Releasing capacity on inactive conversations

A conversation holds an agent's capacity until it counts as inactive. This is where you decide how long that takes and what happens then.

A conversation holds an agent's capacity until it counts as inactive. This is where you decide how long that takes and what happens then.

The problem

A customer asks something, the agent answers, the customer goes to lunch. That conversation counts against the agent's capacity for as long as it is treated as active, which by default is ten minutes past the customer's last reply. Several of those at once and the agent receives nothing new while the queue grows.

Messaging then feels slow while there is apparently plenty of staff, and the inactivity period is the setting that releases the capacity.

Set it up

1. In Admin Center, click Channels and select Messaging and social > Messaging.
2. Click Manage settings, and under Advanced click Capacity release.
3. Set the Inactivity period, a whole number from 3 to 15 minutes: how long a conversation may go without a reply from the customer before it counts as inactive.
4. Choose the ticket status for inactive conversations: Pending, On-hold, Solved, or a custom status mapped to one of those categories.
5. Save.

Choosing the period

The whole range is 3 to 15 minutes, so this is a narrower decision than it first looks.

At 3 minutes you release people who are typing slowly or looking something up. At 15 you keep capacity tied up for a quarter of an hour per quiet conversation. Watch it for a week: if agents report being at capacity with conversations they consider finished, move it down.

The conversation is not closed

Capacity is released; the conversation stays open. A customer who comes back is picked up again, usually by whoever is available rather than the original agent.

Worth telling agents, because a returning customer with context they do not have is otherwise confusing.

One thing to expect when you change the setting: it can take up to ten minutes before the new period takes effect, so a test straight after saving proves nothing.

Pair it with a message

A messaging trigger conditioned on the status you chose above fires when that status is applied, so the message arrives at the release rather than before it. Word it that way: the conversation has been set aside and they can reply whenever they like.

See also

• Sending inactivity reminders
• Ending conversations: by the agent or the customer
• Capacity rules to balance the workload