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Pipeline Management

One of the most powerful features of the Inbox is Pipeline Control. You can manage the stage of a lead without leaving the inbox.

Each conversation can be moved between stages like:

  • Review
  • To Do
  • In Progress
  • Done
  • Backlog

This makes it easy to track where each lead stands in your process, keeping communication and operations perfectly aligned.

Pipeline Management

Understanding the Pipeline Stages​

Each Inbox has a visual pipeline bar across the top of the chat view, showing several progress stages by default:

1. Review​

  • This is the initial stage where all new messages or leads first appear.
  • Use this stage to review incoming conversations and assess their intent, urgency, or qualification.
  • Agents can decide whether to move them forward, assign them to a teammate, or let the AI agent continue handling them.

2. To Do​

  • Leads marked as To Do need further attention or manual action.
  • Typically used when an agent must follow up, verify information, or schedule a task.
  • It helps prioritize pending leads that are awaiting your team's input or response.

3. In Progress​

  • This stage represents active engagement conversations currently ongoing or deals being worked on.
  • Both AI and human agents can update this status to indicate that communication is underway.
  • Helps other team members instantly identify which leads are being handled and by whom.

4. Done​

  • Mark leads as Done once a conversation has been successfully resolved or closed.
  • This could mean the customer received the help they needed, or a lead has converted into a client.
  • Keeps your Inbox clean while maintaining historical records for reporting and analytics.

5. Backlog​

  • The Backlog stage is for low-priority or non-urgent leads that don't require immediate action.
  • You can return to these leads later when resources allow, without losing their message history or context.
  • Great for storing potential future opportunities or general inquiries.

Moving Leads Between Stages​

  • Simply click on the stage name (e.g., "Review," "In Progress," etc.) from the top of the chat and select the new stage from the dropdown.
  • The update instantly reflects in your team's shared Inbox, ensuring everyone sees the same lead status.
  • Pipelines can also sync with your connected CRM (e.g., HubSpot or Salesforce) through MCP integrations, keeping both systems in sync automatically.

Benefits of Pipeline Management​

  • Keeps your communication organized and structured.
  • Ensures no lead is forgotten or duplicated.
  • Gives visibility into your sales and support process directly within Inbox.
  • Helps in identifying bottlenecks e.g., too many leads stuck in "Review" or "To Do."
  • Enables managers to measure team productivity and agent performance efficiently.

💡 Pro Tip: Regularly review your pipeline stages to ensure conversations are correctly categorized. This helps your AI agent learn from workflow patterns and optimize automatic stage transitions in the future.