Intercom Team Lead SOP

Your responsibility: Maintain coverage across the queues you oversee, correct ownership gaps, prioritize overdue work, validate closures, and coach agents. This SOP is a team-wide control process; agents remain responsible for their assigned case actions.

When: At shift start, during the shift as volume and urgency require, and before handing over coverage. Use each team’s approved SLA, callback, and closure rules.

Before starting: Confirm the teams you cover, available agents, escalation contacts, and permissions. Refer missing access or configuration changes to the authorized administrator.

1 CHOOSE A VIEW: Inbox / Search | Your assigned work | Unassigned | Team inboxes

Team Leads: Check every team under your coverage

2. FILTER AND SORT

Open / Snoozed / Closed | Sort by activity or snooze time

3. OPEN A CONVERSATION

Read messages, notes, owner, and next action

Upper-right controls: Snooze (moon) / Close

4. USE THE COMPOSER AND ACTIONS

Reply = customer message | Note = internal update

Actions (four-square icon) > Assign to > Team, then teammate

Go to: Intercom > Inbox > Unassigned and each team inbox; use Inbox search to check assignments.

1. Confirm the workspace and remove unrelated filters. Review team queues as well as Unassigned: a conversation can have a team but still lack a teammate owner.

2. Use the layout toggle at the bottom left of the conversations panel to switch to table view. Inspect available assignment/status columns; use the far-right + to add useful columns where available.

3. Use the state control to review Open, then Snoozed and the team’s configured Pending view. Use search/filter controls to inspect specific teammate assignments.

Check before moving on: You can see the relevant queues and agent assignments; no leftover filter hides part of the work.

Oversight cycle

Scan queues → Identify exceptions → Assign a corrective action → Verify completion → Hand over outstanding work. A lower queue count alone is not proof that cleanup is complete.

Go to: Inbox > Unassigned, then each team queue; use Inbox search for team and teammate assignments.

1. Confirm the workspace, team and state filters. Review Open items in Unassigned and team queues, including

team-assigned items with no teammate.

2. Check oldest activity and SLA-risk items. Review assignments to agents who are off shift, absent or otherwise

unavailable. Use table layout if helpful to compare ownership and status.

3. Open each exception, confirm its team and next action, then use Actions > Assign to to set the correct team

and available agent. Add a note and confirm the receiving owner understands the deadline.

Check before moving on: Each actionable exception is assigned or escalated with a coverage plan. Do not treat a cleared

Unassigned view as the only completion check.

Go to: Team queue > Snoozed/Pending views; open call-related records.

1. Review due follow-ups and callback promises. Open the records and confirm a valid reason for waiting, an available owner, and a specific next action/time.

2. Ask the assigned agent to complete overdue actions; reassign if unavailable. Check for missing or inconsistent Aircall logs against the authorized call record.

3. Escalate access, routing, or integration failures to the appropriate admin/support contact with the affected links, impact, and actions tried. Track the issue and arrange manual coverage while it is unresolved.

Check before moving on: Each due follow-up has an active owner; technical issues do not leave customer work unattended.

Go to: Open the conversation > Actions (four-square icon below the composer) > Assign to.

1. Read the request and latest notes. Check the correct team, due time, and receiving agent’s availability before changing ownership.

2. Choose the team first, then the available teammate. Recheck both assignments because changing the team can clear the teammate owner.

3. In the composer, select Note. Record the reason, next action, and due date/time; @mention the receiving agent and confirm acceptance through the team’s normal process.

4. Open the record again or refresh your view to verify final ownership and status. Keep due work Open; use Snooze only for a valid waiting period with a documented reminder.

Check before moving on: The assigned agent knows what to do and when. A reassignment or @mention without confirmed coverage is not a completed handoff.

Escalation record

Record the team, conversation link, customer impact, SLA or promise at risk, actions tried, help required, escalation recipient, and next review time. Keep a named owner while the issue is with another team.

Example of a coverage correction

A callback is due after the assigned agent’s shift ends. Confirm a receiving agent, reassign the conversation, add the callback deadline and context, then verify acceptance. At the deadline, check the outcome note instead of assuming reassignment completed the callback.

Go to: Inbox > team filter > Closed; open recently closed records.

1. Review a sample, including duplicates, spam/no-action items, and call-related closures. Read the final messages and notes; confirm no promised task remains outstanding.

2. If closed incorrectly, use the available Reopen action, assign an owner, document the reason, and arrange the needed response.

3. Give the agent specific feedback on the missed step. Track recurring errors through the established coaching process and confirm the correction.

Check before moving on: Reviewed closures are justified, and any discovered errors have been corrected with clear ownership

Go to: Reviewed team queues > existing shift handoff channel or tracker.

1. For each team, list outstanding unowned work, overdue items, callbacks, and escalations. Include links, next actions, owners, and due times; record “none” where there are no exceptions.

2. Recheck work assigned to departing or absent agents. Correct coverage using TL4 and confirm acceptance from the incoming lead or designated owner.

3. Record any access or integration issues, temporary handling arrangements, and who will follow up. The incoming lead should be able to continue without reconstructing the case history.

Check before moving on: All outstanding exceptions have an owner and next review time, and the incoming shift has accepted coverage.

Go to: Use the Agent SOP and this Team Lead SOP with a training or supervised example.

1. Demonstrate how to select a queue, review history, distinguish Reply from Note, assign ownership, and choose Open, Snoozed, or Closed.

2. Have the learner complete the steps and explain the next action and closure reason. For new leads, also demonstrate Unassigned versus team queues, table view, reassignment, and closure review.

3. Give specific feedback on the missed step. Recheck a corrected example and record recurring issues through the established coaching process.

Check before moving on: The learner can perform the actions and explain why they chose the owner and status.

Shift summary template

Team | Review time/timezone | Unowned or overdue exceptions | Callback/follow-up links | Assigned owners and due times | Escalations/blockers | Incoming lead/coverage acceptance

Control reminders

Do not bulk-close records solely because they are old or share a subject. Read the underlying cases. Use a documented review sample for closure checks and follow up on every error found. A custom Pending status may not schedule a reminder.

Official navigation guides

Inbox and table view | Assign | Internal notes | Snooze | Close