Triage agent design: 1-2 high-signal questions rescued B2B reps drowning in 60% low-intent chats
hubtyper · reddit · 2026-09-29
Auditing WhatsApp logs at a mid-sized B2B firm, the author found 60% of inbound chats were basic tire-kickers (hours, baseline pricing, specs), while high-intent buyers waited 3+ hours in queue.
The hard part of building a triage agent isn't routing logic—it's avoiding the 90s IVR feel. Too many upfront qualification questions spike drop-off; passing leads too early doesn't fix rep capacity. Their fix: restrict the agent to just 1-2 high-signal questions (e.g. "What's your project timeline?"), then either answer via automated FAQ or trigger an immediate human handoff—high-intent leads reach a live rep in seconds while general queries get answered on the spot.
The author asks how others balance qualification depth vs. friction, and whether to use open-ended intent extraction or hard-coded structured options for the first turn.
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