Getting Started Guide ~8 min read

Assign Conversations Automatically with Auto-Routing

Converge Converge Team
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When a new conversation arrives, someone has to pick it up. Auto-routing removes that manual step by assigning incoming conversations to agents automatically, using either a round robin rotation or a load balanced strategy. In this guide, you'll learn how to enable routing, choose the right strategy, and review assignment logs.

Who can manage routing? Changing routing settings requires Owner Only permissions. Reviewing routing logs requires Admin / Owner Only or higher. All team members can view the current routing configuration.

How Auto-Routing Works

Auto-routing picks an agent for each new conversation based on the strategy you select. There are two strategies to choose from, plus an optional filter that restricts assignments to online agents only.

Routing strategies

Round Robin

Rotates through all team members in sequence. Each agent gets the next conversation in turn, guaranteeing an even distribution over time regardless of how quickly individuals resolve their conversations.

Load Balanced

Assigns the conversation to the agent with the fewest open (unresolved) conversations. This keeps workloads balanced in real time, giving busier agents a break while less loaded team members pick up new work.

Online-Only Mode

When the Only Online Agents toggle is enabled, routing skips any agent who is currently offline. This is useful for teams that handle real-time chat where an immediate response is expected.

No agents online? If every agent is offline and online-only mode is active, the conversation stays unassigned until someone comes online or an agent manually picks it up.

Round Robin

New msg 1 → 2 → 3 Agent A Agent B Agent C Each agent gets the next turn in order

Load Balanced

New msg fewest open? Agent A 5 open Agent B 1 open ✓ Agent C 3 open Goes to agent with fewest conversations
Success Check: You understand both routing strategies and the online-only filter. Next, you'll enable and configure them.
Pro Tip: Round robin is best when you want strict fairness. Load balanced is better when agents handle conversations at different speeds—it automatically compensates.

Enable and Configure Routing

Owner Only

Setting up auto-routing takes less than a minute. Open the routing settings, flip the toggle, and pick your strategy.

  1. 1
    Open Routing Settings

    Click the Settings icon in the sidebar, then select Routing from the settings menu.

  2. 2
    Enable auto-routing

    Flip the Enable Auto-Routing toggle to on. The strategy options will become visible below.

  3. 3
    Pick a strategy

    Choose Round Robin for sequential rotation or Load Balanced to assign based on each agent's current open conversation count.

  4. 4
    Decide on online-only

    Toggle Only Online Agents if you want routing to skip offline team members. Leave it off to include everyone.

  5. 5
    Save

    Click Save to apply your configuration. New incoming conversations will now be routed automatically.

Auto-Assignment settings page showing the enable toggle, strategy dropdown with Round Robin selected, Online Agents Only toggle, agent availability controls, and assignment logs table
Success Check: Auto-routing is enabled and your chosen strategy is active. Send a test message from a connected platform to verify the assignment.
Pro Tip: You can change the strategy at any time without disrupting existing assignments. Only new incoming conversations use the updated strategy.

Review Routing Logs

Admin / Owner Only

Every automatic assignment is recorded in the routing logs. Use them to verify that conversations are being distributed the way you expect, and to troubleshoot if something looks off.

What the logs show

Customer Name

The contact whose conversation was routed, so you can trace exactly which assignment happened.

Assigned Agent

The team member who received the conversation. Useful for spotting uneven distribution patterns.

Strategy Used

Whether the assignment used round robin or load balanced at the time of routing.

Timestamp

When the assignment happened. Helps correlate with shift schedules and peak hours.

Assignment Logs table showing recent auto-assignments with customer name, assigned agent, strategy used, and timestamp columns
Pro Tip: Check the logs during your first week of using auto-routing. Look for patterns—if one agent consistently gets more assignments with round robin, verify that all team members are active in the system.
Success Check: You can access routing logs from Settings > Routing and interpret the assignment history.

Best Practices & Tips

Resolve conversations to keep load balancing fair

Load balanced routing counts open conversations. If agents leave resolved issues in an open state, the algorithm assigns fewer new conversations to them than it should. Resolve completed conversations promptly.

Use online-only for real-time chat support

If your team provides live chat where customers expect a reply within minutes, enable online-only mode. This prevents conversations from sitting unread in an offline agent's queue.

Check routing logs during the first week

Review the logs daily for the first few days after enabling auto-routing. Confirm that assignments match your expectations and that no agent is being skipped or overloaded.

Combine with working hours

Set your company's working hours in Settings so that routing, SLA tracking, and other time-based features align with when your team is actually available.

Start with round robin, then consider load balanced

Round robin is the simplest starting point—every agent gets a turn. As your team grows and agents handle different volumes, switch to load balanced for a more adaptive distribution.

What's Next?

Auto-routing is set up. Here are some related features to explore:

  • Inbox Guide — Master conversation management, filtering, and bulk actions
  • Replies Guide — Speed up responses with quick replies and auto replies
  • SLA Guide — Define response and resolution targets with automatic tracking

Need more help?

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