Closing the loop on inactive tickets: Automate follow-ups and closure using Automation Studio

Solution

The organization used Automation Studio to consolidate customer reminders and automatic ticket closure into a single automation rule, eliminating the need for manual follow-ups and separate supervisor rules.

When a ticket's status is changed to 'Waiting for Customer Response,' the rule triggers and executes a forked sequence of time-delayed actions independently and concurrently from the same triggering event.

Customer Reminder (7-Day Delay): A Delay block is added to pause execution for 7 days. After 7 days, the If block verifies if the ticket is still in 'Waiting for Customer Response' status and the Customer Responded Time field is not updated for 7 or more days since the status change. If the condition is met, the Action block sends an email reply to the customer reminding them that their response is pending.

Note: If the customer has already responded during the 7-day delay period, the ticket would have automatically fallen back to the default Open status. In this case, the If block will not be executed since the condition is not met.

Auto-Closure (10-Day Delay): A Delay block is added to pause execution for 10 days. After 10 days, the If block verifies that the ticket is still in 'Waiting for Customer Response' status and that 10 or more days have passed. If the condition is met, an Action Block updates the ticket record, changing the status to 'Closed.'

Note: If the customer responded after receiving the 7-day reminder (from Path 1) but before the 10-day auto-close triggers, the ticket would have reverted to Open status. Even in this case, the If block will not be executed since the condition is not met.

On Hold State Integration: The 'Waiting for Customer Response' status is mapped to the On Hold state. This ensures that SLA timers freeze while the ticket awaits customer input, preventing false SLA breaches during the waiting period. When a customer responds at any point, the ticket automatically falls back to the default Open status, SLA timers resume with recalculated due times, and the If Block conditions in both fork paths doesn't meet.

Note: On Hold cannot be set as the default status and automatically falls back to Open when a customer replies, as the Fall-back to default option is mandatory for On Hold statuses. Tickets moved to On Hold are no longer considered overdue, and their due times are not recalculated when they are updated to Open.

Both the paths execute without manual intervention. Even with high ticket volume, every inactive ticket receives a standardized 7-day reminder and a 10-day auto-close, ensuring a consistent and predictable ticket lifecycle.

Monitoring & Optimization

Support managers can track the automation's effectiveness through two standard reporting tools in Zoho Desk:

• Ticket Status Dashboard: Displays ticket distribution across all statuses, including On Hold. Managers can monitor how many tickets are currently in 'Waiting for Customer Response' status, average time spent in that status, and how many tickets are being auto-closed by the rule. This allows managers to identify if the 7-day and 10-day thresholds need adjustment based on actual customer response patterns.
• Predefined On Hold Views: Zoho Desk provides two predefined views - On Hold Tickets and My On Hold Tickets. This allows support reps and managers to filter and view all tickets currently in the On Hold state. These views can be sorted by Customer Responded Time for easy prioritization.

Configuration / Steps

1. Navigate to Setup > Automation > Automation Studio.
2. Click Create Rule.
3. On the Rule information page, do the following:
   1. Enter Notify and Auto-Close Inactive Tickets as the rule name.
   2. Enter Sends a reminder email to customers after 7 days of inactivity and auto-closes tickets after 10 days if no response is received as the description.
   3. Select Tickets module from the Module drop-down.
4. On the Rule configuration page, click Choose Event and select the event as Field Updated and the criteria as Ticket status changed from any value to Waiting for customer response.
5. Click + and select the Fork Block.
   1. In Path 1:
      1. Click + and select the Delay Block.
         1. In the Pause flow section, select For a specific duration.
         2. In the Pause for field, select 7 Day(s).
         3. Click Save.
      2. Click + and select the If block.
         1. In the Set Criteria field, select Ticket status as the field, is as the comparator, and Waiting for customer response as the value.
         2. Click + to add another criteria.
         3. Select Customer responded time as the field, due in >= as the comparator, and 7 days as the value.
      3. Click + and select the Action block.
         1. Click Unalter Notification.
         2. Select Notify contact on ticket closure as the Email Template.
         3. Select agents, teams, roles, and roles subordinates as required.
         4. In the Recipient Emails field, select the placeholder and select Email from the Tickets module.
         5. Click Save.
   2. In Path 2:
      1. Click + and select the Delay Block.
         1. In the Pause flow section, select For a specific duration.
         2. In the Pause for field, select 10 Day(s).
         3. Click Save.
      2. Click + and select the If block.
         1. In the Set Criteria field, select Ticket status as the field, is as the comparator, and Waiting for customer response as the value.
         2. Click + to add another criteria.
         3. Select Customer responded time as the field, due in >= as the comparator, and 10 days as the value.
      3. Click + and select the Action block.
         1. Click Update Record under Record Management.
         2. In the Record ID field, select the placeholder and select Ticket Id from the Tickets module.
         3. In the Module field, select Tickets from the drop-down.
         4. In the Departments field, select Customer Support.
         5. In the Assignment Values field, Status - Closed.
         6. Click Save.
6. Click Save and Activate. 

To view Ticket Status Dashboard

1. Navigate to the Analytics module.
2. Click the Dashboard tab.
3. Under Popular Dashboards, select Overview Dashboard.

To view predefined ticket views

1. Navigate to the Tickets module.
2. Click Views.
3. From the View drop-down, select My On Hold tickets or On Hold tickets.
    

Impact Assessment: Manual vs. Automation Studio