Question

Automated reply not threading for customer

  • 10 March 2023
  • 8 replies
  • 157 views

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Hi!

We want to be able to send an auto reply to a customer. We also want this reply to be threaded for the customer. 
 

Using the standard automated reply ”Reply to requester” does not work by design. So we tried to do a webhook automation with the reply API. The problem with this is that for customer that uses Outlook Windows application the reply is not threaded with the original request. It seems that the problem lies with what email client the customer uses. In Gmail the reply threads with the original request. 
 

Is there a way to solve our problem?


8 replies

Userlevel 4
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Hello @Nilpan Welcome to the Freshworks community! Freshdesk has multiple identifiers/checks to append a reply to an existing ticket. It is typically recommended to have the ticket ID as part of the subject in this format: [#{{ticket.id}}](for ex., [#12345].

 

Can you please confirm if the email template (in automation) includes the ticket ID reference in this format?

 

Cheers!

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Just to be clear; the automated reply is added to the original request in Freshdesk and when the customer replies to that automated reply it threads in the same ticket. So it all looks fine and dandy on our side. It is just in the customers Outlook client that the conversation does not thread. We want the hole conversation kept in the same thread, both on our side and on the customer side. 
 

Customers contact us by email and thats how the ticket is created in the first place. 

 

 

Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Hi @Nilpan,

 

Just like how Freshdesk uses certain checks to append an email to the same thread, outlook would be having it’s own checks. As long as the Subject is same for the email, it should ideally get threaded. I hope while using the reply API from Freshdesk, you’re using the same subject. If that’s the case, the threading should happen ideally. 

 

However, this should be checked by the recipient’s IT team as Freshdesk have no control over it. I came across this forum page of Microsoft which could be helpful for you.

 

Cheers!

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We use the automation function i Freshdesk and then the trigger webhook function. How do we set the subject when doing it like that?

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Hello, 

I would guess it uses the Replay/Forward template in the e-mail notifications settings. 

Have you checked that they have the correct subject ? 

 

//Daniel 

Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Hi @Nilpan and @Daniel Söderlund,

 

For proper threading, I’d suggest you to use the placeholder for subject to retain the subject for each ticket where the automation gets executed. 

"subject" : "{{ticket.subject}}",

 

This placeholder acts dynamic and would pick up the subject for each ticket and not a common subject line for all the tickets.

 

Let me know if it helps.

 

Cheers!

Sudharshan TR.

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Ya , placeholders is you should use. 

To make it work better I add the ticket number in the subject as well. 

You can add it in the template or using API to update the subject when it’s created. 

Any help appeciated.

Here are my settings in the notification templates subject line:

NEW TICKET - {{ticket.id}} - {{ticket.subject}}
CLOSED - {{ticket.id}} - {{ticket.subject}}
RESOLVED - {{ticket.id}} - {{ticket.subject}}
REPLY - {{ticket.id}} - {{ticket.subject}}

Nothing threads in Outlook when using the latest version of FS.

I emailed a fellow techs FS ticketing (the same as mine, same setting).
His responses thread in Outlook.

I have tried this:

{{ticket.subject}}   as the subject for all templates
{{ticket.id}}   as the subject for all templates
Ticket”    as the subject for all templates
[#{{ticket.id}}]    as the subject for all templates

 

Thoughts?


 

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