Use business rules

Business rules can help you manage common automations and improve your team's processes by automatically performing actions when conversations are created or updated. Business rules allow you to trigger changes based on Company, Customer, Conversation, and Message attributes.With business rules, you can:Add or remove tags from a conversation.Assign conversations to specific users or teams.Remove assigned users from a conversation.Update customer attributes based on conversation attributes.Change the priority of a conversation.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access the Business rules page.In this article:OverviewWhen do business rules run?Migrate from a workflowOverviewBusiness rules are simple and perfect for small changes and updates you want to make and manage in real-time. They are designed for the more common automations you might want to create and manage without requiring developers. Business rules allow you to change attributes on objects like conversations and customers. You can use these rules to create simple automations for conversation assignments, such as adding tags and changing priorities.Important business rule facts:Business rules are created from conditions and actions. Conditions set the criteria needed for the action to fire and actions represent what will be performed when those criteria are met.Business rules will run immediately after conversations are created or updated and workflows have finished. Business rules will only fire, or apply their actions, if the conversation meets the rule's set conditions.Actions applied by one rule can affect other rules.Actions in one rule can affect the conditions in another.Business rules do not run or fire on conversations after they are done. However, rules can fire while a conversation is being set to done.Kustomer also comes with a workflow feature that is frequently used along with business rules. Workflows are a more advanced automation feature that allows you to automate processes or add custom business logic to take full advantage of the Kustomer platform. Workflows allow you to create automations triggered when events occur in Kustomer or any connected app, then use conditional branching to add tags, assign users, create customers, or even make calls to external systems. In contrast to business rules, configuring workflows usually requires assistance from your implementation team or developer administrators. For more information, see Workflows overview.When do business rules run?The great thing about both of these tools is that they work together. Conversations in Kustomer will always run workflows first, so you can create integrations and update anything. Once your workflows have been completed, business rules will run using available data or changes made via workflows. New and updated conversations will start at the top of the rule list, looking for a match, and conversations that match all of the criteria defined will have those business rules applied.Note: If you have queues & routing configured, they'll run last so that both workflows and business rules can apply changes to help you move conversations through your process. Learn more about Queue rules.Migrate from a workflowYou may find that you have a few workflows that already exist and can be moved over to business rules. We recommend that you create the new business rule first, activate it, and then turn off the workflow. Do not delete the workflow just yet. Ensure the business rule and its order work the way you expect before deleting the workflow.

In Kustomer, you can use filters on your data to help you narrow down the exact information you want to see or use. With filters, you can determine whether an object matches your defined criteria and then perform an action, such as:Send a satisfaction survey when a conversation is marked done.Run a business rule when an email conversation is updated.Route a conversation from a VIP customer to the appropriate team.In this articleChoose a conditionAvailable filter operatorsThe following operators are available:AfterBeforeChanged FromContainsDoes Not ContainContains Any OfDoes Not Contain Any OfDuring Business ScheduleOutside Business ScheduleIs Equal ToDoes Not EqualIs Greater Than or EqualsIs Less Than or EqualsIs One OfIs Not One OfIs SetIs Not SetOn or AfterOn or BeforeIs WithinStarts WithChoose a conditionThe first step in creating filter criteria is to decide the type of condition you want to use.The following conditions are available:Match All of the Following provides you with "And" functionality. Choose this option when you want all of the criteria in this filter to be met. Selecting this type of condition will narrow the type of data you retrieve and help to hone in on one very specific thing. For example, if you want to look at the status of recently created conversations, and don't want all channels included in the data set, you can set this filter value to “equals email”. Match Any of the Following provides you with "Or" functionality. Choose this option when you have multiple criteria for this rule, and at least one condition has to be met. This type of condition can be useful for finding data when you're not sure which term will be used from a known list. For example, you can use this condition to build a report of all custom objects where you input a list of 10 order numbers using OR conditions. You can create filter criteria using both Match All and Match Any conditions. If you create conditions using both, all of the criteria set in Match All must be true and any criteria in Match Any can be true. In this example, you can both conditions to find email conversations for a specific customer that contains the word "refund" in either the message subject or body.Available filter operatorsOperators specify how your filter criteria relate to one another. Filters are made up of four parts:The object you are filtering on.The value you want to filter.The operator describes the relationship between the object and the value.The criteria you are using to define your results.For example, this filter will return all Customers (object) whose Name (value) Contains (operator) the word john (criteria), such as John Smith and Mary Johnson.The list below defines the operators available in Kustomer and provides an example filter for each.Note: The available operators change based on the value you select to filter.AfterUse when you want to return results that occurred after the specific date or time interval you entered. You can