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Configure Routing Settings in Unified Inbox Follow

Routing settings in Salesmate help you control how incoming conversations are assigned to teammates. You can choose an assignment method, manage conversation capacity, configure channel-specific limits, and decide whether returning customers should be routed to their previous owner.

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To set the conversation routing,

  • Navigate to the Unified Inbox icon from the left menu bar.
  • Open Inbox Settings.
  • Select the required Inbox.
  • Click Routing.

Chat Assignment

Choose how incoming conversations should be assigned to eligible teammates. Salesmate provides three assignment methods: Balanced, Round Robin, and Manual.

Balanced

Balanced routing assigns a conversation to the eligible teammate who currently has the fewest active conversations.

How it works:

  • Salesmate identifies teammates eligible to receive conversations.
  • Teammates who have reached their applicable capacity are excluded.
  • The system compares the number of active conversations assigned to each eligible teammate.
  • The conversation is assigned to the teammate with the lowest active conversation count.

If multiple teammates have the same number of active conversations, the teammate who has gone the longest without receiving a new assignment is selected.

Example: If John has 2 active conversations, Sarah has 3, and Amy has 4, John receives the next conversation, provided he is eligible.

Round Robin

Round Robin distributes conversations by taking turns among eligible teammates in a fixed rotation.

How it works:

  • Salesmate follows the configured teammate rotation.
  • The next eligible teammate in the rotation receives the conversation.
  • Unavailable teammates and teammates who have reached their capacity are skipped.
  • After a successful assignment, the rotation advances to the teammate following the person who received the conversation.

Round Robin distributes conversations based on turn order rather than comparing the number of active conversations.

Manual

Manual assignment keeps new conversations unassigned in the Inbox queue until a teammate claims them.

Choose this option if your team prefers to review the queue and manually pick up conversations rather than using automatic assignment.

Ignore Availability Status

Enable Ignore availability status if you want Salesmate to assign conversations to teammates even when their manual status is set to Away or Away & Reassign.

  • Enabled: Salesmate ignores the teammate's manual availability status. Eligibility is determined by the applicable working schedule.
  • Disabled: The teammate must have an Available status and be within their applicable working schedule.

Salesmate checks the teammate's assigned Working Shift first. If no Working Shift is assigned, it uses the Business Hours or Availability Schedule configured for the Inbox.

This setting is available for Balanced and Round Robin assignment methods. It does not apply to Manual assignment.

Inbox Assignment Limit

The Inbox assignment limit specifies the maximum number of conversations a teammate can receive from the selected Inbox at a time.

  • Enter a positive whole number greater than zero.
  • This limit works alongside the teammate's global capacity settings. The effective limit is the lowest applicable limit among the user's capacity and the Inbox assignment limit.
  • If the limit is reduced while a teammate already has more active conversations than the new limit, existing conversations are not removed. The teammate will simply be ineligible for new assignments until their active conversation count falls below the applicable limit.

Channel Capacity

Enable Set channel-specific limits when you want different conversation limits for different communication channels within the same Inbox.

When enabled, you can configure separate limits for channels such as:

  • Chat
  • Instagram
  • Facebook Messenger
  • WhatsApp
  • Voice & Text by Salesmate
  • Email forwarding

The default value for each channel is 3, and a value is required for each channel when this option is enabled.

  • When disabled: Conversations from all channels share the same capacity limit.
  • When enabled: Each channel has its own capacity limit. These limits apply alongside the Inbox assignment limit and the teammate's global capacity.

Salesmate considers the lowest applicable limit when determining whether a teammate can receive another conversation.

Routing Behavior

Enable Prefer the previous owner to route returning customers to the teammate who handled their most recent conversation, whenever that teammate is eligible.

How it works:

  • When a new conversation arrives from an existing contact, Salesmate checks who handled that contact's most recent conversation.
  • If the previous teammate is still a member of the Inbox, is available, and has capacity, the conversation is assigned to them.
  • If the previous teammate is unavailable or has reached their capacity, Salesmate follows the Inbox's normal assignment method.

When this option is disabled, all new conversations follow the selected assignment method without preferring the previous owner.

Note: This preference applies to new conversations from contacts with previous conversation history. It does not apply to visitor conversations or determine how reopened conversations are assigned. These settings are not available when Manual assignment is selected.

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