Cautionary, Critical and Disengaged are statuses Cognexo gives a user based on how long their questions have been waiting unanswered. Each status triggers an email, to the user or their line manager, to get them back into the platform.
What triggers the emails
The emails are triggered by how many days a user's questions have gone unanswered. Each customer sets its own number of days for Cautionary and Critical (see Thresholds below). As the days pass, the user moves through the statuses:
- Answering as normal. Questions arrive each day and the user answers them. No alert emails are sent.
- Cautionary threshold reached → Cautionary. Once questions have gone unanswered past the cautionary threshold (usually 1 day), the user receives a prompt email each day telling them to go in and answer their questions. New questions keep arriving.
- Critical threshold reached → Critical. Once questions have gone unanswered past the critical threshold (usually 7 days), Cognexo starts sending escalation (Critical) emails. When the user hits full stack (10 unanswered questions by default), Cognexo also stops sending new questions.
- Back on track. Once the user clears their stack, question delivery automatically starts again. Nobody needs to switch it back on.
The full stack limit is the company's Full Stack Size setting, so a company that has changed it from 10 will pause questions at its own number.
Who receives the emails
- Cautionary emails (the daily prompts) go to the user themselves
- Weekly summary emails go to line managers. Each one lists who in their team is disengaged with the tool and has outstanding questions in their stack. Only users who are currently being sent Critical emails are included. The weekly summary is optional and is only sent if it's turned on for that customer.
Thresholds are set company-wide and can be customised
The thresholds that decide when a user becomes Cautionary, Critical or Disengaged are a company-wide setting. One set of thresholds applies to every user in that company, rather than being set per topic or per campaign.
Each company can customise them. A customer who wants earlier warnings can tighten them; one with a slower-paced programme can relax them.
There's no set number of days. Each customer chooses its own thresholds for when Cautionary and Critical emails start. Most use:
- Cautionary: 1 day of unanswered questions
- Critical: 7 days of unanswered questions
Only account owners can change the thresholds. In practice, once they've been set they're rarely changed.
Alerts go by email only, for now
Cautionary, Critical and Disengaged alerts are currently sent by email only. They are not yet delivered through Microsoft Teams, Slack or the mobile app, even where a company uses those channels for learners' daily questions.
FAQs
Why does Cognexo stop sending questions at full stack? A growing backlog makes coming back feel overwhelming, which makes people less likely to re-engage. Pausing delivery keeps the queue manageable and switches the focus to getting the user back in.
Can a customer change when users become Critical? Yes. The number of days before Critical emails start is set per customer, usually 7 days. The point at which questions stop (Full Stack Size 10) can also be customised.
Can the thresholds differ by team or campaign? No. Thresholds are set once for the whole company and apply to every user.
Can alerts go to Teams, Slack or the mobile app? Not yet. These alerts are sent by email only for now, even if learners get their daily questions through another channel.