Stay organized with chat-to-ticket timers

Hi there!

Ever lost track of a customer’s message? Or found yourself scrolling through long chat threads trying to figure out what’s what?

Setting up a chat-to-ticket timer can help. It decides when a reply should stay in the old ticket or create a new one. No more messy threads. No more missed follow-ups.

Let’s dive in!

Imagine this. A customer replies days after a ticket is closed. Now you have old context mixed with a new issue. Confusing, right? With chat-to-ticket timer, you can avoid this. Replies that come in after a certain time gap can create new tickets automatically.

The chat-to-ticket timer helps you:

• Create a new ticket if the reply is delayed.
• Keep separate issues apart.
• Save agents from sorting through chaos.
  

How it works

The Timer feature (also known as the threading interval) converts chat messages into tickets based on time gaps. For example, if the timer is set to 60 minutes, and a customer replies after 1 hour, a new ticket is created. If they reply within 60 minutes, it goes into the same ticket.  This helps keep conversations tidy.

Some replies don’t come back in a few minutes. They land hours, or even days, later.  When that happens, old tickets can reopen with outdated context, and unrelated issues can get mixed into the same thread. This makes it harder for agents to follow what’s going on and for customers to get the help they need.

With chat-to-ticket timers, you can avoid that mess. If a reply comes in after a set time, a new ticket is created automatically. This keeps conversations focused, separates different topics, and saves agents from manually sorting through long, tangled threads.

Choosing the right approach

Every situation is different. So what do you do when replies come in? Here's a quick guide: 

Scenario	Append to existing ticket	Create a new ticket
Customer follows up on an ongoing issue	Best choice	Not recommended
Customer reports a new issue unrelated to the last ticket	Not recommended	Best choice
Agent sends a follow-up after ticket closure	Can append for continuity	New ticket can be used for fresh tracking
Auto-follow-up messages	Append if the case is still relevant	New ticket if a customer has multiple requests
Business prioritizes fewer ticket numbers	Append to keep the conversation in one place	Not needed
Business wants clear segmentation of each customer issue	Not needed	Creates a fresh record for easy tracking

Real-world challenges and expert solutions   

Pain point 1: “Customers reply on multiple channels, creating duplicate tickets”

Fix: Train agents to merge tickets and tag them as 'cross-channel' for analytics.

Pain point 2 : “Delayed messages create new tickets even when unresolved”

Fix: Add a 'Pending Resolution' tag to tickets needing follow-up.

Pain point 3 : “Agents forget to merge related tickets”

Fix: Make ticket-linking into your QA process. Reward agents for clean thread hygiene.

Best practices for teams of all sizes

Whether you're startup or enterprise, these rules apply: 

Start simple, scale smart

• Set a basic 1-hour timer for busy channels like WhatsApp. 
  
• Enterprise users can apply different timers to each department (e.g., Sales: 12hrs, Support: 24hrs).
  

Bridge automation and human judgment

• Train agents to split threads before the timer expires if issues are different.
  
• Notify customers when their reply is added to an old thread. Example “Thanks for getting back to us! We’ve added your message to your original ticket (#1234) to keep things together.”
  

When to use manual control

• Complex cases need manual control, but too much can burn out agents.
  
• High-value accounts need a personal touch.
  
• Legal or compliance-sensitive tickets may need longer tracking
  

Platform-specific best practices

• Set timers for each platform based on your business needs and communication patterns.
  
• Define shorter or longer intervals depending on how each channel is used in your support process.
  

What’s your #1 timer-related challenge?

• Platform limits (e.g., WhatsApp 24hrs)
  
• Unrelated issues in threads
  
• Cross-channel confusion
  
• Agent training gaps
  

 

Share your playbook:

How do you balance automation vs. human touch?

Got a script to tell customers when you're merging threads? Drop it below!

 

Scenario challenge: 

A customer messages 5 mins after the timer expires. It's a new issue. What's your move?

What’s your timer setup?

Let’s talk!

Prabin
Zoho Desk

• Topic Participants

• Raj R

  

• Sticky Posts

• Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

  Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

• WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

  Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

• Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

  Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

• Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

  Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

• Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

  Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

• Recent Topics

• Use the searchBy parameter to find user by email address

  I'm trying to find a user is Zoho Desk via the Api. In the documentation I see that there is the possibility to add a searchBy parameter in the request. But I can't find how the search values should be formatted. I've tried multiple things and get either

• Zoho CRM Community Digest - September 2025 | Part 2

  Hello Everyone! Mid-September vibes: fresh tips, smart hacks, and practical Zoho CRM updates all in one place. Let’s dive in. Product Updates: The All-New Address Field! The new Address field type makes it easier to capture complete addresses in one structured