select to use an Absolute or Relative value in the condition. For example: If you select Absolute, the filter Customer Created At After Absolute 03/01/2020 returns all customers that were created in Kustomer after 03/01/2020.If you select Relative, the filter Customer Created At After Relative 7 Days Ago returns all customers that were created in the last 7 days.Note: This operator is only available for datetime values.BeforeUse when you want to return results that occurred before the specific date or time interval you entered. You can select to use an Absolute or Relative value in the condition. For example:If you select Absolute, filter Conversation First Response Sent At Before Absolute 03/19/2020 returns all conversations that were first responded to before 03/19/2020.If you select Relative, the filter Conversation First Response Sent At Before Relative 8 Hours Ago returns all conversations that were first responded to 8 hours before the present time.Note: This operator is only available for datetime values.Changed FromUse to return results that happened when an attribute changed. For example, the filter Conversation Channel Changed Was Equal To Email to Is Equal To Chat returns all conversations that had the conversation channel changed from email to chat.Note: This operator is only available for the Conversation object.ContainsUse when you want to return results that include the value in your criteria. The filter Customer Email Contains kustomer returns all results that have the kustomer string value anywhere in their email address, regardless of their user name, such as catherine@kustomer.com and kustomersupport@kustomer.com.For multi-level lists, the Contains operator returns all of the results that match the value, as well as all of its sub-levels.You can also use this operator to:Return results where the object string includes the criteria string. For example, the filter Conversation Name Contains out of returns all conversations that have Out of Office as the subject line.Return results where the criteria array has only one value and it is included in the object string. For example, the filter Conversation Status Contains Open returns all open conversations.Return results where the array includes the criteria string. For example, the filter Conversation Channel Contains facebook returns all conversations that have facebook-messenger or facebook-wallpost as a channel.Note: The Contains operator is not case-sensitive.Does Not ContainUse when you want to return records that do not include the value in your criteria. For example, the filter Message Subject Does Not Contain refund will return messages that exclude (or don't include) the word "refund" anywhere in the subject line, such as Refund Status.Note: The Does Not Contain operator supports the same values as Contains.Contains Any OfUse when you want to return results that can include any of the values you entered. For example, the filter Message Subject Contains Any Of out of, autoreply will return all conversations that have either or both of these strings in their message subject lines, such as Out of Office or Autoreply: On Vacation. Note: The Contains Any Of operator is not case sensitive.Does Not Contain Any OfUse when you want to return results that do not include any of the values you entered. For example, the filter Customer Email Does Contain Any Of acme, galaxy, kustomer will not return any results that have acme, galaxy, or kustomer in their email string.Note: The Does Not Contain Any Of operator is not case sensitive.During Business ScheduleUse when you want to return results for events that occur within your organization's office hours, per the Business Schedules Settings.For example, the filter Message Created At During Business Schedule Tier 3 Support Schedule only returns results where the message is created within the defined business schedule. This could be used in a business rule to send a daytime acknowledgment auto-response message.Outside Business ScheduleUse when you want to return results for events that occur outside of your organization's office hours, per the Business Schedules Settings.For example, the filter Message Created At Outside Business Schedule Tier 1&2 Support Schedule only returns results where the message is created outside of the defined business schedule. This could be used in a business rule to send an after-hours acknowledgment auto-response message.Is Equal ToUse when you want to return results for an exact match. For example, the filter Company Name is Equal To Acme only returns results where the company name is Acme. You can also use this operator to:Return results where a boolean in the object matches a string. For example, the filter Message Direction Type Is Equal To In returns all inbound messages.Return results where the number field in the object matches a string in the criteria. For example, the filter Customer Phone Is Equal To 7181234567 returns the customer whose phone number is 7181234567.Return results where the object matches a boolean value. For example, the filter Conversation Ended Is Equal To false returns conversations that are still open.Return results where a number field in the object matches the number in the criteria. For example, the filter Customer Avg Sat Score Is Equal To 6 returns all customers that have an average satisfaction score of 6.Return results where the array includes the criteria string. For example, the filter Conversation Channel Is Equal To Chat will return a conversation with chat as a channel.Return results where the object matches an object value in the criteria. For example, the filter Customer Company Is Equal To 123 Goods will return all customers whose company is 123 Goods.Does Not EqualUse when you want to return results for a specific object that does not match the value in the criteria. For example, the filter Conversation Status Does Not Equal Done returns all conversations that are currently Open or Snoozed.Is Greater Than or EqualsUse to return results that are equal to or exceed the criteria you entered. For example, the filter Customer Points Is Greater Than or Equals returns all customers that have 20 or more points logged in their profile.Is Less Than or EqualsUse to return results that are equal to or less than the criteria you entered. For example, the filter Customer Miles Balance Is Less Than or Equals returns all customers that have 10,000 or fewer miles.Is One OfUse to filter a property on a series of exact matches. For example, the filter Conversation Tags Is One Of