Working in Gladly Agents Change Your Channel Availability Status
Set Your Channel Availability to Accept Work
  • 08 Feb 2021
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Set Your Channel Availability to Accept Work

  • Updated On 08 Feb 2021
  • 3 Minutes To Read
  • Contributors
  • Print

Depending on the type of Channels (e.g., chat, SMS, voice, social messaging) implemented in your company, you will have relevant controls that determine your availability to receive and accept work from each Channel. 

How you receive work

Note - You must show as Available (green) to receive work
The Availability control for a Channel must be green in order for you to receive work from that Channel.

You will only receive work from Inboxes you are assigned to through the Channels available to your Customers. Let's say your team has the following Inboxes and you are assigned to:

  1. Escalation - not assigned
  2. Returns - not assigned
  3. New - assigned
  4. VIP - assigned

Since you are assigned to the New and VIP Inbox, you'll only receive work from these Inboxes whenever you make yourself available using the availability controls. 

Speak to your Manager if you have questions about your Inbox assignment.

Tip - Receiving work by priority
If you've made yourself Available on multiple Channels, you'll be routed the next most urgent Customer over those Channel(s).

Understanding Channel availability controls

You can select which Channels you want to set yourself as Available to receive incoming requests. The icon turns green, signifying you are Available on the Channel you selected.

If the focus of the day for you is to handle Customers contacting you via your Messaging Channels (i.e., Chat, SMS, and Facebook Messenger), you'll click on the Message button and nothing else. Then if (and when) you're ready to take on all three channels, click on all of them. Depending on what you choose, Gladly will automatically serve the next most urgent Customer based on the Channels you've set yourself as Available on (more on this in Channel Priority).

Numbers inside the green bubbles

These numbers represent the number of work items waiting to be routed to the next available Agent from the Inboxes you are assigned to. This means a colleague assigned to a different set of Inboxes could have a different number of work items shown in their Availability controls.

Mails (Email, Voicemail) + Tasks

When you set yourself as Available for Mail + Tasks, you'll be routed:

  • Emails
  • Voicemails
  • Tasks

If Mail + Tasks is the only Channel you've set yourself as available for, you'll be routed the next most urgent Task or Customer reaching out on the various Channels mentioned above (i.e., whose Conversation is closest to hitting its SLA deadline).

Receiving Task items

Task items are only automatically routed to you when you log in (not coming back from an Away state.) You will need to select Next to receive additional Task items.

Receiving Mail items

When you go available in the Mail + Task Channel, and if there is a mail Conversation waiting in the queue, then it will automatically be routed to you. You must click Next or Close & Next to receive additional mail Conversations. 

If there is no mail Conversation waiting in the queue at the time you go available, the next mail item that comes will automatically be routed to you. You must then click Next or Close & Next to receive additional mail Conversations.

Voice

If you've set yourself as Available for Voice, you'll be routed the next Customer reaching out over the phone, regardless of the other Channels you've made yourself available for.

Note - Voice control availability
While Gladly lets you make and receive calls directly through the platform, your company might still use a different telephony system.

Though not common, if you notice that your Voice Availability button is greyed out and can't be clicked on, that means your company is using a telephone system that's separate from Gladly's built-in voice system. This means you won't be able to handle your Voice Availability through Gladly.

Messaging

When you set yourself as Available for Messaging, you'll be routed:

  • Chat
  • SMS/text
  • Social messages including Facebook Messenger, Twitter Direct Messages, and Whatsapp

If Messaging is the only Channel you've set yourself as Available for, you'll be routed the next Customer reaching out via a Messaging Channel.

Changing your Channel availability

There are a few steps involved in making yourself Available and ready for incoming Customer Conversations.

Mark yourself available for a Channel


  1. Click on the Availability Control(s) of the Channel(s) that you want to help Customers on. Whether that's one Channel or multiple, it's up to what you feel ready for.
  2. The Availability Control(s) will turn from a black outline to green.
  3. Select Next, and Gladly will serve up the next most urgent Customer on the Channel(s) you've made yourself available on.

Mark yourself Unavailable for a Channel

Click on the Availability button of the Channel you want to make yourself Unavailable on. The button will turn from green and back to a black outline.

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