Right now, every time a customer sends a message, someone on your team has to manually read it, decide who should handle it, and reply. That works when you have a handful of conversations, but it doesn't scale.
Simple automations is the fastest way to set up two of the most common automations every team needs: an automatic reply to incoming messages and automatic routing of conversations to the right teammate.
What Simple automations can do
Simple Automations handles two things:
| What it does | |
| Auto-reply | Send an automatic message when a customer messages you. You can set different replies for business hours and after hours. |
| Route conversations | Automatically assigns incoming conversations to a teammate or team — either to a specific person or by round-robin across your team. |
Access Simple automations
- Click on the
icon on the to access Settings page - Click “Simple automations”
- On the “Simple automations” page, you will be able to configure auto-reply and route conversations.
Set up an auto-reply
Auto-replies send an automatic message when a customer contacts the selected channel. They help set expectations, greet customers, and let customers know when your team is away.
Before you start
Working hours must be set up before time-based auto-replies can be enabled. SleekFlow uses your working hours to determine whether the customer should receive the working-hours reply or the after-hours reply.
- Go to Settings > Simple automations
- Click “Set working hours”
- Set your team’s working days and hours
- At the “Auto-reply” section, toggle on auto-reply for:
- Reply during working hours: Send a welcome message when a customer messages during your working hours.
- Reply outside working hours: Lets customers know your team is away and when they can expect a response.
- Write the message customers should receive.
- Click on (x) to add variables if needed, such as the customer’s first name or last name.
- Click “Save” to save your changes
Your auto-reply is now live on the selected channel. The next time a customer messages you, they'll receive an instant response.
Set up conversation routing
Before you start
Working hours must be set up before conversation routing can be enabled.
Conversation routing automatically assigns new incoming conversations to your teammates based on the routing rule you choose. This helps your team reduce manual triage and make sure new conversations are picked up by the right person.
To set up conversation routing:
- Go to Settings > Simple automations
- Click “Set working hours”.
- Set your team’s working days and hours
- Toggle on “Route conversations”
- Choose how incoming conversations should be assigned:
- Assign to specific teammate: Assigns every incoming conversation to one selected teammate.
-
Round-robin: Assigns incoming conversations evenly across selected teammates who are online.
- You can include up to 20 teammates in the round robin assignment
- Leave unassigned: Keeps incoming conversations unassigned in the team inbox until a teammate picks them up.
6. Click “Save” to save your changes
Once saved, new incoming conversations will be assigned based on the selected routing strategy.
Avoid overlap with Flow Builder
Simple automations and Flow Builder both use automation rules to handle incoming conversations. If a Flow Builder flow is also triggered by incoming messages from the same channel, both automations may run on the same conversation.
SleekFlow will show a warning banner on the Flow Builder listing page if this overlap exists. To avoid duplicate messages or conflicting assignments:
To avoid duplicate replies or conflicting assignment rules:
- Use Simple automations for default channel behavior, such as basic auto-replies and conversation routing.
- Use Flow Builder for more targeted workflows, such as keyword-based routing, contact property checks, or conditional follow-ups.
- If a Flow Builder flow replaces the same behavior, turn off the related Simple Automation.
Tips for getting started
- Test the automation yourself: After saving your changes, send a message to your business through the connected channel
- Set up only what your team needs: Auto-reply and conversation routing work independently. You can enable one without the other.
- One channel at a time. Simple automations are configured per channel. If your team manages multiple connected channels, set up Simple Automations separately for each channel.
Next step
Simple Automations covers the essentials, but SleekFlow can automate much more — multi-step conversations, conditional branching, integrations with external tools, and AI-powered responses. Learn how in Getting started on Advanced Flow Builder