Auto-reassign for unresponsive teammates

Learn how to set up Workflows that assign conversations when a teammate has become inactive.

Written By Markus from Featurebase

Last updated 3 months ago

Overview

When teammates go offline or forget to respond, conversations can stall. With this Workflow, you can automatically reassign inactive conversations, send automated messages, or apply tags to keep things moving.

This helps maintain response time SLAs, improves customer experience, and ensures no conversation gets left behind.

Get started

  1. Go to Automations → Workflows

  2. Click + New Workflow and choose Create from scratch

  3. Select the trigger ‘Teammate unresponsive’ under the Internal processes tab

    • This trigger activates whenever a teammate hasn’t replied within a set time - not just the first instance.

  4. Choose how long to wait before triggering the Workflow (e.g. 10 minutes, 1 hour, etc.)

  5. Choose the channel(s) where this workflow runs (e.g. Email, Web)

  6. Add audience filters if you only want the Workflow to run for certain conversations (e.g. specific inboxes, tags, or customer types).

Note: This trigger also only triggers if the last message before the customer’s reply was sent by a teammate, not by a bot.

Customize your Workflow

Now it’s time to add steps to define what happens when a teammate becomes unresponsive:

  1. Send an automated message – Start with a friendly follow-up to let customers know their message is still being handled.

    • For example: “Thank you for your patience - we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!”

  2. Show expected reply time (optional) – Add the Show expected reply time step to share your office hours or expected response time.

    • Tip: If you want the original teammate to handle the conversation when they return, you can end the Workflow here.

  3. Apply tags or priority – Use the Tag conversation or Mark as priority actions to flag delayed replies for tracking or escalation.

    • Example tags: Delayed response, Follow-up required

  4. Reassign the conversation – Add an Assign conversation action to route the message to another inbox or teammate.

    • For example, send it to your general support or regional team to ensure continued coverage.

  5. Set it live – When you’re happy with your setup, click Save and Set live.

Your Workflow will now automatically detect when a teammate hasn’t responded within the set time and take the follow-up actions you’ve configured - keeping customers informed and conversations on track.