Lead Routing Rules: Get Website Enquiries to the Right Person

“Send every enquiry to everyone” feels safe until each person assumes somebody else has replied. A routing rule should make responsibility more visible, not create another notification everyone learns to ignore.

Choose rules staff can explain

Start with information customers can answer reliably: requested service, branch or preferred contact method. Avoid long forms designed only to satisfy an elaborate internal assignment system. If a choice is missing, use a visible fallback instead of dropping the enquiry.

Plan for people being unavailable

Round-robin assignment distributes requests, but it does not automatically know who is on leave or able to handle a specialist question. Define availability updates and reassignment responsibility. A promised response should reflect the business's real operating arrangements.

• Give each enquiry one accountable owner.
• Let staff see assignment time and current status.
• Route unsupported services to a review queue.
• Escalate overdue unassigned requests appropriately.
• Avoid including private customer details in broad alerts.

Test the uncomfortable cases

Try an unknown postcode, a closed branch and an absent salesperson. For a hypothetical two-branch business, a request outside both service areas should reach a person who can explain the options. It should not be silently forced into the nearest branch.

Review routing after launch

Sample enquiries from each route and check whether the assigned staff member actually responded. Fix frequent manual reassignments before adding more conditions. Document who can change routing rules and how changes are tested. The result to aim for is clear ownership and a shorter internal handoff, not a claim that software can guarantee a sale.