Assign a conversation automatically
The step that turns unassigned bot traffic into somebody's named responsibility — and, because assignment is the handover, takes the bot off it.
Before you use this step, understand what assignment means here: it is the handover. Assigning a conversation takes the bot off it permanently, and makes the conversation visible to that agent for the first time.
So auto-assignment is not a routing convenience. It is a decision that a human should now own this conversation — which makes it excellent for escalation and a poor fit for blanket load-balancing.
Steps
Add an assign step and choose who
A named person or a team, depending on what the workflow is for.
Remember it ends the bot's turn
The AI badge goes and the bot stops. Auto-assigning a chat the bot was handling perfectly well removes the bot from it.
Use it for escalation, not load-balancing
"Assign to the manager when the customer mentions a refund" is good. Blanket auto-assignment of everything defeats the point of having a bot at all.
Reassign upward as a second step
The pattern that works: notify the assignee, then "after 15 more minutes, reassign to their manager". That gives the first person a fair chance and guarantees the customer is not stranded.
Assign to a person, not a rota
A named person can be asked why it is still open. Assignment to nobody in particular is how work goes quiet.
Pair it with an hours condition
Auto-assigning outside working hours creates a queue for the morning rather than a response. Add "only if inside business hours" and let the bot or voicemail handle the rest.
Check it worked
Trigger the workflow and check the contact's activity feed. The assignee change should appear as an audit entry, so anybody looking later can see the automation did it rather than a person.
The parts people get wrong
- Because agents only see what is assigned to them, an auto-assign step is also what makes a conversation visible to that agent.
- Assigning takes the bot off permanently for that thread. There is no handing it back.