Flow block in Amazon Connect: Wait
This topic defines the flow block for pausing the flow for the specified amount of time. For example, if a contact stops responding to a chat, the flow is paused for a designated time before it moves to another branch, such as disconnect.
Description
This block pauses the flow for the specified wait time or for the specified event.
For example, if a contact stops responding to a chat, the block pauses the contact flow for the specified wait time (Timeout time), then branches accordingly, such as to disconnect.
Supported channels
The following table lists how this block routes a contact who is using the specified channel.
| Channel | Supported? |
|---|---|
Voice |
Yes - but only in Inbound flow when the Keep running while waiting option, or the Set event-based wait option is selected (see the image below). |
Chat |
Yes |
Task |
Yes - It always branches to Time Expired or Error. It never branches to Bot participant disconnected or Participant not found. The Participant Type setting does not affect this behavior. |
Yes |
Flow types
You can use this block in the following flow types:
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Inbound flow
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Customer Queue flow
Properties
The following image shows the Config tab of the Wait block. It is configured pause the flow for 5 hours.
It has the following properties:
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Participant Type: Runs the Wait block for the specified participant type.
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Default - A customer contact.
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Bot - A custom participant, such as a third-party bot. For more information about using this option, see Customize chat flow experiences in Amazon Connect by integrating custom participants.
-
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Timeout: Run this branch if the customer hasn't sent a message after a specified amount of time. Maximum is 7 days.
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Manually set timeout: You can provide the Number and Units.
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Dynamically set timeout: The unit of measurement is in seconds.
-
-
Customer return: Route the contact down this branch when the customer returns and sends a message. With this branch you can route the customer to the previous (same) agent, previous (same) queue, or override and set a new working queue or agent. This optional branch is available only when Participant Type = Default.
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Set Event based Wait: Specify a Lambda to wait for its completion and route the contact down the Lambda Return branch when the execution of specified Lambda is completed. This optional branch is available only when Participant Type = Default.
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Keep running while waiting: Temporarily route the contact down the Continue branch while waiting on the block. This optional branch is available only when Participant Type = Default.
Configuration tips
You can configure the Wait block to wait for a Lambda that is invoked using the AWS Lambda function block in Asynchronous execution mode. To do this, select the Set Event based Wait option and provide the RequestId of the Lambda invocation. For more information, see Load Lambda Result.
Note
If the wrong Invocation ID is provided to the Wait block, it continues to wait until the Set timeout.
You can configure the Wait block to run other blocks. For example, you may want to play an audio while waiting for a Lambda execution to complete. To do this, add a Play prompt block to the Continue branch.
You can add multiple Wait blocks to your flows. For example:
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If the customer comes back in 5 minutes, connect them to the same agent. This is because that agent has all of the context.
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If the customer doesn't come back after 5 minutes, send a text saying "We missed you."
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If the customer comes back in 12 hours, connect to a flow that puts them in a priority queue. However, it doesn't route them to the same agent.
Configured block
The following image shows an example of what this block looks like when it is configured with Participant Type = Default. It has the following branches: Time Expired and Error.
The following image shows an example of what this block looks like when it is configured with Participant Type = Bot. It has the following branches: Bot participant disconnected, Participant not found, Time Expired, and Error.
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Bot participant disconnected: The custom participant, such as a third-party bot, has successfully disconnected to the contact.
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Participant not found: No custom participant was found to be associated to the contact.
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Time Expired: The timeout specified has lapsed before the custom participant disconnected.
Sample flows
Amazon Connect includes a set of sample flows. For instructions that explain how to access the sample flows in the flow designer, see Sample flows in Amazon Connect. Following are topics that describe the sample flows which include this block.
Scenarios
See these topics for scenarios that use this block:
