Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">17</div><p class="step-text" id="step17">Repeat steps 9-12, tweaking copy and the condition parameters to include Other instead of Sales.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">This Automation sets up the Other team Route.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">18</div><p class="step-text" id="step18">For this Automation only, select Route conversation using Round Robin.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">This Route type assigns the conversation to all available agents using a “next up” method.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">19</div><p class="step-text" id="step19">Preview and click Create Automation.</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">20</div><p class="step-text" id="step20">Ensure your Automations are ordered properly.</p></div>
<p style="padding-left: 32px">Automations are prioritized based on their order in the Automations list. In other words, ensure the “Route to Specific Team” comes first.</p>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering">21</div><p class="step-text" id="step21">Now you’re all set! Your inbound messages will follow your created Routes and assign conversations to the appropriate agents.</p></div>
Are you unsure what types of conversations you’d want routed to specific teams? Here are a few examples:
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering-step">1</div><p>Route billing questions to the billing team</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering-step">2</div><p>Route sales inquiries to the sales team</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering-step">3</div><p>Route Spanish-speaking customers to the Spanish-speaking team</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering-step">4</div><p>Route VIP customers to Tier 1 agents</p></div>
<div class="recipe-numbering-wrapper"><div class="recipe-numbering-step">5</div><p>Route refunds to the support team</p></div>
You can set up many different Automations to help you route conversations to the right pool of agents. Not sure where to start? Request a demo today and our team can help.