How to create delayed rules

Overview

Delayed rules enable you to stand behind your commitments to your customers by allowing you to build rules based on time. If you want to ensure that you always reply within a certain time frame, Front can alert you as that time approaches. 

Front offers two delayed-rule conditions:

• Message unreplied after will check for whether there is a reply to a message after a given delay. This condition will work for both inbound and outbound messages depending on the condition selected. 
• Conversation unassigned after will check for whether the conversation is unassigned after a given delay and works with every rule trigger.

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Create a delayed rule

Step 1

Click the gear icon on the top right of Front and into the Company settings tab. Select Rules from the left menu, and Add a rule.

Step 2

Add your conditions (more information about the fundamentals of rules can be found in the Understanding rules article).

Step 3

Click Save to save your rule.

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Delayed rules for automation

Overview

Prioritizing work in a busy inbox is important but often hard to achieve. Let Front notify you when a conversation has been sitting unanswered and unassigned in your inbox for too long. Here are some of our favorite delayed rules to help you get responses out faster.

Click here for more information on how to build and enforce an SLA workflow.

Notify the right teammate or send to a Slack channel

If you don't have Slack but want to try it out, just let us know! Choose whatever conditions you'd like to specify when a teammate should be notified in Front or via Slack.

Move to an Urgent inbox

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Ways to leverage a delayed rule

Delayed rules are notably used to manage company SLAs. With Front rules, there are many ways for you to keep on top of these SLAs. Here are our recommendations:

• Move conversations to an escalation inbox - By creating an additional inbox with no connected channels, you can create clear escalation paths and educate your team to prioritize conversations as they become more urgent.
• Notify the team and manager - With the notify rule action, you can select key members of a team who should always be kept in the loop as SLAs approach.
• Tag the conversation for long-term tracking - You should track conversations at your SLA markers to better identify trends and team performance.

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FAQ

How about time zones?

When using the Time is between condition, click the dropdown to choose a specific time zone. If not chosen, it will default the user's computer time zone.

The Day is condition does not have a specific time zone selector, so it will default to the user's time zone.

How does the Time is between condition work?

When using a Time is between condition, you can select a time range to work with the Day is condition.

If you set your time to be between 9 pm - 9 am for Monday - Friday, the rule engine includes Friday 9 pm to Saturday 9 am.

Do delayed-rule conditions work on archived conversations?

Sometimes, depending on the When trigger:

• If your rule uses When inbound message is received and you archive the conversation, then the Unassigned after and Unreplied after delayed-rule conditions will not run because the conversation must be in Open status.
• If your rule uses When outbound reply is sent and you archive the conversation or the conversation was already archived before the outbound, the Unreplied after delayed-rule conditions will work on the archived conversation because the goal is to ensure you follow up properly if your customer does not respond to you.
• If your rule uses the When conversation is moved trigger, then we default to following the Inbound message is received logic in the first bullet.
• The Time is between condition also works on archived conversations.

Does snoozing pause a delayed-rule condition?

No, the timer continues to run and is not impacted by snoozing.

Example: 

WHEN: inbound
IF: unreplied after 1 hour 
THEN: notify [manager] and assign round-robin  

If an email arrives at 9 am and is snoozed for 30 minutes (reopens at 9:30 am), the delayed rule will be applied at 10 am if no one has replied.

Do delayed rules trigger other rules?

Yes, delayed rules work with sequential rules, as long as you have the rules listed in the desired order and you have not stopped processing other rules.

Do delayed rules work with company rules?

While company rules can use delayed rule conditions, business hours won't apply.  Business hours are Workspace-specific or inbox-specific, while company rules can apply to multiple Workspaces and individual inboxes.

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Pricing

Delayed rules are considered Advanced rule conditions and are available on the Growth plan or above. Some legacy plans with different names may also have this feature.