Contact Drivers
Contact drivers are the second level of your hierarchy. They represent the main reasons or categories of inquiries within each workstream.
A contact driver answers: “Why is someone reaching out?”
Each workstream contains multiple contact drivers that cover the major categories of inquiries it handles.
Examples
Under “Customer Support Chat”
- Order Issues
- Account Problems
- Billing Questions
- Product Returns
- Shipping Inquiries
Under “Sales Inquiries”
- Pricing Questions
- Product Comparison
- Feature Requests
- Trial Extensions
- Enterprise Inquiries
Under “HR Support”
- Benefits Questions
- Time Off Requests
- Policy Clarifications
- Payroll Issues
- Workplace Concerns
- Open a workstream
- Click Add Contact Driver
- Fill in the details:
Name
Clear, concise identifier:
- “Order Issues” ✓
- “Problems with orders and stuff” ✗
- “OI” ✗ (too abbreviated)
Description
Explain what this contact driver covers:
Good:
"Inquiries about existing orders including modifications,
cancellations, tracking, and issues with received items."
Bad:
"Order stuff"
- Team members understand scope
- AI categorize inquiries correctly
- Identify overlaps with other drivers
Integrations (Optional)
Systems involved in handling these inquiries:
- Shopify (order management)
- Stripe (payments)
- Shipping carriers (tracking)
Per workstream guidelines:
| Workstream Size | Contact Drivers |
|---|
| Focused | 3-5 |
| Standard | 5-10 |
| Complex | 10-15 |
| Very Complex | 15-20 |
Aim for contact drivers that each contain 5-15 scenarios. If a contact driver has 30+ scenarios, consider splitting it. If it has only 1-2 scenarios, consider merging.
Mutually Exclusive
Each inquiry should clearly belong to one contact driver:
❌ Overlapping:
- Refund Questions
- Billing Issues
- Payment Problems
✅ Distinct:
- Refunds & Returns
- Billing & Invoicing
- Payment Methods
Collectively Exhaustive
Together, contact drivers should cover all scenarios in the workstream:
❌ Gaps:
- Orders (what about non-order questions?)
- Shipping (what about products?)
✅ Complete:
- Orders & Shipping
- Products & Catalog
- Account & Profile
- Billing & Payments
User-Centric Language
Use language that matches how users describe their issues:
❌ Internal jargon:
- SKU Discrepancies
- Fulfillment Exceptions
✅ User language:
- Wrong Item Received
- Delivery Problems
By User Goal
What is the user trying to accomplish?
- Get Help with Order
- Manage Account
- Make a Purchase
By Topic Area
What subject does this relate to?
- Orders & Shipping
- Products & Inventory
- Billing & Payments
By Urgency (if relevant)
How quickly does this need resolution?
- Urgent Issues
- Standard Requests
- General Inquiries
Moving Between Workstreams
If a contact driver belongs to a different workstream:
- Create the contact driver in the correct workstream
- Move or recreate its scenarios
- Delete the original
If two contact drivers overlap too much:
- Decide which to keep
- Move scenarios from the other
- Delete the empty one
If a contact driver is too large:
- Create new, more specific contact drivers
- Distribute scenarios appropriately
- Delete the original if empty
Next Steps
With contact drivers defined:
- Create Scenarios
- Map Knowledge to Scenarios
