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Assign a Conversation

Auto-Assigning Conversations

Example of an Escalated Conversation Being Auto-Assigned to an Available Agent

For a majority of users, the Live Agent Engine is set up to automatically assign newly escalated chats to online agents. A few actions occur when a conversation is escalated:

  • The system assigns agents following a round-robin format. This means that each agent is selected in turn, following a fixed order. Once all agents have been assigned a chat, the process starts over with the first agent in the sequence, ensuring an equitable distribution of escalated chats.

  • Within the conversation's Actions & Insights section, the assigned agent/team will be updated from 'Satisfi Assistant' and 'Virtual Assistants Team' to the corresponding agent name/team.

  • A message is sent to the user notifying them they are being escalated to an agent.

If you're not being assigned escalated chats within the Live Agent Engine, ensure the following:

  • Check with your company administrator that you are working within scheduled escalation hours.

  • Have your company administrator check that you are assigned to the correct team. Note that the conversation will not be escalated if your company has multiple teams and no agents are available within the user-requested team. This includes if there are agents online on other teams.

  • Confirm that you have set your availability to 'Online'.

Intercept/Transfer a Conversation

Within the Live Agent Engine, there may be times when an agent needs to intercept or transfer a conversation. Instances may include:

  • Your chat does not utilize auto-assignment, and an agent takes ownership of an unassigned conversation.

  • An agent detects a user needing additional help.

  • A user is another agent's client or has worked with another agent previously.

Intercept a Conversation

Intercepting a Conversation

You can intercept a conversation in one of two ways:

  1. Under 'Conversation Actions' in the 'Actions & Insights' panel, select the 'Assign to me' button.

  2. In the conversation's reply container, start typing. Once you start typing in the desired conversation, a popup will notify you that this is not assigned to you. It will prompt you to assign the conversation. If you do not assign the conversation to yourself, but send the message, it will assign the conversation to you.

Things to Note:

  • If you assign yourself as the agent within a conversation, a user can continue chatting with the virtual assistant until you send a message. We always recommend alerting the user right away that they are now speaking to an agent.

  • If you intercept a conversation, but the user wants to continue their conversation with the virtual assistant, simply resolve the conversation.

  • We always recommend that, unless you see a user struggling to get answers, you let the virtual assistant answer questions as they come in. This helps your company collect more insight into the questions users are asking and where improvements in the chat experience can be made. To help push more users into conversations with agents about revenue-generating topics, check out the link here: Live Agent Engine Placement

Transfer a Conversation

Transferring a Conversation

Any agent can transfer a conversation to a specific agent or live escalation team. Under 'Conversation Actions' in the 'Actions & Insights' panel, select the dropdown on either 'Assigned Agent' or 'Assigned Team' and select the agent/team you'd like to transfer to.

Things to Note:

  • If you assign a conversation to another agent, it will notify the user that a new conversation has been assigned to them.

  • We recommend that if you are transferring a conversation to another agent, you provide them with any additional chat insight using the private note function (learn more here).

  • If you assign a conversation to another agent, it will not update the assigned team.

  • If you assign a conversation to a specific team, it will assign it to the next available agent.

FAQs

Is there a way to prevent agents from intercepting conversations?

No, agents can jump in and respond in any conversation regardless of the chat's status, the agent's online status, or who the current assigned agent is.

However, you can restrict the view in the "All" column to show only escalated conversations or conversations that have passed a specific message count threshold.

Can an agent from Team A intercept an conversation being had with Team B?

Yes! A Team A agent will not be auto-assigned conversations from Team B; however, the Team B conversation may be intercepted or transferred to them.

When should I intercept a conversation?

We always recommend that unless you see a user struggling to get answers, you let the virtual assistant answer questions as they come in. In the event you do intercept a conversation, we always recommend the following:

  • Start by greeting the customer and apologizing for the inconvenience.

  • Explain that you are taking over the conversation because the AI Chat was unable to answer the customer's question.

  • Ask the customer to repeat their question, so that you can understand it fully.

  • Answer the customer's question as clearly and concisely as possible.

  • If the customer needs more personalized assistance, offer to help them with their issue.

  • Thank the customer for their patience and understanding.

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