Exchanges Refunds Returns will return results for all conversations over time, but only for conversations where at least one of the three specified tags is present. You can add up to 20 values in the criteria.Is Not One OfUse if you want to exclude records that contain any one of the specific values defined in the criteria. For example, the filter Conversation Assigned Teams Is Not One Of Chat VIP Team Voice will return results for all conversations over time, and exclude those assigned to the Chat VIP or Voice teams.Is SetUse if you want to return results for a specific value set in an object. For example, the filter Customer Preferred Channel is Set will return results for all customers that have a value set in the Preferred Channel custom attribute. Note: Values set to false or 0 will return as set.Is Not SetUse if you want to return results where a specific value is not set in an object. For example, the filter Customer Phone Is Not Set will return all customers who do not have a phone number. On or AfterUse to return results that happened on or after the specific date or time interval you entered. You can select to use an Absolute or Relative date value in the condition. For example:If you select Absolute, the filter Customer Created At On or After Absolute 03/19/2020 returns all customers that were created in Kustomer on or after 03/19/2020.If you select Relative, the filter Customer Created At On or After Relative 3 Months Ago returns all customers that were created in the selected time interval of 3 months before today.Note: This operator is only available for datetime values.On or BeforeUse to return results that happened on or before the specific date or time interval you entered. You can select to use an Absolute or Relative value in the condition. For example:If you select Absolute, the filter Conversation First Response Sent At On or Before Absolute 03/19/2020 returns all conversations that were first responded to on or before 03/01/2020.If you select Relative, the filter Conversation First Response Sent At On or Before Relative 1 Hours Ago returns all conversations that were first responded to 1 hour before the present time.Note: This operator is only available for datetime values.Is WithinFor an insight card, use to show additional attributes if a specific list item is selected. For example, filter Cancelation Reason Didn't Use Membership.Note: This operator is only available for custom attributes with multi-level list data types.Starts WithFor an insight card, use to show additional attributes that start with a specified set of characters. For example, filter Company Name Starts with Star to show attribute if the company starts with "Star". Note: This operator is only available for custom string properties, company names, and conversation names.

Kustomer offers a gallery of preconfigured business rule templates to help you quickly set up automations for common workplace actions. Explore our gallery to discover many useful and powerful new ways you can automate common processes in Kustomer, including auto-replies, applying tags from keywords, filtering spam, and more.You can use all of our templates as-is, or customize the template to best suit your needs. In this article, we'll show you how to find the template gallery and start adding new business rule automations to Kustomer.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access the Business rules page.In this articleAccess the business rule templates gallerySelect and customize a templateAccess the business rule templates galleryYou can access all of the available business rule templates from the business rules settings page:Go to Settings > Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.Browse the gallery to find all available templates. You can use the Search bar to filter the list, or select one the Use Cases categories in the sidebar to explore automations for specific types of actions. Select a template to begin customizing a preconfigured rule — or, if you can't find a template that matches what you're looking for, use the Create From Scratch button to create a new blank rule.Select and customize a templateAfter you find a template you're interested in, you can make any changes you desire to the template before activating it. Our template gallery comes with an assortment of rules to be used as-is or spark your imagination for how business rules might improve your team's efficiency.As an example, let's say you work in a hospitality industry that doesn't deal with shipments of physical goods. As a tutorial, let's take the Tag email conversations about damaged items rule, and customize it with terms that match your company's needs, like cancellations and refunds.Browse the template gallery, and select a template you'd like to use. For this example, select Tag email conversations about damaged items.The Building Blocks editor will appear, where you'll be given a high-level overview of your new rule to customize.Business rules start with a Trigger. In this case, one is already defined — we'll leave this as First Inbound Interaction.Next, you'd set up the Conditions for your rule. We can customize this rule to be more relevant for cancellations and refunds by updating the Conditions and replacing them with terms that might pop up in your line of business, like Cancellation, Refund, and so on. Type a term, then press Enter/Return to lock it in, and repeat the process to add subsequent terms.A business rule ends with an Action that's performed when the conditions are met. To finish the rule, update the Set Actions section to append the desired tag to the conversation.Once you're satisfied with the rule so far, you can use the Use Template button to proceed. If you want this rule to start taking effect immediately, check the Activate Business Rule box in the description.You'll finish in the full traditional Business Rule editor. Before you finish, update the Name and Description to reflect what terms will be tagged by this rule, like emails about cancellations or refunds. This will make it easier for you and other admins on your team to remember what function this rule performs in the future.When you're satisfied with your customizations, remember to select Save Changes from the bottom toolbar.The finished rule can now be activated whenever you wish for it to take effect. Business rules don't activate until you turn them on from the Business Rules Settings page, or by selecting the Activate Business Rule checkbox at the top of the screen when editing a rule.

