Auto-assignment and round-robin

Managing incoming conversations manually can be time-consuming, especially as your support volume grows. Auto-assignment in Deskwoot automatically distributes incoming conversations among your available agents, ensuring that workload is balanced and no customer is left waiting. With round-robin assignment, each new conversation is routed to the next agent in rotation, creating a fair and efficient distribution system.

How auto-assignment works

When auto-assignment is enabled for an inbox, Deskwoot uses a round-robin method to assign incoming conversations. This means each new conversation is allocated to the next available agent in sequence. Once every agent has received a conversation, the cycle starts again from the beginning. This approach prevents any single agent from becoming overwhelmed while others remain idle.

Enabling auto-assignment

Follow these steps to turn on auto-assignment for any inbox:

1. Navigate to Settings > Inboxes from your Deskwoot dashboard.
2. Select the inbox you want to configure.
3. Locate the Auto-assign option in the inbox settings.
4. Enable Auto-assign with round-robin.
5. Save your changes.

Once enabled, all new conversations arriving in that inbox will be automatically distributed among the agents assigned to it.

Best-practice tips

• Keep agent availability up to date. Encourage agents to set their status to unavailable when they are on break or handling other tasks. This helps ensure conversations are only assigned to agents who can respond promptly.
• Balance team sizes per inbox. If an inbox has too few agents, response times may suffer during peak hours. Review your inbox agent assignments regularly.
• Combine with notifications. Make sure agents have desktop or email notifications enabled so they are alerted immediately when a new conversation is assigned to them.
• Monitor performance. Use Deskwoot's reporting tools to track response times and ensure that round-robin distribution is producing the results you expect.

Common pitfalls and troubleshooting

• Conversations not being assigned: Verify that agents are added to the inbox and that their availability status is set correctly. Auto-assignment only routes conversations to agents who are part of that inbox.
• Uneven distribution: If some agents seem to receive more conversations than others, check whether certain agents were added to the inbox at different times or if availability statuses are inconsistent.
• Changes not taking effect: After enabling or modifying auto-assignment settings, ensure you save the configuration. A page refresh can also help confirm the setting is active.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use auto-assignment on multiple inboxes?

Yes. You can enable auto-assignment independently for each inbox. Navigate to Settings > Inboxes, select the desired inbox, and configure it separately.

What happens if all agents are unavailable?

If no agents are available, the conversation will remain unassigned in the inbox until an agent becomes available or manually picks it up.

Can I temporarily disable auto-assignment?

Absolutely. Return to Settings > Inboxes, select the inbox, and toggle off the Auto-assign option. Incoming conversations will then remain unassigned until an agent claims them manually.