Every conversation's timer is in one of five states. Knowing which is which turns a long inbox into a short list of things that actually need you.
The five states
They are the options under Response time in the filter panel, and each answers a different question about whether a conversation is in trouble.
- Overdue
- The target has passed. Deal with these first.
- Due soon
- Approaching the target. Deal with these second, because they are about to become the first group.
- On track
- Inside the target with room to spare. Nothing to do.
- Paused
- The clock is not running.
- No targets
- No policy applies, so nothing is being measured.
Overdue
The customer has waited longer than you promised. It shows in red on the thread card, with how far past the target it has gone, such as 20d 9h overdue.
Two things are worth separating. Overdue on first response means nobody has replied at all. Overdue on resolution means somebody replied and then the conversation stalled. The second is far more common and easier to miss, because the thread looks handled.
Due soon
Approaching the target but not past it. This is the most useful state in the whole list, because it is the only one where acting still prevents the problem.
On track
Comfortably inside the target. Nothing is shown on the card, which is deliberate. A badge on every conversation would make the badges meaningless.
Paused
The clock has stopped. Time passing does not count against you while a thread is paused.
The usual reason is that the conversation is waiting on the customer rather than on you. You have asked a question and are waiting for an answer, which is why the Pending status and Waiting on customer exist.
This is a fairness mechanism. Without it, every thread where a customer took a week to reply would look like your team ignoring somebody.
No targets
Nothing is being measured on this conversation. There are two reasons, and they need different responses.
- The priority has no target.
- The commoner reason. A policy sets a target for each priority separately, and Low is often left blank deliberately.
- No policy matched.
- Less common, and worth investigating. It usually means a policy is not reaching the conversations you thought it covered.
You can tell the two apart from the policy setup, which shows which priorities have targets and which do not.
How to find them
- 1Open the Inbox.
- 2Click the funnel icon above the thread list.
- 3Open the Response time dropdown.
- 4Tick Overdue, or Due soon, or whichever state you want.
- 5The list shrinks to match. Combine it with other filters. Unassigned plus Overdue is the list nobody is looking at.
What to do with an overdue thread
- 1Open it and click the timer badge to see which target was missed and when.
- 2Read the history. "First response met" followed by a breach means it was answered and then dropped.
- 3Assign it to yourself so it stops being everybody's problem and starts being one person's.
- 4Reply, even if only to say where things stand. A holding reply restarts the relationship; silence does not.
- 5If the delay was caused by waiting on somebody else, set the status so the state of play is honest.