Setting Conversation Rules in Instant Messaging
In this article, we will cover the two conversation rules—the auto-close timer and the business hours—that can be applied to chats to increase your team's efficiency.
Auto-close Conversations
Businesses can help agents effectively manage their functional connections list by configuring conversations to close automatically after being inactive for a pre-configured amount of time.
Why opt for Auto-close feature?
• This feature will allow the support teams to organize their customer conversations better, so they can focus on conversations that require their undivided attention.
• You can also set this auto-close feature to close conversations where customers/agents stop responding.
• When a customer has been unresponsive: This trigger automatically handles conversations where the customer has not responded for a selected period.
• You can also set this auto-close feature to close conversations where customers/agents stop responding.
• When a customer has been unresponsive: This trigger automatically handles conversations where the customer has not responded for a selected period.
What is auto-close for messaging conversations?
The auto-close feature provides your agents a seamless experience, not seeing idle chats in their messaging inboxes.
For example, consider an agent's conversation that has been idle for over two hours; it will be automatically closed if the customer doesn't respond within the set time and will be moved to the ended conversations queue.
By configuring the auto-close feature, if customers don’t reply to a Bot initiated conversation within the specified length of time, the conversation will automatically close.
To set the auto-close timer:
1. Go to Setup ( 
) in the top bar.
2. Select the Instant Messaging channel.
3. Navigate to the Preferences section.
4. Click the Conversation Rules sub-tab.
5. Under the Auto-close Conversations accordion, select the channel for which the timer should be set.
3. Navigate to the Preferences section.
4. Click the Conversation Rules sub-tab.
5. Under the Auto-close Conversations accordion, select the channel for which the timer should be set.
6. Select the two options:
• Agent-timer: Auto-close abandoned agent conversations
• Bot-timer: Auto-close abandoned bot conversations
• Agent-timer: Auto-close abandoned agent conversations
• Bot-timer: Auto-close abandoned bot conversations
7. Select how long the bot/agent should wait before auto-closing the conversation.
8. Set the timer.
Business Hours
Organizations often accommodate multiple work schedules to serve customers from diverse regions effectively or operate globally from various offices. This allows them to conduct business internationally and establish a strong global presence with an expansive reach.
Typically, organizations maintain customer support teams that work across different time zones to ensure timely customer assistance. Careful scheduling of work hours is crucial to manage customer inquiries effectively, escalations, and any potential delays caused by support staff unavailability.
Instant Messaging allows organizations to define business hours, enabling them to assign proactively and address customer queries.
Typically, organizations maintain customer support teams that work across different time zones to ensure timely customer assistance. Careful scheduling of work hours is crucial to manage customer inquiries effectively, escalations, and any potential delays caused by support staff unavailability.
Instant Messaging allows organizations to define business hours, enabling them to assign proactively and address customer queries.
To set the business hours:
1. Go to Setup ( 
) in the top bar.
2. Select the Instant Messaging channel.
3. Navigate to the Preferences section.
4. Click the Conversation Rules sub-tab.
5. Under the Business Hours accordion, select the channel for which the operating hours should be set.
6. Select one of the defined business hours.
Learn more about setting up offline messages under conversation rules to let your customers know when you're away.
The selected business hours will be applied for the chosen messaging channel.
Deactivating business hours
To deactivate a business hour:
1. Go to Setup ( 
) in the top bar.
2. Select the Instant Messaging channel.
3. Navigate to the Preferences section.
2. Select the Instant Messaging channel.
3. Navigate to the Preferences section.
4. Click the Conversation Rules sub-tab.
5. Click on Business Hours.
5. Click on Business Hours.
6. Under the Business Hours accordion, select the channel for which the operating hours should be deactivated.
7. Select the option none under business hours.
The business hour will be deactivated for the chosen channel.
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