Slack, Teams alerts

How do you get alerted in Slack or Teams when a customer is waiting for a reply?

To get alerted in Slack or Teams when a customer is waiting for a reply, connect Slack or Microsoft Teams to Muzau. When a request is waiting on a decision only your team can make, a Muzau agent flags it in the channel you chose, right away for a new request, then again if it is still waiting after four hours. The reply is already written in "To do": the team decides and reads it over before it goes out.

Why a customer waits without anyone knowing

A customer asks for a price for their case, a specific lead time, agreement on a condition. The agent cannot decide alone: the request waits for someone on the team. It is noted in Muzau, but someone has to think to open it, and the team's day happens elsewhere, in Slack or Teams.

Meanwhile, the customer does not know they have been read. If they hear nothing the same day, they may write to someone else. So the right signal arrives where the team already talks, at the moment someone is waiting, and only then: a channel that flags everything ends up muted.

How the agent goes about it

Input

A customer request waiting on a decision from your team

It does

Prepares the reply, then flags the request in your Slack or Teams channel

It delivers

A short message that leads to the request, the reply ready in "To do"

A Slack or Teams alert only when a customer is waiting

The signal goes out when a customer is waiting for a reply that only your team can give. A new request is flagged right away in the Slack or Microsoft Teams channel you chose, then reminded if it is still waiting after four hours. Requests are grouped: at most one notice every fifteen minutes, and one reminder a day. Nothing is flagged for a tool outage, only when a person is waiting. What the agent learns with nothing to do, like a change of address, stays in "Good to know".

The alert gives the number of requests and the link, never the reply

The message says how many requests are waiting, how long the oldest has been waiting, and gives the link to open them. It never copies the reply prepared for the customer: what is written to a customer is read in Muzau, not in a channel where other topics pass. The same notice also goes out by email, and that one can be turned off in your notification settings.

The reply to the customer is already written when the alert arrives

The link leads to the request, or to the "Management" page when several are waiting. Its card says who wrote, what needs doing and why, tied to the exchange. The reply is already drafted, with the conversation above it, including what the agent has already told the customer. You read it over before it goes out, or you write it yourself.

Email, site chat or SMS: waiting requests in a single queue

A chat conversation where a visitor is waiting becomes a single card, "Someone is waiting for a reply (site chat)", with their email or phone and their questions; later ones are added to it. An SMS the agent cannot answer opens a card with the customer's number. In the "Management" page, whatever is blocking a customer comes first, the oldest first. For what the chat tells the visitor in the meantime, see what the chat does when it does not know the answer.

Setting up an alert channel the team still reads after a month

Most alert channels die of noise, not silence. A few rules, with or without a tool:

• A separate channel, named for what it says, like "customers waiting". Mixed into general conversation, an alert sinks under the messages that follow.
• Only what calls for action. What is good to know goes elsewhere, in a recap or in the tool. If every event goes through the channel, someone mutes it and the useful alert is lost with the rest.
• One name per half-day. An alert seen by five people is taken by none: whoever is on duty takes it, and says so with a word or a reaction in the thread, so nobody handles it twice.
• A message always built the same way: how many requests are waiting, since when, and a link. It reads without being opened.
• An agreed deadline written at the top of the channel, for example a reply before the end of the half-day.
• Nothing personal in the channel: no customer address, no amount, no copied question. The link is enough, the rest is read where it is stored.
• In the evening, mute the channel without leaving it: what is still waiting should be the first thing read in the morning.

No request should get lost along the way either: see how to leave no customer request without a reply, and to follow the status of every request, where each customer request stands.

What it does not do

• It does not copy the reply prepared for a customer into Slack or Teams: the message gives the number of requests, how long they have been waiting and the link, nothing more.
• You do not reply to the customer from the channel: the reply is read over and sent from the card in "To do", or you write it yourself.
• The agent is the one who judges that a request is beyond it: if it thinks it can handle it, it replies itself, and its reply goes out on its own or waits for your approval depending on your settings.

Frequently asked questions

Can you reply to the customer directly from Slack or Teams?

No. The channel message leads to the request in Muzau, where the reply is already written with the exchange above it. That is where you read it over and send it, or write it yourself.

How do you avoid being buried in Slack notifications?

With Muzau, a notice only goes out when a customer is waiting for a reply from your team, never for a tool outage. Requests are grouped, at most one notice every fifteen minutes, with one reminder a day for those waiting for four hours. Also keep these notices in a separate channel, and leave muted the ones that call for no action.

Can you get the alert by email instead of in Teams?

Yes. Muzau alerts you by email when a customer is waiting for a reply that depends on you: right away for a new request, then a reminder after four hours. The email gives the number of requests and the link, and can be turned off in your notification settings.

Is the team alerted when a chat visitor is waiting for a reply?

Yes. Each conversation where a visitor is waiting becomes a card in "To do", with their contact and their questions. If an address to be alerted at is set for the agent, and your business's email can send, the team also receives an email per conversation, with what the visitor asked and what the agent has already done.

Do you need a Slack channel dedicated to customer requests?

It is the safest option: in a separate channel, named for what it says, an alert does not sink under the general conversation. Add a name on duty per half-day, so an alert seen by everyone is taken by someone.