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Home > How does SnapEngage’s Queue Work? – FAQ

Categories: FAQ | Featured Article

(Last Updated On: January 19, 2022)

Frequently Asked Questions

SnapEngage offers significant flexibility to how you manage your incoming chats. This document covers many of the frequently asked questions about the queue logic and how various features and situations affect it.

Can I set a limit to how many chats are allowed in the queue?

Yes! Under Agent Settings -> Chat Assignment -> Queue settings you can configure a maximum number of chats that can go into the queue before the chat will become unavailable and the offline widget will be displayed.
By default the queue size is unlimited. You may want to set a limit corresponding to the size of your chat team. (For example allow 2 queued chats per agent configured)

How do I set the maximum number of concurrent chats per agent?

You can set a default maximum number of chats per agent on a widget level in the Chat Assignment settings.

This setting can be overridden for individual agents in the Chat Agent settings. For example, new agents in training can have a maximum of one chat, while the team default is set to a maximum of four concurrent chats.

What logic does the queue use when assigning chats?

The chat queue is served on a First In, First Out basis. The first visitor to enter the queue will be the first visitor out of the queue.
- You can configure a message your visitors see when they enter the queue.
- You can also configure an additional Queue Status Message to display the current position to visitors waiting in the queue (i.e. ‘Wait status: there are 3 people ahead of you’). This message is updated every minute.
  - The Queue Status Message allows visitors to make well-informed decisions about whether to wait in the chat queue or try another contact method, improves the overall visitor experience and increases chat engagement.

What is the maximum amount of time a visitor can wait in the queue?

Chats can stay in the queue for 120 minutes until they idle out, if no agent becomes available in the meantime.
- The queue idle time is hard-coded and not related to the Chat Idle Time setting in the Options tab for ongoing live chats.

What happens if my agents go offline while there are visitors waiting in the queue?

If all agents go offline or on pause while there is a queue, queued chats will be closed immediately. A message will be shown to the visitors that there are no chat agents available at the time.

How is the queue impacted by my Guide Bot?

Bots have unlimited capacity, so if a bot is available in a regular (not Reserve) tier, new chats will not go to the queue.
Bots can transfer a chat into the queue.
- If the bot has a step to transfer the chat to the same widget and all agents are maxed out, this chat will go into the queue until a human agent becomes available.

Special Cases

Agent tags can override the queue position:

- - If there are chats without a tag and chats with a tag are in the queue, and an agent with that tag becomes available – the matching tagged visitor chat will be prioritized and go to the agent directly. This situation will override the standard “First In, First Out” queue behavior.

Reserve Tier Agents & Bots

- - Chats will not be de-queued to an agent or a bot in the Reserve Tier. Only directly transferred chats (or specially assigned proactive chats) will reach those agents or bots.

Newly enabled bots cannot take chats out of an existing queue.

- - Chats cannot be de-queued to bots.
  - If you enable a bot while a queue is in place, new chats will skip the queue and go to the bot directly.
  - Existing queued chats will have to be de-queued to human agents, or they will time out.

Continuous Conversations

- Continuous Conversations gives you the ability to allow your visitors to continue their conversation with the same agent when they chat multiple times. This allows for quicker resolutions, less visitor friction, and a more seamless experience.
- The chat will be routed to the last human agent who talked to the visitor.
  - This applies to chats that happened within the previous 7 days. If it has been more than 7 days since the previous chat, the chat will be routed according to normal routing logic).
  - Note: If you are presented with a proactive invitation as a visitor, and respond to it, the chat will be assigned to the agent the chat was presented on behalf of, not the most recent agent the visitor chatted into. Meaning it is not always be continuous proactive can over ride .
  - Note: In scenarios where the chat is responded to by a chatbot on a widget, and then transferred to another widget where Continuous Conversations is enabled, upon transfer the Continuous Conversations will also be taken into account.
  - Note if you have a bot in tier 1 and a visitor returns the visitor will skip interacting with the bot and connect with the last agent they interacted with directly.