Create a New Rule
To begin creating a rule, select Rules in the Conversation Module.
Then select the create rule icon (a blue circle with a white +) on the top right of the Rules page. Enter a name and description for the new rule. You can also select whether the rule is active or inactive. It’s best practice to finish building the rule before turning it active.
Rules are made up of conditions and actions. Conditions are filters that narrow down incoming messages and actions are what happens when a message meets the conditions. Keep in mind, if a conversation meets the conditions of the rule then the action will take place.
Set Conditions for a Rule
Conditions determine the properties or type of message that the action will affect. You can add multiple condition types.
Inbound Conditions are the channels of communication the incoming message comes from. This is the first condition you should add. The three channels are SMS, email, and the microsite messenger. Furthermore, to add channel filters based on the message content, select Add Filter after you select the channel(s). Email filters can filter by the email From Name, From Email, To Email, and the Email Subject.
Date Conditions: coordinate the action of the rule with a date and/or time (before, after, on, at etc.).
User Segment: further refine the conditions of the rule using filters. To learn more about using filters, refer to How Are Filters Used?
User Segment Reference: filter a conversation with a saved segment.
When setting conditions for a rule, a user can add multiple condition types for a rule. For example, a rule can be created with conditions for Inbound Conditions, Date Conditions, and by User Segment.
Actions
Once the conditions for a rule are set, choose the action for the rule to execute.
Assign to: Assign the conversation to a specific team member
Reply with: Send an automatic message reply
Add tag(s): Add a custom tag to a conversation for filtering
Add participants: Include team members in the conversation
Close conversation: Automatically close/end the conversation
To finish saving your rule add at least one condition and one action. Don’t forget to turn your rule active once you finish!
Things to keep in mind:
Rules are executed against new incoming conversations from Students. For example, if you create a conversation from the Conversation dashboard it will not be executed by your rules.
A conversation is executed against all rules based on their order in the All Rules screen. However, Rules with the ‘Assign To’ and ‘Close Conversation’ actions are 'single actions' and will only be executed by the first matching condition that the conversation meets.
To move the order of the Rules use the Move icon on the left hand side of the Rule Name.
On the right hand side of the screen, you will see three icons for each rule (a pencil, a funnel, and a trash can). Click the funnel icon to edit existing Rule conditions.
