Reply to the customer from a ticket

Write the reply

1. Open the ticket. Its reply box starts on Internal comment.
2. Click Reply to customer right next to it. A line above the box says where the reply goes, for example Goes to the customer in chat #93 (Email). For an email, the To, CC and Subject fields and your signature are there, as in the chat.
3. Write your reply, add files if you need them, and click Send.

Reply to customer shows when your role has Manage conversations (assign, resolve, reopen) and the chat can still take a reply. You do not need access to the chat itself.

After sending, the ticket shows a row like Ann replied to the customer with your text, the names of your files, the chat number and channel, and Open chat for people who may open that chat. In the chat, your message shows like any other reply from your team, and the customer sees a normal reply.

Resolve a ticket

When the ticket's chat can take a reply, Resolve asks how the customer hears about it. Picking Resolved in the status menu asks the same. It asks only when at least two of the options below are on offer; otherwise the ticket is resolved at once. A line under the title shows the last contact with the customer in the linked chat, a reply typed in the chat itself included, for example The customer wrote 2 hours ago.

• Reply to customer: the reply box switches to Reply to customer and its button reads Send and resolve ticket (Send and resolve in a narrow window). Sending resolves the ticket.
• Hand back to the person who created the ticket (only when that is someone else who does not hold it): Transfer ticket opens with them picked. The ticket stays open and goes to them, and you are back on the list. They tell the customer.
• Without a reply: only resolves the ticket.

The first option on offer is picked. Without a reply is picked when the ticket waits on the customer (Pending) after a reply sent from the ticket and no reply waits unsent in the reply box.

Send and wait, Send and resolve ticket

The arrow next to Send (More send options) offers two more ways to send:

• Send and resolve ticket sends the reply and resolves the ticket. The chat stays as it is. Then you are back on the list, and a message such as Ticket #12 resolved offers Reopen.
• Send and wait sends the reply and sets the ticket to Pending. When the customer answers in the chat, the ticket goes back to Open, its timeline shows The customer wrote in the linked chat, and it comes back as unread for whoever holds it (if nobody does, for its team, otherwise for the person who created it). The person who created the ticket is notified too, as their Settings > Notifications allow for Ticket Updated. The push says The customer replied on Ticket #12.

A ticket has no Send and snooze. To snooze it, use its status menu.

What happens to the chat

• The reply does not take the chat. Nobody gets assigned, no join line goes to the customer, and a resolved chat stays resolved.
• If the ticket waits on the customer (Pending, for example after Send and wait), their answer lands in the chat, the chat stays resolved, and only the ticket wakes up. Without a waiting ticket, the answer reopens the chat as usual, see Conversation overview and status.
• Sometimes the customer's answer cannot reach the resolved chat: when the inbox's Reopen Window is set to 0 days (any channel except email), or when a live chat inbox does not let customers write into a resolved conversation. Then the line says The chat stays resolved. The customer's answer starts a new conversation., and Send and wait is not offered, because nothing would end the wait.
• It still counts as your team's answer in the chat. It ends the wait for a first response there, and a bot that was answering the chat steps back.

When a teammate holds the ticket

One person works on a ticket at a time. If a colleague holds it and you switch to Reply to customer, a card says Ann is handling this ticket. instead of the reply box. Take over on the card makes the ticket yours, if your role has Reassign and take over teammates' work. Your reply draft is saved and shows once the ticket is yours. Internal comments are not held back like this: you can add one while a colleague holds the ticket.

If nobody holds the ticket, your reply makes it yours. Its History tab then says Taken with a reply.

When the reply cannot go out

• WhatsApp after 24 hours: WhatsApp delivers free text only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that the reply box shows The 24 hour window is closed. On a WhatsApp Cloud API inbox you can send an approved template instead, just as in the chat. If you pick Reply to customer in Resolve ticket then, the template opens right away, and sending it resolves the ticket. See Setting up WhatsApp Business.
• Only Internal comment is offered: the chat cannot take a reply. That happens when the chat was deleted or is in spam, when the customer is blocked, when the chat is over your plan's conversation limit for this month or outside your plan's history window, or when the chat has no inbox.
• A tracker: it has no customer of its own. Use Update linked customers instead, see Update every affected customer at once.
• Delivery failed: the ticket's row says Delivery failed. with the reason. If the text arrived but some files did not, it adds The missing files can be sent again from the chat. See When a reply is not delivered.

Tickets are part of the Enterprise plan. If your workspace leaves Enterprise, tickets you already have keep taking replies to the customer. Only new tickets stop.

Frequently asked questions

Does the customer see that the reply came from a ticket?

No. They get a normal reply in the chat they wrote in, on its channel. An email goes out in the same thread.

Do I need access to the chat to reply?

No. Anyone who may change the ticket can reply through it. The chat's own access rules stay as they are, so Open chat only shows for people who may open it.

Why is there no Reply to customer on my ticket?

Either your role lacks Manage conversations (assign, resolve, reopen), or the chat cannot take a reply: it was deleted, it is in spam, the customer is blocked, your plan keeps the chat locked, or it has no inbox. A tracker never has it.

Why is Send and wait missing?

The chat is resolved and the customer's answer would start a new conversation, which the ticket never hears of. That is the case when the inbox's Reopen Window is 0 days, or when a live chat inbox does not take messages in a resolved conversation.

Does my reply reopen the resolved chat?

No. The chat stays resolved until the customer writes again. If your ticket waits on the customer, even their answer leaves the chat resolved and only wakes the ticket.

Can I send files from a ticket?

Yes, the same files you can send in the chat. The ticket's row lists their names.

What does Send and resolve ticket do to the chat?

Nothing. It resolves only the ticket. The chat keeps its own status.