With business rules, you can create simple automations for common tasks, such as applying tags to conversations. You can use business rules to trigger an action that occurs when a conversation attribute is changed.You can now use business rules to automate more specific tasks, such as:Send a message to the customer if their shipment delivery date changed to a later date than the original estimate.Add a note if the conversation's sub-status is changed and you are waiting for a customer to reply.Assign the conversation to a customer experience team if the customer's satisfaction score changes from a 1 to a 5.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access the Business Rules page.For this example, we will create a business rule that sends an email to a customer once their conversation is assigned to a user who handles escalated issues.To create a business rule that runs on an attribute change:Go to Settings and select Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.Fill out the Name and Description of this rule. We always recommend as a best practice that you use clear and illustrative names and descriptions, so that it's easy to know what function this rule performs if another member of your team reviews this rule at a later date.Select the trigger that will cause the business rule to run from the drop-down menu. Our example will trigger the business rule when a conversation is assigned, so we will select Assigned.Then, select the condition that this rule will target. For our example rule, we want the rule to run when a conversation is assigned to John Smith, who specifically deals with escalated issues.Note: The Changed From operator is only available for the Conversation object.Set the action you want to occur when the rule runs by selecting Select Action Type. In this example, since we want to send an email, we'll select Send Message from the popup.Note: The Send Message option is not available if your trigger is set to All Updates.Select Add Action, and then select Email from the Channel drop-down menu.Enter the information for your email. Check the Reply to all boxes as desired to control which recipients receive the auto-response.Select Save Changes.Now, whenever a conversation is assigned to a specific member in your Escalation Team (in this case John Smith), the selected recipients will receive an email notifying them that their issue has been assigned.

Business rules consist of a trigger that meets a specific condition, which then performs an action. Understanding these building blocks will help you successfully build a business rule. For more information, see Create a business ruleThe trigger is the first step in creating a business rule, which determines when the rule should run. As you build a rule, you'll choose what criteria triggers the rule. This article will show you the different triggers and how to set them up.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access these settings.In this article:Instant triggersTimed triggers (beta access)Setting actionsInstant triggersAssigned runs the business rule when a conversation is assigned to a user.First Inbound Interaction runs the business rule when a customer starts a new conversation, such as when they contact you via chat. Selecting this trigger allows you to set actions, such as sending an email.Inbound Interaction runs when an inbound message is received.Marked Done runs the business rule when a conversation is marked done.Reopened runs a business rule when a conversation that was previously marked done is reopened.All Updates runs the business rule on every conversation update, such as when its status is changed, or a user is assigned.Team Assigned runs when a conversation is assigned to a team.Unassigned runs the business rule when a user is unassigned from a conversation.Timed triggers (beta access)A timed trigger runs at a set interval once hourly. From the Set trigger dropdown, select Timed > Hourly.To use a timed trigger, you must select the Has Been operator with Conversation type for at least one of your conditions. The Has Been operator indicates that when a specified amount of time has passed, the action set in the next step will take place. For example, if you want to send a message to your customer if a conversation has been open for more than two days, you would select Conversation status has been open greater than 2 days, respectively.This trigger checks for conversations that meet the criteria every hour. If a conversation meets the criteria, the action set in the next section will occur. Note: Timed rules have the following limitations: Returned records have a 30-day max date range Can only match and return up to 1,000 records Cannot run on Done conversationsSetting actionsNext, select the action you'd like to have automatically take place with all matches meeting the conditions set in the previous step. For details on action options, see the Conditions and action in business rules article in the Actions section. 

