Overview

Routing conversations helps your team save time, improve response times, and ensure customers always reach the right people.

You can use Workflows to automatically route conversations based on customer attributes (e.g. plan type, language, or customer status) or simply assign all incoming messages to a specific inbox.

This article shows how to:

• Create a routing Workflow from scratch.

• Customize rules to route conversations by customer attributes.

• Set it live so every new conversation is handled automatically.

Get started

1. Go to Automations → Workflows

2. Click + New Workflow and choose Create from scratch

3. Select the trigger ‘When customer sends their first message’

This ensures the Workflow activates as soon as a new conversation begins - across web, mobile, email, or any supported channel.

Configure your trigger settings

First, configure the Trigger settings to decide who, where, and when the Workflow should run:

• Where to send (e.g. Web, Email)

• Audience (e.g. users, visitors, or specific customer segments)

• Scheduling (e.g. always, or only during/outside of office hours)

For example, you could trigger the routing workflows only for logged-in users, trial customers, or high-value accounts through email or the Messenger widget.

When finished, click ‘Save and close’ to start building your workflow.

Build your Workflow

Now you can start creating the logic for routing conversations:

1. Add conditional branches – use the Branches block to check for customer attributes, such as plan, region, or language to route customers automatically down the right path. For example:

   • If Plan is Enterprise → Assign to VIP Support

   • If Language is French → Assign to French Support Team

   • Otherwise → Assign to General Support

2. Add an Assign action – to route all conversations to a specific team or inbox, add an Assign action. Select the team or teammate you’d like to handle these conversations.

3. Add supporting actions – you can enrich the Workflow by adding additional steps before or after assignment like:

   • Tag conversation (e.g. “VIP” or “French-speaking”)

   • Apply SLA to set response expectations

   • Mark as priority for key customers

4. Preview and set live - once your Workflow looks right, click Save and Set live

Examples

Route by customer plan

Give premium customers faster service by routing them directly to your VIP support inbox:

• If Plan is Pro or Enterprise → Assign to VIP Support

• Else → Assign to General Support

Route by language or region

You can automatically assign conversations to the correct regional team depending on the customer’s detected timezone.

1. Set the trigger as “Customer sends their first message”

2. Add a Branch rules action with these conditions:

   • If customer timezone contains ‘america’ → assign to Support (Americas)

   • If customer timezone contains ‘europe’ or 'africa’ → assign to Support (EMEA)

   • If customer timezone contains ‘asia’ or 'australia’ → assign to Support (APAC)

Or add the Branch rules based on customers languages, for example:

• If Locale contains French → Assign to French Support

Route by office hours

You can automatically route conversations and set expectations based on your office hours:

1. Set the trigger as “Customer sends their first message”

2. Add a Branch rules action with these conditions:

   • If Inside office hours is true → assign to Support and Show reply time

   • If Inside office hours is false → send a disclaimer message and ask for their email

Tips

• Start small: Begin with Web or Messenger, then expand to other channels once it’s working well.

• Check compatibility: Some actions may behave differently depending on the channel.

• Keep it simple: If you’re new to Workflows, start with one rule and build complexity gradually.

Routing customers automatically ensures faster, more accurate responses - and gives your team more time to focus on what matters most: solving customer problems.