Deactivate Custom Attribute Lookup Before Rules

By default, when a Customer reaches out through their preferred Channel, Gladly first looks up custom attributes from an external system (if available) and uses that information in Rules to route the Customer to the most appropriate Inbox or Agent based on those attributes. This allows you to create Rules using custom attributes for routing purposes. See How Customers Are Routed for details on how routing works.

Example

Suppose you have as a custom attribute that tracks a Customer’s loyalty status (e.g., loyaltyTier) and you only want your VIP Team to assist any Customers with a Platinum status who reaches out. Assuming you have a Rule Condition using a custom attribute that assigns Customers to a certain Inbox or Agent based on their loyalty tier, with Lookup before Rules allowed, the Lookup Adaptor retrieves the custom attributes (loyalty tier) for the Customer first before Rules run.

Before you start

Take note of the following regarding the Lookup before Rules behavior.

• See What is Routing to understand how routing works in Gladly.

• Lookup before Rules supports Customer Profile custom attributes but not order/transaction information.

  • For example, a Customer Profile attribute could be “Lifetime Value,” which is supported, but not “Last Order Value,” because it's an order/transaction attribute.

  • See Add New Custom Attributes as Conditions to learn how to find and implement custom attributes for Rules.

• Voice Contacts (i.e., a phone call) can be routed anytime and before Rules run if there are Agents available. This means a custom attribute may not always be ready when Customers are routed. Otherwise, any Rules for phone calls run after the lookup. Data dips can be implemented if you want custom attributes to be retrieved before lookup and routing.

• Expect an increase in queued-to-fulfilled time reporting with Lookup before Rules activate. The increase depends on how fast your Lookup Adaptor retrieves custom attributes.

  • The default lookup timeout value for each lookup (and the max lookup timeout) is 15 seconds. Suppose each lookup for every Contact takes 15 seconds, and you received 100 Contacts for the day; that adds 25 minutes in queued-to-fulfilled time reporting.

    • Note – The average first response time in Gladly is between three minutes and an hour, making a 15-second delay negligible.

Deactivate Lookup before Rules

Lookup before Rules is activated by default but can be deactivated anytime.

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Agent Experience category, click Conversation Workflow.

4. Find the Conversation section. Under Lookup before Rules, uncheck the box next to Allow lookup to run before rules.   

5. Click Save.

Activate Lookup before Rules

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Agent Experience category, click Conversation Workflow.

4. Find the Conversation section. Under Lookup before Rules, check the box next to Allow lookup to run before rules.   

5. Once checked, the Customer lookup timeout (seconds) appears. This tells Gladly how long to wait for the Lookup Adaptor to retrieve custom attributes before timing out and moving on to running Rules.  

   • The default (and max) value is 15 seconds.

   • Set a value that reflects how fast your Lookup Adaptor is retrieving data.

6. Click Save.

Update lookup timeout value (seconds)

The default (and max) value is 15 seconds. There’s no guarantee that custom attributes will be available each lookup or when the lookup times out. If there are multiple Lookup Adaptors, a lookup for each instance occurs within the timeout period, and it’s possible for the lookup to timeout before all attributes are retrieved. In this case, the Customer lookup would be considered “timed out,” however, the information retrieved from a lookup before the timeout could populate the Customer Profile and be used by Rules.

1. Click on the top left corner of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Under the Agent Experience category, click Conversation Workflow.

4. Look for Customer lookup timeout (seconds). This tells Gladly how long to wait for the Lookup Adaptor to retrieve custom attributes before timing out and moving on to running Rules.  

   • Tip – The default (and max) value is 15 seconds.

5. Click Save.