Intercom offers three ticket categories. Each category is optimized for a core tickets use case, and has a pre-defined setting for customer visibility and notifications:
Customer tickets - to capture and track long-running queries.
Always shared with the customers.
Back-office tickets - to collaborate with back-office teams.
Internal by default, but can be optionally shared with the customers.
Tracker tickets - to streamline problems impacting many users.
Internal only and never shared with the customer.
In short, a customer will always see Customer tickets, and will sometimes see Back-office tickets, but will never see Tracker tickets. While the teammate experience while working from the Help Desk is different for each of these ticket categories, the customer experience is always the same to ensure consistency.
Notifications when a ticket is submitted
Whether the ticket is created by a teammate from the Help Desk, by the customer in the Messenger, or via APIs, the customer experience is the same.
When a ticket shared with the customer is submitted:
The Intercom notification badge pops up to ensure the customer is notified if the Messenger is collapsed.
The ticket appears in the Recent tickets section in the Messenger home.
They see an event posted in the Messenger thread and the ticket pill appears at the top.
They are also notified via email. The customer can reply to the email directly if a follow up is needed.
Notifications when a teammate replies to a ticket
Similar to ticket submission, when the teammate replies to a ticket:
The Intercom notification badge pops up to ensure the customer is notified if the Messenger is collapsed.
The ticket appears in the Recent tickets section in the Messenger home.
They are also notified via email where they can reply back directly without having to go back to the Messenger.
Replies from a teammate only send to the customer via email if they have not seen the reply in the Messenger within 3 minutes of it being sent.
Notifications when a ticket state changes
Additionally, to ensure customers are kept in the loop and have a clear understanding of their ticket’s status, they are notified about any ticket state change.
The Intercom notification badge pops up to ensure the customer is notified if the Messenger is collapsed.
The ticket appears in the Recent tickets section in the Messenger home.
They are also notified via email where they can reply back directly without having to go back to the Messenger.
If a ticket is closed without being resolved, a notification won’t be sent to the customer.
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