Last week our number was ported and our customer support team is using Phone Calls through Intercom. We have to support teams and the caller is prompted to select option 1 or 2. Depending on their selection they are routed to the proper team which is then assigned to a teammate of that team. If the call is unanswered, it goes to voicemail.
This has been working well for us however when a caller does not select an option and they are “abandoned in routing” they go to our default workspace assignee and remain open. How can I either route these to a team or automatically close these conversations?
Any help is much appreciated!!
Best answer by mateusz.leszkiewicz
Hi @ChelseaRentPrep It’s Mat from the Support Engineering Team 😀
To address the issue of calls being "abandoned in routing" and remaining open, you can set up a workflow to automatically close these conversations. Here’s how you can do it:
Workflow Setup: In the workflow editor, use the "Hang up" action. This allows you to add follow-up actions after the call hangs up. You can select "Close conversation" to automatically close the conversation after the call is abandoned .
Tagging and Automation: If the call is abandoned without a selection, you can apply a tag (e.g., "abandoned") to these calls. Then, create a separate workflow using that tag as an audience rule. Use the trigger "Customer has been unresponsive" and set the idle time before the workflow triggers to close the conversation .
These steps should help manage and close conversations that are abandoned during routing, keeping your workspace organized and efficient.
Hi @ChelseaRentPrep It’s Mat from the Support Engineering Team 😀
To address the issue of calls being "abandoned in routing" and remaining open, you can set up a workflow to automatically close these conversations. Here’s how you can do it:
Workflow Setup: In the workflow editor, use the "Hang up" action. This allows you to add follow-up actions after the call hangs up. You can select "Close conversation" to automatically close the conversation after the call is abandoned .
Tagging and Automation: If the call is abandoned without a selection, you can apply a tag (e.g., "abandoned") to these calls. Then, create a separate workflow using that tag as an audience rule. Use the trigger "Customer has been unresponsive" and set the idle time before the workflow triggers to close the conversation .
These steps should help manage and close conversations that are abandoned during routing, keeping your workspace organized and efficient.
For your first recommendation, I do have the hang up & close conversation set up in sections B and C (and it is working as expected). How could I incorporate this so that when someone abandons in Section A? This is where we are seeing abandoned calls resulting in unassigned, open conversations in our inbox.
For the second recommendation, it was my understanding for calls we can only use the When a customer calls trigger since the Phone is not a channel option in any of the other triggers. Is that accurate or can I still use the other triggers for calls?
Since you already have the “Hang up & Close Conversation” working in Sections B and C, the issue seems to be that abandoned calls in Section A are leaving unassigned, open conversations in your inbox.
To prevent abandoned calls from creating unassigned conversations, you can:
• Set a timeout action for Section A:
• If a caller does not make a selection within a certain time (e.g., 10-15 seconds), automatically end the call.
• You can add an action block (like a path or rule) that says:
• “If no input is received within X seconds → End Call & Close Conversation.”
• Redirect abandoned calls to voicemail or auto-close them:
• If a caller drops without selecting an option, send them to voicemail instead of leaving the conversation open.
• Or, trigger an auto-close action that marks the conversation as closed if unassigned.
• Use Intercom’s call event rules:
• Go to Automation → Workflows and set a rule:
• “If a call is abandoned at ‘Path A’ and remains unassigned for X minutes → Auto-close the conversation.”
2. Using Other Triggers for Calls
You’re correct that “When a customer calls” is the main trigger for phone-based workflows because Intercom does not currently list “Phone” as an option in other automation triggers.
However, you can work around this by:
• Leveraging conversation rules:
• Even though phone is not a channel option for all triggers, you can still create conversation-based automation rules that react to call events.
• Example: “If a conversation starts via phone AND no teammate is assigned within X minutes → Auto-close or assign to a bot.”
• Using tags to categorize calls:
• You can apply a “Call - Abandoned” tag to conversations that were abandoned, then create rules to auto-close or escalate them.
• Checking if Intercom has updated phone triggers:
• Since Intercom frequently updates its features, you might want to verify if new phone-specific workflow triggers have been added.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this 😸
@mateusz.leszkiewicz Are you able to share examples of how to execute your suggestions? I cannot seem to find actions that refer to action time out or call abandon?
We use 3 different kinds of cookies. You can choose which cookies you want to accept. We need basic cookies to make this site work, therefore these are the minimum you can select. Learn more about our cookies.
