Overview
Every customer interaction that enters HelpCanvas follows a defined lifecycle. Understanding this lifecycle helps your team work efficiently, meet SLA commitments, and ensure no request falls through the cracks. This article explains each stage in detail and describes the tools available to manage tickets at every step.
How Tickets Are Created
Tickets can be created through multiple channels:
- Email: Every email sent to a connected inbox automatically becomes a ticket. The sender becomes the customer on the ticket, and the email body becomes the first message in the conversation thread.
- Live chat: When a chat session ends, it can optionally be converted to a ticket for follow-up. If the conversation is ongoing, it appears in the Inbox as a live chat ticket.
- Manual creation: Agents can create tickets manually from the Inbox by clicking New Ticket. This is useful for logging phone calls, in-person interactions, or proactive outreach.
- API: Business plan customers can create tickets programmatically via the REST API, enabling integration with other systems like CRMs, billing tools, and monitoring platforms.
- Customer portal: If you have enabled the customer portal, your customers can log in and submit support requests directly from a branded self-service page.
Ticket Statuses
Each ticket has a status that reflects where it is in the support process:
Open
A ticket is open when it requires attention from your team. This is the default status for all new tickets. An open ticket might be unassigned, waiting for an agent to start working on it, or actively being investigated.
Pending
A ticket is pending when your team is waiting for a response from the customer. For example, you might move a ticket to pending after sending a reply asking for more information. Pending tickets are typically excluded from SLA breach calculations, since the ball is in the customer's court.
Resolved
A ticket is resolved when the issue has been addressed to the customer's satisfaction. Resolved tickets can be reopened if the customer replies or if an agent determines further action is needed. If you have auto-close enabled, resolved tickets will be permanently closed after a configurable period of inactivity (default: 7 days).
Closed
A closed ticket is effectively archived. Customers can still view closed tickets in the portal, but they cannot reply directly. Agents can still leave internal notes on closed tickets. Closed tickets count toward historical reporting.
Priority Levels
Tickets can be assigned one of four priority levels:
- Urgent: Critical issues requiring immediate attention, such as a system outage or a security concern. Use sparingly to preserve its meaning.
- High: Significant issues that meaningfully impact the customer but do not constitute an emergency.
- Medium: Standard requests and questions. This is the default priority for most tickets.
- Low: Minor issues, general feedback, or requests that can be addressed in the normal course of business.
SLA policies can be linked to priority levels, allowing you to set different response time targets for each tier.
Assignment and Routing
Tickets can be assigned to a specific agent or left unassigned in a team queue. There are several ways tickets get routed:
- Manual assignment: An agent or admin picks up the ticket from the queue.
- Automation rules: Rules can automatically assign tickets based on conditions like the email channel it came in on, keywords in the subject line, or the customer's company.
- Round-robin: Available on Pro and Business plans, round-robin assignment distributes tickets evenly across available agents in a team.
- Self-assignment: Agents can claim unassigned tickets by clicking Assign to me.
Working on a Ticket
When an agent opens a ticket, they see the full conversation thread on the left and a details panel on the right. The details panel shows the customer's information, ticket metadata (channel, priority, labels, assignee), and any custom fields your workspace has configured.
Replying to the Customer
Type your reply in the response box at the bottom of the conversation. Before sending, you can:
- Use a saved reply to insert a pre-written response template
- Ask the AI to draft a reply based on the conversation and your knowledge base
- Attach files up to 25MB each
- Toggle the response type between Reply (customer-visible) and Note (team-only)
Collaborating with Your Team
Internal notes are visible only to agents and admins. Use them to share context, ask a colleague for input, or document your investigation steps. You can mention a teammate in a note using @name and they will receive a notification.
SLA Tracking
If your workspace has SLA policies configured, each ticket will display its SLA status in the ticket list and detail view. A green timer indicates the ticket is within its SLA window. A yellow timer is a warning that the deadline is approaching. A red timer means the SLA has been breached.
SLA clocks pause when a ticket is moved to pending status and resume when the customer replies or an agent moves it back to open.
Resolution and Closure
When an issue is resolved, change the ticket status to Resolved. If CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) surveys are enabled, the customer will receive a survey email after a configurable delay asking them to rate their experience.
Once the customer gives a thumbs up or thumbs down, the rating is recorded and appears in your CSAT reports. This feedback is invaluable for coaching agents and identifying systemic issues in your support process.
Ticket History and Search
All resolved and closed tickets are preserved in your ticket history. You can search across all tickets using the global search bar at the top of the page. Search is full-text and covers the ticket subject, body, and all notes and replies.
The amount of history accessible depends on your plan: Free plans retain 90 days, Pro plans retain 365 days, and Business plans have unlimited history.