Conversation Lifecycle Explained

How Conversations Are Created

A new conversation is created whenever a customer sends a message through a connected channel — webchat, email, WhatsApp, or social messaging.

Each conversation is assigned a channel, a status, and an initial priority based on the message content.

If AI classification is enabled, the system also detects the customer's intent (e.g., billing question, product issue, purchase interest) and assigns a confidence score.

This happens automatically and does not require any configuration.

Conversation Statuses

Every conversation has a status that reflects where it is in your team's workflow:

• Open — The conversation is active and waiting for attention. New conversations start here.
• Pending — Your team has replied, and you're waiting for the customer to respond.
• Snoozed — The conversation is temporarily hidden from the active queue. It will reappear at the time you set.
• Resolved — The conversation has been handled. It moves out of the active queue but remains searchable.
• Closed — The conversation is fully complete. Closed conversations are archived and don't appear in active views.

You can change a conversation's status manually at any time from the inbox.

Some status transitions also happen automatically — for example, when a customer replies to a resolved conversation, it reopens automatically.

Conversation States

In addition to status, each conversation has a state that describes what's happening right now:

• Waiting on agent — The customer has sent a message and is waiting for your team to respond. This is the most common starting state.
• Waiting on customer — Your team has replied, and you're waiting for the customer.
• Resolved — The conversation has been resolved by your team or by AI automation.

The state updates automatically as messages are sent and received. You don't need to manage it manually.

How Priority Works

VersanaCX™ assigns a priority level to every conversation based on multiple signals:

• SLA deadline proximity — Conversations approaching their response deadline are elevated.
• Customer value — High-value customers (based on order history or account data) receive higher priority.
• Sentiment and urgency — Negative sentiment or urgent language increases priority.
• AI confidence — If the AI is less certain about how to handle a conversation, it may flag it for human attention.

Priority levels are: Critical, High, Normal, and Low.

Priority updates automatically as conditions change — for example, a normal conversation becomes high priority as its SLA deadline approaches.

Assignment and Routing

Conversations can be assigned to specific team members or routed through queues and departments.

• Unassigned conversations appear in the shared inbox and are visible to all agents with access.
• Assigned conversations appear in the agent's personal queue.
• Departments allow you to organize conversations by topic (e.g., billing, technical support).
• Queues provide additional routing control with configurable priority and capacity limits.

You can reassign conversations at any time by selecting a new agent or department from the conversation detail view.

Snooze and Follow-Up

Snoozing temporarily removes a conversation from the active inbox.

When the snooze timer expires, the conversation reappears at the top of the queue.

Common uses for snoozing: waiting for an external update, giving the customer time to try a solution, or scheduling a follow-up.

You can set a snooze duration when you snooze a conversation.

Resolution and Closure

When your team resolves a conversation, it moves to the "resolved" status.

Resolved conversations no longer appear in the active inbox but remain searchable and accessible.

If a customer replies to a resolved conversation, it automatically reopens and returns to the active queue.

Closed conversations are fully archived — a new reply from the customer creates a new conversation.

Common Questions

• "A conversation disappeared from my inbox." — It may have been snoozed, resolved, or reassigned to another agent. Use the search function or check the "all" filter to find it.
• "A resolved conversation came back." — The customer replied, which automatically reopened it. This is expected behavior.
• "I don't see priority changes." — Priority updates are based on SLA deadlines, customer value, and sentiment. If none of these signals change, priority stays the same.
• "A conversation is stuck in 'pending'." — Pending means your team replied and the system is waiting for the customer. If the customer doesn't respond, you can resolve it manually or set a snooze to check back later.