How many open WhatsApp chats should one agent hold? Setting a cap

A cap is the number of open chats a person can hold before the queue skips them. Past it, new work waits instead of landing on someone who is already full. Pick the number from how many chats a person can really keep warm, then watch the backlog: a cap set too high hides a problem behind one overloaded person, and one set too low sends everything to the backlog and makes the queue look broken.

How do you pick the number?

1. 1For a week, count how many chats each person has open at the busiest hour, and how many of them they are actively answering.
2. 2Take the number they can answer within your own target, not the number they can merely hold.
3. 3Start there, and write the cap and the date in your team notes.
4. 4After a week, read the backlog and the per-agent queue depth. Raise the cap if people are idle while chats wait; lower it if replies are slow.

What else decides who gets a chat?

The cap is the last of several tests. A queue gives a chat first to whoever answered the customer last, then picks by its method, and the pick must be present (signed in, on shift, not on time off) and under their cap. Each assignment records what decided it, so you can read why a chat landed where it did.

What should you watch after changing it?

• The backlog and how long chats sit in it.
• Open queue depth per agent in the reports.
• First-reply attainment against the target you set.
• Whether people stop closing chats to stay under the cap. Done and reopened is for finished work, not for hiding it.

A cap only works if the queue behind it sees every number, so WavesFlo's queues draw chats from all linked numbers at once. The features overview lists caps beside shifts, time off and the backlog view.