Inbound and Outbound Subjects
A subject is what a call or message is about: Lead generation, Support request, Welcome call. It is a content type with the Omnichannel Subject part, and its fields are what the agent fills in during the interaction. Each subject has a direction:
- Outbound subjects are for work you start: calling or texting a contact. The channel is chosen when you load activities.
- Inbound subjects are for work the contact starts: they called or texted you. An inbound subject can be manual (an agent logs it) or automated (an AI answers on a channel endpoint).
| Menu | Interaction Center > Management > Subject Flows |
| Permission | Manage subject flows; Edit content types (to change settings) |
| Feature | Omnichannel Management |
Create an outbound subject for calls you make. This one uses a default campaign and adds a Vehicle of interest field:
Create an inbound subject for calls customers make. This one is a manual phone subject with a Question field:
Create a subject
- Open Interaction Center > Management > Subject Flows and click Add Subject.
- Enter the subject's Display Name, for example Support Request, and click Create.
- On the Add Parts page, click Add & Configure next to Omnichannel Subject. The subject's settings open straight away (described below). Save them.
- Add the fields the agent should capture, for example a Vehicle of interest text field, from Edit Content Type.
Later, click Edit Settings next to the subject on the Subject Flows list to change its settings.
Subject settings
| Setting | Applies to | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | all | Outbound (the default) or Inbound. |
| Interaction type | Inbound | Manual (an agent logs it) or Automated (an AI profile handles it). |
| Channel | Inbound | Phone or SMS. |
| Channel endpoint | Inbound automated | The number the AI answers on. |
| Default campaign | all | The campaign used when an activity is created outside an activity load, and the fallback for loads. |
| Require a disposition | all | The agent must pick an outcome to complete the activity. Leave it on unless the subject has no outcome to record. |
When the AI features are enabled, more settings appear:
| Setting | Applies to | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| AI profile | Inbound automated | The chat profile that runs the conversation. Only profiles with an opening message are listed. Automatic activity loads can pick a different profile. |
| Subject goal | Inbound automated | What the AI is trying to achieve, in plain words. |
| Speech-to-text, Text-to-speech, Voice | Inbound automated phone | The speech models and voice. Empty uses the site's AI defaults. |
| Allow AI to update contact / subject | Inbound automated | Lets the AI write what it learns back to the records. |
| No-response timeout (minutes), Response delay (seconds), Opt-out keywords | Inbound automated SMS | When to give up on a silent customer, the minimum pause before replying, and the words that opt the customer out. |
| Allow the AI to hand off to a live agent, Handoff queue, Escalate when | Inbound automated, and every outbound subject | Lets the AI pass the conversation to a person in the chosen queue when the customer asks for a human, is a qualified lead, or is frustrated. Handing off an SMS conversation needs the Messaging workspace. |
Only the settings that apply to the chosen direction, type and channel are shown.
The Subject Flows list shows a badge for each subject's direction, an Automated badge with the channel, and Missing flow until you add at least one action. Next, configure the subject flow.