Business rules contain two sets of data, conditions and actions, that are combined to create if and then statements. Once you set a trigger, you have to define the conditions the rule must meet to perform the action.In this article:Business rule conditionsAction typesUpdate DataPredict DataSend MessageQueue UpdatesBusiness rules conditionsThere are two types of conditions – all conditions and any conditions. Conditions set under Match all of the following must all be true for a rule to run. Conditions set under Match any of the following will run if a conversation update matches at least one of the conditions specified.You can create filter criteria using both Match All and Match Any conditions. If you create conditions using both, all of the criteria set in Match All must be true, and any criteria in Match Any can be true.Like searches and other parts of the Kustomer platform, you can define criteria at the company, message, conversation, and customer levels. You can also mix and match criteria across each object when creating a business rule.For more information on available operators, see Understanding filter operators.Action typesWhen a new or updated conversation finds a business rule with matching criteria, choose Select Action Type to specify whether you want to change object data, predict data using classification models, send a message, or update a queue.Note: If your trigger is set to All Updates, the only option available will be Update Data.Update DataYou can create criteria for the conversation, customer, or company object. For example, on a conversation, you can update attributes, such as User & Team Assignment, Subject, Priority, Skill, Tags, Language, and any custom attributes you've created.Note: Updating tags for the company object will only be visible via the API.Predict DataYou can create a business rule that applies one of your classification models to incoming emails so that you can start automating tasks. For more information, see Use classification models with routing. This action is only available if your trigger is set to First Inbound Conversation.The Predict Data options in the drop-down menu depend on your specific active predictions and may differ from the image.Send MessageYou can also send an email, SMS, or note when a conversation update occurs. This action is not available if your trigger is set to All Updates.To send an email, enter the following information:Email TemplateThe template the message will use. For more information, see Customize email templates.FromThe email address sending the reply.ToThe addresses that receive the reply. The auto-response will always be sent to the original sender's email address. Use the Reply to all checkboxes to customize whether replies are also sent to the To and CC recipients.Message Body The subject line of the message. You can add shortcuts, snippets, and dynamic text to your message, as well as @ mention specific users and teams.To send an SMS, select the phone number where the message will be sent.You can use the editor to format the text of the message body, and include attachments, shortcuts, and snippets.Note: Dynamic text like {{conversation.lastMessageIn.preview}} that isn’t a standard or custom attribute in the platform’s UI isn’t supported in business rule message sends. Attempting to use one in a message will result in an empty value.Queue UpdatesYou can use business rules to update your queues. The Queue Updates action is only available when your trigger is set to Assigned, First Inbound Interaction, Inbound Interaction, Team Assigned, or Unassigned.The following options are available:Unset Queue & Unassign UserRe-runs conversations through your queue rules, ensuring that your business rules are applied to previously queued conversations.Note: Unsetting a queue removes the user currently assigned to a conversation.Set Queue & Unassign User Re-queues a conversation when an attribute changes. For example, you can move chat conversations to a new queue when the conversation priority has changed.


If your organization has queues and routing turned on, you can use Conversation Classification to predict an attribute, such as contact reason, and automatically route a conversation to a specific queue based on that classification model. This helps your agents save time they usually spend when manually classifying and routing conversations.August 2023 update: Conversation Classification is no longer available to new customers.Important: If you have queues and routing set up in your organization for smarter routing, you must create two business rules to ensure that conversations are routed to the correct queue.The first step is to create a business rule that performs three actions: adds a tag to a queue, unsets the queue, and predicts data for the incoming conversation. In this example, we will predict tags.Go to Settings > Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Business Rule.Enter a name for the business rule and then select First Inbound Interaction as the Trigger.Set the Conditions criteria to Conversation Channel Is Equal To Email.Select the following options from the Select Action Type menu: Change DataQueue UpdatesPredict DataNext, set the Update Data criteria to add a tag to the conversation. Any new or existing tag can be used and will be removed in the next procedure. For this example, we will set it to Conversation Tags Append predicted.Tip: You can create a new tag directly while creating the rule by selecting Add tag and entering predicted.Set the Make Queue Updates criteria to Queue Unset Queue & Unassign User.Select Tags from tags from the Predict Data drop-down menu. The following image shows all of the actions that we set.Select Save Changes.Next, create a second business rule that removes the predicted tag that we just added.Select Add Business Rule in the Business Rules page.Enter a name for the business rule and then select All Updates as the Trigger.Set the Conditions criteria to:Message Direction Type Is Equal To Initial In Conversation Tags Contains predictedSelect Select Action Type > Change Data. Set the Update Data criteria to Conversation Tags Remove predicted.Select Save Changes.Now, whenever you receive an inbound email, Conversation Classification will predict an attribute such as, Contact Reason, and the conversation will automatically be assigned to the correct queue through queues & routing based on the predicted value.

