Funnel and operations

Maximum time without a reply (response SLA)

Updated September 28, 2026

Step by step

1. Open Operations

   Go to Settings › Operations, Service card.

2. Set the time

   Fill in Maximum time without a reply (minutes), from 1 to 1,440 (24 hours).

3. Save

   Click Save. It applies to the whole team right away.

When the wait starts and ends

The wait starts when the customer sends a message in an open conversation and ends when someone on the team replies, from the dashboard or from the connected phone. The auto greeting doesn’t end the wait (it isn’t a person replying), and neither does an internal note, since the customer never gets it. Marking the conversation as resolved also ends the wait.

What happens when the SLA is breached

• On-screen alert: “Customer waiting for a reply — Waiting since 2:05 PM”, with an Open button. It goes to the salesperson who owns the lead and to the managers. The alert fires once per wait.
• Inbox badge: the conversation goes from Waiting to Late.
• Reports: the wait counts toward SLA breaches, in Analytics › Service and in the salespeople table. See Service report.

The alert shows up for people who have the dashboard open. There’s no email or phone notification for the SLA.

Which value to choose

These are suggestions: start with the default of 10 minutes and adjust based on the service report.

The clock runs 24 hours a day, with no business hours. A message sent in the middle of the night will breach the SLA before the team gets in.

Example

Example with fictional data. Example Co. uses 10 minutes. At 2:05 p.m., a customer asks about the price; at 2:15 p.m., with no reply, the salesperson who owns the lead and the manager get the alert and the conversation turns Late. The salesperson replies at 2:17 p.m. At the end of the month, the report shows a median first response of 4 minutes and 23 SLA breaches, 15 of them outside business hours.

Didn’t work? See…

• The alert doesn’t show up: it only reaches people who have the dashboard open and are the lead’s owner or a manager. Unassigned leads alert managers only.
• Lots of overnight breaches: use the Waiting queue with Sort by › Longest wait at the start of the day. See Inbox queues and filters.
• You want an immediate first reply: turn on the auto greeting (it doesn’t end the wait, but the customer isn’t left without an answer).

Frequently asked questions