Hi team,
I'd like to propose a simple color-coded (traffic-light) system for our Intercom queues, to help us identify ticket urgency at a glance and reduce response-time misses.
Proposed color logic (based on time since last activity):
- 🟢 Green – Within SLA (0–30 min since last message)
- 🟡 Yellow – Approaching SLA breach (30–90 min)
- 🔴 Red – SLA breached / needs immediate attention (90+ min)
How this could be implemented in Intercom:
- Using custom ticket/conversation attributes with color tags (e.g., a "Priority" field with red/yellow/green values), which can be set manually or via a simple workflow rule based on time-to-first-response or time-since-last-reply.
- Alternatively, using saved views/filters segmented by these time thresholds, so agents can sort by urgency without relying on color alone.
- Star/flag indicators (already in use) could be reserved specifically for VIP or escalated cases, separate from the time-based color logic, to avoid overlap.
Benefits:
- Faster visual triage, especially during high-volume shifts.
- Reduces the risk of tickets aging past SLA unnoticed.
- Keeps the current inbox structure intact — this only adds a layer of visual prioritization.
Happy to adjust the time thresholds or color meanings based on team feedback, or to pilot this in one queue (e.g., COL Supervisor) before rolling it out further.
Let me know your thoughts. 🔎