Business rules are an easy-to-use method to manage common automations and modify actions automatically when conversations are created or updated. With Business Rules, you can automatically add or remove tags from a conversation, assign an agent to a specific conversation, filter and close spam messages, close send auto-replies, and so much more.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can create business rules.In this article:Business rule limitsCreate a business ruleActivate a business ruleChange the order of business rulesView the audit log for a business ruleDuplicate a business ruleBusiness rules limitsBusiness rules help you manage common automations and allow you to trigger changes based on company, customer, conversation, and message attributes. Limits are based on your plan. For details, see the pricing page.Create a business ruleBusiness rules are triggered when a conversation is updated. You can create a business rule manually, or select one from an existing template. In this article, we will guide you through creating a rule manually.To create a business rule:Go to Settings > Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.Fill out the Name and Description of this rule. We always recommend that you use clear and illustrative names and descriptions as a best practice so that it's easy to know what function this rule performs if another member of your team reviews this rule at a later date.Select the trigger that will cause the business rule to run from the drop-down menu.Next, determine the business rule criteria it must meet using the Match all of the following or Match any of the following fields. For example, you can set up a condition so that the business rule will run if the conversation is a chat and customer loyalty is great.Then, define the action the business rule will take once it meets the criteria. You can update data in an object, send a message, or both. In this example, once the above criteria are met, the assigned team for that conversation will be changed to the VIP Chat Team.Select Save Changes.You can also send an email, SMS, or note once a conversation triggers a business rule. For more information, see Conditions and actions in business rules.Activate a business ruleOnce you have added the criteria needed for a business rule to run and the action it will take if it meets that criteria, you have to activate the rule for it to take effect. There are two places where you can activate the rule:Turn on the toggle on the Business Rules Settings page.While editing the rule, select the Activate Business Rule checkbox, then select Save Changes.Whichever method you use to activate the rule, the status of the toggle and checkbox will automatically stay in sync. Turning a business rule on or off via its toggle will simultaneously check or clear the checkbox on its edit page and vice versa.Change the order of business rulesThe order of your rules will impact how and which actions are run. Each rule can be affected by another rule in the list. In some instances, you may want one rule to run before another, so you'll want to reflect that in your sort order. Note: Business rules are all run from the beginning after each change.You can change the order of your business rules using the numbered drop-down menu.View the audit log for a business ruleYou can view the audit log for a specific business rule by going to More Optionsand selecting View Audit Log.Hovering over the Before and After columns will reveal more details about what was changed in the criteria or action.Duplicate a business ruleYou can duplicate an existing business rule by going to More Optionsand selecting Duplicate. After you select this option, the edit page opens and you can customize any of the original criteria. Once you are done making changes, select Save Changes.Note: The duplicated rule is turned off by default. You can activate it by turning on the toggle from the Business Rules settings page or using the Activate Business Rule checkbox on the edit page.

A custom attribute (sometimes called a custom field) adds more detail and information to a conversation's Insights panel. You can create automations to update these automatically based on inbound messages sent to your company. Business rules make it easy to update a custom attribute based on a trigger, like a keyword on an incoming email.This article will explain a basic business rule that sets the value of a custom attribute based on a keyword in the message's body, but you can adapt these steps to perform any other action of your choice.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can create business rules.In this articlePrerequisitesCreate the business ruleConfigure the business rule trigger and conditionsSet actions for the business rulePrerequisitesBefore following this guide, you should set up the desired custom attributes for the Conversation Klass. For demonstration purposes in this article, we'll work with one of the most commonly-used custom attributes for a conversation: a Contact Reason attribute that uses a Single-line text Option List or Multi-level list type.We also recommend that you already be comfortable with the basics of using business rules.Create the Business RuleThe first step will be to create a new business rule:Go to Settings > Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.Configure the business rule trigger and conditionsThis brings up a preference pane labeled Edit Business Rule where the rule can be adjusted. Next, we'll set up this rule to adjust the trigger and criteria that cause the rule to fire. In this example, we'll be creating a business rule that reviews the first inbound interaction from a customer, and if the message is sent to our org's orders@example.com email alias, it sets the Contact Reason to Order.To edit the business rule:Fill out the Name and Description of this rule. We always recommend that you use clear and illustrative names and descriptions as a best practice so that it's easy to know what function this rule performs if another member of your team reviews this rule at a later date.Under Set Trigger, use the menu to select what triggers the business rule. In this example, we'll use Conversation Updated: First Inbound Interaction so that the rule doesn't fire every time the customer replies.Use the Conditions settings to control the criteria this trigger looks out for. In this example, we'll use the Message - To - Contains - [orders] condition to filter on emails sent to our example org's order email address, which might look like orders@example.com. We'll also add a failsafe of Conversation - Contact Reason - Is Not Set that ensures this rule doesn't collide with any other business rule or workflow that might also set the contact reason.Set actions for the business ruleThe final section in the business rule settings is where you'll configure what action(s) this rule performs when activated. Our example rule will apply the Contact Reason: Order custom attribute to the inbound conversation.To set the actions for the business rule:Under Set Actions, use the Select Action Type menu to choose Update Data.Select Add Action.In the Type menu, select Conversation.In the Field menu, select Contact Reason.In the Operation menu, select Replace With.Use the Option menu to select the custom attribute.The finished rule can now be saved, and you can activate the business rule whenever you wish for it to take effect.

