FAQ — Status vs engagement
A two-axis state model is unusual. Here are the questions agents and admins ask most often.
Why does a conversation have two state fields?
Because they answer different questions:
- Status answers “where in the lifecycle is this conversation?” (Active, Snoozed, Done, Archived)
- Engagement answers “is the ball in our court right now?” (Pending, Engaged)
A single field can’t capture both. An “Active” conversation can be either Pending (we owe a reply) or Engaged (we replied, waiting on customer). Without engagement, you can’t sort your Active list by “what needs me right now” — you’d have to read every conversation to figure out which ones are actually waiting.
Isn’t “Pending” the same as “Active”?
No. They’re orthogonal — they vary independently.
- Active + Pending = alive, customer wrote last, needs reply
- Active + Engaged = alive, agent replied last, waiting on customer
- Done + Pending = customer reopened a Done conversation, hasn’t been answered yet
- Done + Engaged = closed from agent side, customer hasn’t replied (the typical “done done” state)
Active is just “not snoozed, not archived.” It doesn’t tell you whether you owe anything.
Which one tells me what to work on?
Engagement does. Filter to Pending to see only conversations where the ball is in our court — those are the ones that need attention.
You’ll often combine: Active + Pending for “active conversations that need replies right now.”
How does engagement get computed?
Atender computes it automatically from the message stream:
- Customer sends a message → Pending
- Agent replies → Engaged
- Customer writes back → Pending
- Assignment, team change, or AI handoff event → Pending (someone on our side now owns it but hasn’t replied)
There’s no manual override. The rule is deterministic. See Engagement state for full mechanics.
What about internal notes — do they change engagement?
No. Internal notes are not customer-facing and don’t move the ball. A note from one agent to another is invisible to the engagement computation.
What about automation messages — are those “us” speaking?
No. Atender deliberately skips automation-generated messages when classifying engagement. The flag the platform uses is isAutomated: true on the outbound message — when the flag is set, the engagement classifier looks past that message to the previous human exchange.
This is why properly-tagged auto-acknowledgements, CSAT triggers, and incident auto-replies don’t mask conversations that still owe a human reply. The flip side: a custom automation or webhook that sends outbound messages without setting the flag will falsely flip those conversations to Engaged. If your engagement numbers drift, that’s the first thing to check.
Why do Snoozed conversations have engagement state?
Because conversations don’t lose their last-spoken-side just because they’re paused. A Snoozed conversation:
- Pending → customer wrote, you snoozed before replying (rare but happens)
- Engaged → you replied, snoozed, waiting on customer
When the snooze ends and the conversation returns to Active, the engagement state is still meaningful.
Can I have a Done + Pending conversation?
Yes. It happens when:
- You marked a conversation Done while it was Engaged (waiting on customer)
- The customer then wrote back
- The conversation reopened to Active… and engagement flipped to Pending
Until you reply, the conversation is Active + Pending. (If you hadn’t replied yet but the conversation was still “Done” somehow due to a bug, it’d be Done + Pending — but in normal flows the customer’s reply moves it to Active first.)
Why doesn’t the conversation list show engagement on each row?
To keep the list scannable. The list shows what every row needs (subject, contact, last update, tags, SLA). Engagement is a filter dimension, not a per-row badge — you’d just be coloring half the list one way and half the other.
To find Pending conversations, filter the list by engagement instead of looking for an indicator.
What if engagement gets out of sync?
Engagement is computed from the message log, so it shouldn’t drift. If you ever see a conversation that “feels wrong” (you’re sure you replied last but it shows Pending), check:
- Is there an inbound message you missed (auto-collapsed thread, attachment-only message)?
- Was the last “outbound” actually an internal note rather than a reply?
- Did automation tag a message such that the system reclassified it?
If none of those explain it, it’s worth flagging — engagement misclassification is a high-priority bug because it directly affects “what should I work on.”