How to disposition an email after the agent replies

Dispositioning an email in VICIdial works exactly like dispositioning a call. The agent reads the message, sends a reply, then picks an outcome code for the lead. That outcome is what releases the lock on their screen and puts them back in line for the next call or email. If you already know how to wrap up an inbound call, you already know how to close out an email.

Why dispositioning is required

When an inbound email reaches an Agent, the matching lead opens on their screen and the session locks so no call or second email interrupts them. That lock does not lift on its own. The agent has to choose a disposition for the lead, and only then does VICIdial mark them available again. Email and calls work in the same fashion here, so the same wrap-up habit applies to both.

The order of operations

The steps the agent follows are the same every time, so they become muscle memory quickly.

• Read the incoming email on the locked customer record.
• Type and send the reply from the agent interface.
• Pick a disposition code for the lead, the same list you use for calls.
• The lock releases and the agent is available for the next call or email.

What the disposition does to the lead

The Disposition you pick does two jobs. It records the outcome on the Lead so the next agent who touches that customer has the history, and it flips the agent's Status (lead status) back to available. Picking the right code matters because email leads flow through your dispositions the same way call leads do, so reporting stays consistent across both channels.

Use the same disposition list you already maintain for inbound and outbound calls. There is no separate set of codes for email. A reply that resolved the customer's question gets a closed-out code, one that needs a follow-up gets a callback or pending code, and a message that turned out to be spam gets whatever junk code you use. Because the codes are shared, a manager pulling a report sees email and voice outcomes side by side without having to reconcile two different schemes.

If an agent answers a message but is not sure how to classify it, the safest move is a pending or callback-style code rather than leaving the lead open. Leaving it open keeps them locked and idle, while a pending code releases them and still flags the lead for a second look later.

stateDiagram-v2
  [*] --> Locked
  Locked --> Replying
  Replying --> Dispositioning
  Dispositioning --> Available
  Available --> [*]

Keep wrap-up tight

Because the agent is locked the whole time they are on a message, slow dispositioning eats into how many emails the team can clear. The same discipline you apply to Wrap-up time on calls applies here: reply, pick a code, move on. Long pauses between sending the reply and choosing the outcome are pure idle time, since no new work reaches the agent until they close out.

That is the entire flow: reply, disposition, get released. For how the lock is set up in the first place and where email sits next to voice and chat, see the VICIdial inbound email and chat guide, and if you route by outcome, read how to move emailed leads by disposition. To skip the perl-module setup and get inbound email working out of the box, see our managed VICIdial plans.