Business rules allow you to create common automations that help your team work more effectively. This tutorial will walk you through an example of a basic business rule from our template gallery that will assign an inbound conversation to the appropriate team, based upon which email alias the message is addressed to.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access the Business rules page.In this articlePrerequisitesCreate the business rule from the template galleryCustomize building blocksPrerequisitesBefore following this guide, you should create your teams.We also recommend that you already be comfortable with the basics of business rules.Create the business rule from the template galleryThe first step will be to create a new business rule:Go to Settings> Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.The template gallery will appear. Select the template Assign based on receiving an email.Customize building blocksThis brings up the template customizing interface, where you'll customize the building blocks that compose your rule. Business rules always consist of a trigger that meets a specific condition, which then performs an action.To customize the business rule:The trigger for this template is already set to First Inbound Interaction, which runs events whenever a customer starts a new conversation with you. This can be left as-is.The conditions for this template have some starter suggestions you can customize. Conversation > Channel > Is Equal To > Email makes it so this rule only applies to email conversations. You can leave this as-is, though you might consider creating another rule from this template later for some of your other channels if this rule works out for you.In the conditions you'll also choose the team alias to filter for. This is pre-filled as @sales and @support, but you can add, change, or remove any aliases you'd like to apply in this filter. As an example, let's limit this to the @support alias by removing @sales.The action is where you'll define the teams this rule will assign emails to. Use the Conversation > Assigned Teams > Replace With > Select... drop-down menu to pick the team associated with the conditions you set in the previous step. Following this example where we've limited the conditions to the @support alias, we would select Support from the list of teams.Your business rule is almost ready to go! If you don't want the rule to take effect immediately, uncheck the Activate Business Rule box — otherwise, leave this checked to keep it active. Then select Use Template to save and activate the new template.Your finished rule is now created and ready to use. If you didn't activate it earlier, you can use the Business Rules Settings to activate the business rule whenever you wish for it to take effect.

Business rules can automate actions in conversations to increase your team's efficiency. This article will walk you through an example of a basic business rule that will automatically close a conversation based on a given criteria. A use case for this might be if your team wishes to capture inbound tweets but did not need to respond to them as part of a conversation.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access the Business rules page.In this articlePrerequisitesCreate the business ruleConfigure the business rule trigger and conditionsSet actions for the business rulePrerequisitesBefore following this guide, you should decide and set up the criteria you want to filter. For example, if you plan to filter conversations originating from Facebook, you'll need to configure the Instagram channel in Apps > Instagram.We also recommend that you already be comfortable with the basics of using business rules.Create the business ruleIn this example rule, our goal is to filter inbound messages from Facebook comments and automatically close conversations originating from this channel. You can also adapt these steps to create any other rule that suits your needs.The first step will be to create a new business rule:Go to Settings > Platform > Business Rules.Select Add Rule.Configure the business rule trigger and conditionsThis brings up a preference pane labeled Edit Business Rule where the rule can be adjusted. Next, we'll set up this rule to adjust the trigger and criteria that cause the rule to fire. In this example rule, our goal will be to filter inbound messages from Instagram comments and automatically close conversations from this channel.To edit the business rule:Fill out the Name and Description of this rule. We always recommend that you use clear and illustrative names and descriptions as a best practice so that it's easy to know what function this rule performs if another member of your team reviews this rule at a later date. For this example, we can use:Name: Automatically close Instagram messagesDescription: Business rule that automatically closes incoming comments from the Instagram channel Under Set Trigger, use the menu to select what triggers the business rule. In this example, we'll use Conversation Updated: First Inbound Interaction so that the rule doesn't fire every time the customer replies.Use the Conditions settings to control the criteria this trigger looks out for. In this example, we'll use the Conversation - Channel - Is Equal To - Instagram comment condition to filter on inbound messages that originate as a public Instagram comment, which excludes private Instagram DMs.Set actions for the business ruleThe final section in the Edit Business Rule settings is where you'll configure what action(s) this rule performs when activated. Our example rule will change the conversation status created from an inbound tweet to Done.To set the actions for the business rule:Under Set Actions, use the Select Action Type menu to choose Update Data.Select Add Action.In the Type menu, select Conversation.In the Field menu, select Status.In the Operation menu, select Replace With.Use the Select a value menu to select Done.The finished rule can now be saved, and you can activate the business rule whenever you wish for it to take effect.

