Hello David,

As per the product behavior, the email sent to the requester via Automation would be a separate email thread (notification) to their mailbox and would not be added as a response to the ticket as such.  

If you wish to add an automatic reply to the ticket, you can make use of Ticket creation/Ticket updates automation (Admin > Automation > Tickets > Ticket creation/Ticket updates) and use trigger webhook action to add a reply on the ticket. Refer to the documentation link below to use the Create a reply API:

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https://developers.freshdesk.com/api/#reply_ticket

Feel free to drop an email to support@freshdesk.com if you require any further assistance and we would be happy to help! 

1.Select Record > Programmed Answers. ...
2. Select Automatically respond.
3.If you don't maintain that the messages should go out immediately, select Just send during this time range.
4.Choose the dates and times you might want to set your programmed answer for.
5. Enter a message...
6. Click "OK."