If you run support or sales through live chat, you’ve probably watched chats pile up in the wrong inbox, or seen agents scramble to answer questions they’re not equipped for. It’s frustrating for everyone—including your customers. This guide is for team leads, support managers, and anyone who wants to make sure chats get to the right person every time, without turning your setup into a tangled mess.
We’ll walk through how to use LiveChat’s routing rules to match chats with the best agent for the job. I’ll flag what actually works, what’s mostly fluff, and the shortcuts you can skip.
1. Know What Routing Rules Actually Do (and Don’t)
Before you start clicking around, it’s worth getting clear about what you can—and can’t—do with LiveChat’s routing rules.
What routing rules do: - Automatically assign incoming chats based on rules you set (like who’s available or what group a chat comes from). - Help spread chats evenly, avoid agent overload, and (if set up right) send chats to people with the right skills.
What routing rules don’t do: - They won’t magically understand your business or guess what “right agent” means. You have to define the rules. - They don’t replace good training or internal communication. If your agents don’t know how to handle specific requests, routing alone won’t fix that. - They can’t read your customers’ minds. If the customer picks the wrong topic at the start, the chat may still go to the wrong place.
Quick reality check: Routing rules are powerful, but not perfect. Think of them as a solid filter—not a crystal ball.
2. Map Your Team: Who Should Get What?
Don’t jump into the LiveChat dashboard without a plan. First, sketch out how your team actually works.
Start with the basics:
- Who’s on your team? Write down roles, not just names. (Sales, Tech Support, Billing, etc.)
- What types of chats do you get? List out common topics or issues.
- Who should handle what? Be honest about skill sets—don’t route technical bugs to your sales rep just because they’re “available.”
Pro Tips:
- Groups are your friend: In LiveChat, agents get assigned to groups. Use groups for functions (Support, Sales) or regions (US, EU), not for every little niche.
- Keep it simple: The more groups and rules you make, the more ways things can break. Start with the basics and add complexity only if you need it.
3. Set Up Groups (The Backbone of Routing)
To make routing work, you need to set up the right groups in LiveChat.
How to create and assign groups:
- Go to the LiveChat admin panel.
- Click on “Agents” in the sidebar, then head to the “Groups” tab.
- Create groups that match your main support/sales functions. Don’t overthink it—better to have “Support” and “Sales” than “Support Tier 1 - East Coast - Widgets.”
- Assign agents to the right group(s). Agents can be in more than one group, but avoid putting everyone in every group unless you want all chats to go to everyone.
What to ignore: Unless you have a huge team, don’t bother making groups for every product feature or minor region. You’ll spend more time updating groups than helping customers.
4. Define Your Routing Rules
Now for the meat of it: setting up routing rules.
The two main ways LiveChat can route chats:
- By agent availability (“Round robin”): Chats go to whoever is online and has the lightest workload.
- By group: Chats get routed to a specific group based on things like pre-chat questions or which widget/page the customer is using.
Step-by-step: Set up basic routing
A. Routing by Group (Most common and reliable)
- Go to Settings > Chat Routing.
- Choose Group Routing. This is best if you have different teams for different types of chats.
- Set up your rules: For each group, decide how chats get assigned. For example:
- All chats from the “Sales” pre-chat form go to the Sales group.
- Website widgets on the pricing page route to Sales; widgets on the Help Center route to Support.
- Check the assignment method: You can choose round robin, all agents, or manual assignment within each group.
B. Routing by Agent Availability
If you have a small team or everyone handles everything, stick to availability-based routing.
- Select “Assign to agent with least chats.” This spreads chats out and avoids burnout.
- Set chat limits per agent if you want to cap how many chats one person can handle at once.
What works: Start simple. Most teams do fine with group-based routing and round robin within groups.
What doesn’t: Overly complex multi-layer rules (e.g., “If chat is from Germany and about billing and after 6pm, send to...”) sound cool but usually create confusion and missed chats.
5. Make Pre-Chat Forms Work for You
If you want even finer control, use pre-chat forms to ask customers what they need before they get to an agent. But keep it short—nobody likes a quiz just to ask a question.
How to set up pre-chat forms for better routing:
- Go to Settings > Pre-chat Form.
- Add a “Reason for chat” or “Department” dropdown.
- Keep options clear and few. Don’t give customers 12 choices—they’ll guess or pick at random.
- Map each choice to a group. E.g., “Sales” routes to Sales, “Technical Support” routes to Support.
Pro Tip: Test your form. If most customers pick “Other,” your options are too vague or there are too many.
6. Test Your Setup (Don’t Skip This)
Before you roll this out, test your rules. Nothing tanks customer trust faster than a chat going to the wrong person (or nobody at all).
How to run a quick test:
- Use an incognito window to start a chat as a customer.
- Pick different options in the pre-chat form and make sure chats land in the right group.
- Try at different times of day to check what happens if some agents are offline.
- Ask a few agents to run through scenarios and see if they get overloaded.
What to watch for: - Chats stuck “waiting for an agent.” Usually means your rules are too strict or no one’s online in that group. - Chats going to the wrong people. Tweak your group assignments or clarify pre-chat options.
7. Tweak and Iterate (Don’t Set and Forget)
You’ll never get it perfect the first time. That’s normal.
- Review chat transcripts: Are customers getting bounced around? Are agents overwhelmed? Adjust groups or add/remove pre-chat options.
- Keep agents in the loop: If agents keep getting chats outside their expertise, update your rules or provide better training.
- Avoid rule bloat: Every few months, check if you have too many groups or outdated rules. Clean up as needed.
Pro Tip: Ask your team—quietly—what’s not working. They’ll usually know before you do.
Summary: Keep It Simple, Fix What’s Broken
Assigning chats to the right agent using LiveChat routing rules isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overcomplicate. Start with simple groups and basic rules, test your setup, and listen to your team. Most importantly, tweak things as you go instead of chasing “perfect” on day one. That’s how you keep your support team happy—and your customers even happier.