This article will cover the tools that can process automations within any Kustomer organization, as well as provide use case examples and testing methods.Who can access this feature?User typesAdmins can access these settings pages.In this articleAutomation methodsExamples of common automationsUse Shortcuts with automationsTesting new automationsAudit logsSearchReportingAdjusting to automation and tips to rememberTeam sizeProductivityParallel or conflicting automationsAdvanced configurationsAutomation methodsKustomer offers three automation methods:Business rulesWorkflowsQueues and routingBusiness rules are simple, event-driven automations that can be utilized to automate dozens of unique processes. Kustomer offers a variety of business rule templates for common automations which can be adapted to suit the needs of your team. They can be triggered off of 8 unique conversational updates, filtered to specific criteria, and then made to act in any of the following ways:To change data (such as Conversation, Customer, or Company fields)To predict data using conversation classification (requires KIQ)To send messages (currently available for Email/SMS, but can also add a Note on a conversation)To update queuesThis option can perform queue updates based on different changes within attributes using the changed from operator.This functionality is distinct from queue rules.Workflows are a more powerful automation method that can be triggered by more than just conversational updates. Workflows can trigger off of external systems and applications, ingest data (via hooks), update data, and be scheduled (with time-dependent actions). In contrast to business rules, configuring workflows may require more technical knowledge of the Kustomer platform. Please reach out to the Kustomer Support team for assistance in creating or editing workflows.Queues and routing allow for automatic triage and queueing of conversations. Conversations are placed into queues, which are then routed to available agents based upon queue rules in a first-in first-out (FIFO) format for their specified team.Examples of common automationsBelow are some examples of automations, and which automation method could be used to accomplish each use case.Use CaseBusiness RulesWorkflowsQueues & RoutingAcknowledgment auto-response (for any channel during or outside business hours)✔✔Close out-of-office messages or"thank you" replies✔✔Ingest or update data using hooks to show order information on a timeline✔Route conversations to teams or agents based on the conversation topic type✔Use Shortcuts with automationsAnother tool frequently used along with automations is shortcuts. Shortcuts are text snippets that can be used in conversations to include boilerplates, canned responses, and other frequently-used response text. Shortcuts offer dynamic fields that can import and use customer information, like addressing a boilerplate to a customer by name, or mentioning their latest order by ID.Along with sending a pre-composed message, shortcuts can also be used to perform actions like:Set or replace the conversation subject or nameSelect an email templateAdd tagsSpecify optional or custom fields like assigned userTesting new automationsAfter you've set up a business rule, workflow, or queue rule, how do you tell if it's working? There are a few places in Kustomer to check after you've set up a new automated process.Audit logsThe audit log provides you with a view of events within your Kustomer organization which can help you track activity across your team. In addition to tracking general events, business rules and workflows report events to their audit log for troubleshooting purposes.SearchSearch is a great way to find objects you've created. Based on the conditions in the search, you can match based on actions that were conducted on an object.For example, if the attribute VIP is added to a conversation, you can search for the VIP attribute along with any other search conditions to find conversations that received the VIP attribute.For queues and routing, you can create searches to view the conversations that go into a queue. Each conversation also has its audit log which can be used to review a detailed list of all events that occurred on the conversation.ReportingIf attributes or custom objects are created and updated via automation, you can utilize the custom reports based on those objects to see their usage.If you added new shortcuts and want to see the usage of each, you can view the chart under the Conversation standard report. Based off of this information, you can review or modify lesser-used shortcuts or create further automations based on the most-used shortcuts.Adjusting to automation and tips to rememberAdding automations should help make everyday tasks more efficient for you and your team. When configured correctly, automations should not make any of your current configurations or processes more complicated.If you're finding that your automations are causing more work or friction, or your team is forced to find workarounds, you may want to reevaluate your automations with the following considerations in mind.Team sizeWhat are the day-to-day responsibilities of your agents?How is their work split up throughout the workday?What does your staffing look like?Do you need additional agents to help with your inbound volume or processes?ProductivityUse Reporting to determine and take action on outliers.For example: service-level agreements (SLAs), percentage of volume per channel, and conversation topics.In the Conversation report, inbound messages per hour can provide a better understanding of how to staff your support team.Use acknowledgment auto-response automations to let your customers know that you've received their message, and set proper expectations by providing an anticipated reply time. (Make sure to keep your quoted reply time ETA up-to-date as your support traffic changes.)Searches can help organize different types of standard objects (Customers, Conversations) and custom objects (Orders, Subscription Info). Make use of search folders to organize your saved searches.Team Pulse helps track your team in real time, with the ability to see agent activity and conversations in progress. (Ultimate plans only.)Parallel or conflicting automationsThere's nothing in Kustomer that would prevent you from setting up multiple automations around the same process. This can however lead to inconsistent and unpredictable results, and Kustomer cannot guarantee whether an automation (business rules, queue rule, workflow, etc) will run in a specific order or how fast it will run.As a best practice, if you're considering creating multiple automations around the same process — for example, creating an auto-response message — we recommend sticking to 1 single automation for that process that incorporates all of the desired changes.If 2 or more automations are set to take action on the same trigger but 1 of those automations relies on configurations made by the other automation, you should adjust the 2nd automation by applying a different trigger to guarantee that it runs after the 1st automation is finished.Advanced configurationsIt's possible to create even more complex and integrated automations between automation tasks, business rules, workflows, and queues. For example, a workflow that ingests and updates data can also be used to power queues and routing strategies that would be too complex to build within queue rules or business rules alone.However, only advanced admins with fundamental knowledge of Kustomer's architecture and processes should attempt to create or modify these types of configurations. Contact Kustomer Support for guidance on adjusting these advanced and interconnected automation settings.