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You can do many wonderful things with Rules, especially around automation. We collected examples to help you understand how to use Rules to simplify your workflows and processes.
See What are Rules to learn more about how Rules work.
See Create a Rule to learn how to create a Rule.
Use discretion when creating Rules
The Rules on this page describe how Rules can be used in certain situations. These Rules are not "rules of thumb" or "best practices." Rules are discretionary, and how they are implemented will depend on your business processes and practices.
Apply Topic based on email body
Automatically add a particular Topic to email Conversations if the email body contains a specific keyword. For example, apply. "Exchange" to an email Conversation if the email body has the word "exchange, wrong, return."
Reassign Conversation from an Agent when SLA is breached
Reassign Conversations from a specific Inbox to another Agent or Inbox if the due date is "overdue." This Rule reassigns overdue Conversations assigned to offline Agents and reroutes them to another Agent or Inbox to ensure the Customer is assisted as soon as possible.
You can select any Inbox or Agent to assign to
You must use
Agent status is = offlineas a Condition andUnassign from Agentas an Action for the Rule to work correctly and avoid infinite logic loops.
Move old/overdue Conversations to a different Inbox
By default, Gladly will always route Conversations that are due the soonest. For example, an Agent clicking "Next" will first receive the old email between a new email in the queue and an existing overdue email. You can consolidate old/overdue Conversations by automatically moving them to a specific Inbox so newer Conversations are routed first.
You also can automatically close old Conversations and apply a Topic using the "Close Conversation" and "Add Topics" Rule Action.
Auto-reply for SMSes/text messages
Automatically send a reply for new SMS/text messages only. This can be a simple "We received your message, and we'll get back to you" reply. Before setting up the Rule, you must configure a Messaging Answer containing the reply.
Auto-reply for email
Automatically send a reply to new emails. This can be a simple "We received your message, and we'll get back to you" reply. Before setting up the Rule, You must configure an Email Answer containing the reply.
Stop or block emails from specific Customers
You can automatically close new email Conversations from specific email accounts. This is commonly used to prevent spam emails or disruptive Customers from queuing and assigning to Agents. Use commas to separate multiple email addresses.
Stop or block SMS/text from specific Customers
You can automatically close text messages from specific numbers. This is commonly used to prevent spam or disruptive Customers from queuing and assigning to Agents. Use commas to separate multiple phone numbers.
Stop or block abusive/disruptive chats
There's currently no productized way to block abusive or disruptive chats by using an individual's email address or other identifying attributes like their IP address. We are looking into implementing this feature in the future. In the meantime, you can utilize Rules to reduce the chances of an abusive chat getting routed to an Agent.
Automatically close chat with specific phrases in the message body.
Note that the Customer will receive a notification that their chat was closed and may contact back in again.
If you prefer not to close abusive/disruptive chat requests automatically, you can set up the Rule so it routes to an unstaffed Inbox and doesn't get routed to an Agent.
Using this suggestion impacts your reporting and may falsely inflate the duration of your chats and the number of chats open.
Block spam Instagram Messages
Block Instagram accounts that you identified as a spam accounts and automatically block inbound messages by marking them as spam.
Export the Customer Profile in question linked to the Instagram account by clicking Export Customer Profile.
Open the exported file and copy the id value. Create a Rule using using the Trigger, Conditions, and Action detailed in the image below and add the id as a Message From Condition.
Automatically create a Task
Automatically create and assign a Task to an Inbox or a specific Agent within the same Inbox. For example, when a Cancel topic is applied, automatically create a Task and assign it to an Inbox that handles order cancelations.
Detect language and assign it to a language-specific Inbox
Assign requests in a particular language (e.g., Spanish) to a language-specific Inbox. Curate words typically found in requests in languages you support and use Words Condition to detect and route the request to a language-specific Inbox.
You can also utilize RegEx, but only if you're experienced using Regex.
Display the Estimated Wait Time to the Customer
If estimated wait times are longer than normal, you can create a Rule that will alert the Customer and set appropriate expectations about how long they may have to wait once the Conversation is queued.
There are two key steps required to achieve this:
Create an Auto-Reply Answer with the
Estimated remaining wait timevariable. The Estimated Wait Time is the estimated calculation of typical wait time within Messaging and Custom Channels or the Voice Channel.
Set up a Rule to display your Auto-Reply. Configure the Rule so it sends the Auto-Reply you created in Step 1 whenever the Estimated Wait Time falls within a specific range, or exceeds your normal threshold.
Recommendation: Apply Rule to first inbound message only
Gladly recommends that Rules displaying the Estimated Wait Time apply only to a Customer’s first inbound message. To ensure this, add the “First Message” condition to the Rule. This way, Customers will see the general estimated wait time just once—after their initial message—rather than multiple times throughout the Conversation.
The Auto-Reply action is available on all Messaging and Custom Channels, including Chat, SMS, Email, Facebook Direct, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp.
The ability to route to a specific Inbox(es) and apply a Topic(s) is available for all Messaging and Custom Channels and Phone Calls.
Wait time variables round up
Estimated Wait Time variables round up to the nearest minute. This means Customers will not see wait times displayed as less than 1 minute, ensuring a clearer and more consistent experience.
Display the Customer’s estimated remaining wait time after they enter the queue
Once a Conversation has been queued, the Estimated Remaining Wait Time variable calculates how much longer a Customer is likely to wait based on their place in the queue. As Agents resolve other Conversations, the Customer’s predicted position will move up (closer to being helped), unless higher-priority Conversations are added to the queue.
You can use this variable in a Rule to give Customers a more accurate estimate of when they’ll be routed to an Inbox and assisted.
There are two key steps required to achieve this:
Create an Auto-Reply Answer that includes the
Estimated remaining wait timevariable. The Estimated Remaining Wait time is the estimated calculation of the current wait time, after the Customer has been routed to an Inbox.
Set up a Rule to display your Auto-Reply. Configure the Rule so it sends the Auto-Reply you created in Step 1 if their Estimated Wait Time meets the conditions described in the Rule. This Rule will be triggered any time the Customer sends a reply after their Conversation has been queued.
Consider how Estimated Remaining Wait Time is calculated
The Estimated Remaining Wait Time is calculated for the Inbox where the Conversation was queued, before the Rule begins running. This value provides a more specific estimate of how much longer the Customer is expected to wait, based on their position in the queue.
Wait time variables round up
Estimated Wait Time variables round up to the nearest minute. This means Customers will not see wait times displayed as less than 1 minute, ensuring a clearer and more consistent experience.