# Route Contacts by Team Functions

It is important to set up a good automated routing system to help streamline your customer service process and ensure your Contacts are being attended to by the correct team in a timely manner.

### Benefits of Routing Contacts by Team Functions <a href="#benefits_of_routing_contacts_by_team_functions" id="benefits_of_routing_contacts_by_team_functions"></a>

Route Contacts by team functions to:

* improve customer experience when Contacts are routed to agents who have the expertise to address their specific concerns effectively.
* improve resolution time by connecting Contacts to the right team, reducing transfer and escalation time.

### Methods for Routing Contacts by Team Functions <a href="#methods_for_routing_contacts_by_team_functions" id="methods_for_routing_contacts_by_team_functions"></a>

1. Route based on Contact’s answer.
2. Route based on Contact data.

### **Route based on Contact’s answer**

{% hint style="success" %}
**Use this method** to route Contacts based on the team they want to speak to.
{% endhint %}

* Ask Contacts the team they want to speak to.
* Route Contacts to the right team for assistance.

### **Ask Contacts the team they want to speak to**

In the **Workflows** module, click **+ Add Workflow** > Click **Multi-Team Routing: Multiple Choice by Contact** > Click **Use Template**.

<figure><img src="https://3688769499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mbui1HRO4dGghy5ITOz%2Fuploads%2Fc09eRyC4QeSuWP4uc3XO%2Froute-customers-by-team-2.png?alt=media&#x26;token=0fb15508-f0d5-4c96-ac55-bd9f55b859c1" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**1.** [**Trigger**](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/modules/workflow): The Workflow starts when a conversation is opened by a Contact.

**2. Ask for Team**: This is the [Ask a Question](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/modules/workflow) step to ask Contact the team the Contact wants to speak to and save the answer as Variables. The [Variable](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/contact-and-messages/untitled) will be used in this Workflow’s Branch step for routing purposes.

The Ask a Question Step can be set up with multiple choice answers. In this Workflow Template example, we have prepared answer options as follows:

* Sales
* Support

### **Route Contacts to the right team for assistance**

<figure><img src="https://3688769499-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-Mbui1HRO4dGghy5ITOz%2Fuploads%2FX4gecScJK4Uk4f2p4KMh%2Froute-customers-by-team-3.png?alt=media&#x26;token=c98bca8d-de46-4a9c-ace5-7ff356b525e9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**3. Sales or Support Branch**: This is a [Branch](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/modules/workflow) step to route Contact to the right team based on the answer the Contact has selected in the previous Ask a Question step. If the Contact selects the answer option *Sales* or *Support*, the Contact will be routed to Branch 1 or Branch 2 respectively.

**4. Assign to Sales Team / Assign to Support Team**: Configure this [Assign To](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/modules/workflow) step with a team based on your business needs.

**5. Assignment Message**: Sends a message to inform Contact about their assignment status.

Once you have completed the setup, click **Save** and **Publish** to activate the Workflow.

**Route based on Contact data**

**Use this method** to route Contacts to the right team based on existing Contact information.

Contact information such as language or country can be derived automatically from the [Channel the Contacts used to message your business or from the Contact's phone number](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/handling-inbound-conversations/broken-reference).

Consider doing [customer data enrichment](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/support-use-cases) earlier in this Workflow so that the data collected can be used to make automated decisions on the next Workflow steps for your Contacts.

<figure><img src="https://files.helpdocs.io/9e3syfbzn8/articles/kz2dtjlsmg/1687403827556/route-customers-by-team-4.png" alt="Branch step"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Use a [Branch](https://docs.is-messenger.com/ismessenger/modules/workflow) step to route Contacts based on existing Contact information. We’ll use *Language* as the Contact Field in this example.

In the Workflow, add a *Branch* step and configure the step:

* Category: *Contact Field*
* Field: *Language*
* Operator: *is equal to*
* Select: Select your desired language.

{% hint style="success" %}
Consider Auto-Assignment as your next step to automatically assign Contacts to the right agent.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
Once you have completed the setup, click **Save** and **Publish** to activate the Workflow.
{% endhint %}