• Zoho Vault API: Create new Secrets

  Hello, I attempt to Post Secrets to the vault, since the encrypted entries are almost impossible to decrypt, since there is no documentation on how to decrypt them. Like with the lack of documentation on how to descrypt, there are missing information regarding on how to create new secrets/post secrets. Source: https://www.zoho.com/vault/api/#create-a-new-secret When I try to send JSON Informationen as a POST-Request I only receive the error message: {     "operation": {         "result": {             "error_code": "",

• CRM and Finance Tab - Add Invoice "Subject " Column

  When On a contact in CRM, and you click the Zoho Finace tab, how can I put in the invoice subject line? Or even a custom field for this.  We need to see what that invoice is for, without opening it.   If we have tons of invoices we need a way to quick

• Collections Management: #4 Before, During & After Payment Processing

  "Mark, I think the payment link isn't working. Can you send it again?" Staring at a message, Mark got on his phone. This was the third time the same customer had asked him that week. A few minutes later, another message came, "Hey, the invoice total seems

• Account name not populating when importing contacts

  When importing a csv file to add contacts the account name is blank? Every other filed gets mapped and imported correctly, i.e contact name, phone number. However not the account name which I have mapped to "company" field in my csv file

• Suggestion to improve zoho writer

  I am using your product, I believe it is very useful, however, i was writing a note and I needed to draw an arrow in different angles to explain a point and I couldn't. it would be helpful, to add draw functions to the zoho writer. thanks

• Almost all Flows are being queued

  A few days ago I saw one of my Flows status was Queued. This was the first time this had ever happened. Now, almost every Flow that triggers is Queued for at least a few minutes. If I re-trigger the Flow (which causes separate problems) they sometimes

• Allow Font Size 11 in Editors...

  That is basic functionality...

• Zoho Analytics & Zoho Creator - Modified Time value

  I'm trying to use the Zoho Creator system field 'modified time' in Zoho Analytics, but it's consistently showing 12 hours 'out' In Zoho Creator In Zoho Analytics Is this a constant difference that I just need to correct with a timezone change - or is

• webhook basic authentication

  II want to use a webhook to send out a SMS. Unfortunately Twilio does not use an authToken but basic authentication. I created the webhook as POST and get this url: https://{username}:{password}@api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/{account}/Messages?body=<BODY>&to=+155555555&from=+1555555555

• Managing functions

  Can someone let me know if there are any plans to improve the features for managing functions in CRM? I have lots of functions and finding them is hard. The search only works on the function name and the filter only works on function type. I have created

• Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

  Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities

• Custom function return type

  Hi, How do I create a custom deluge function in Zoho CRM that returns a string? e.g. Setup->Workflow->Custom Functions->Configure->Write own During create or edit of the function I don't see a way to change the default 'void' to anything else. Adding

• Issue with Hour Calculation in Zoho People Attendance Module

  I have noticed an issue in the attendance regularization feature of Zoho People. When trying to regularize past dates, the total working hours are not calculated correctly. For example, if I enter a check-in and check-out time for a previous day, the

• Free webinar alert on November 19 - Email driven strategies - Master personality based styles

  Hello Zoho Community! Want to make email management easier, smarter, and more you? We’ve got just the session for you! Join our interactive, game-based webinar to discover how Zoho Mail adapts to your personality and work style. Learn practical hacks,

• Push Notification for New Bookings in Zoho Bookings App

  when a someone schedules an appointment through the booking page, is there any option to receive a push notification in the mobile app?

• Automation in Zoho Sprints

  Hi. I have a Sprints board with the following statuses: ToDo, InProgress, CodeReview, Testing, Preprod, Live When a ticket is moved from e.g. Testing to Preprod, the following tags should be modified: remove 'tested OK' remove 'ready for Preprod' add

• Export Purchase orders as Excel

  Is it possible to export purchase orders as excel rather than PDF? Our suppliers don't want orders made in PDF, they need it to be excel

• Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

  Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

• Draft & Schedule Emails Directly in Bigin

  Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce a few recent enhancements we've made to email in Bigin. We'll go over each one in detail, but here's a quick overview: Previously, you couldn't draft or schedule emails in Bigin, but

• Integrating External Portal Tickets Into Zoho Desk

  A B2B travel company has a customer portal where clients can raise and submit tickets related to their bookings. These tickets need to be handled and managed in the backend through Zoho Desk. Ticket updates and replies from Zoho Desk should also be visible

• Create CRM Deal from Books Quote and Auto Update Deal Stage

  I want to set up an automation where, whenever a Quote is created in Zoho Books, a Deal is automatically created in Zoho CRM with the Quote amount, customer details, and some custom fields from Zoho Books. Additionally, when the Sales Order is converted

• Auto sync Photo storage

  Hello I am new to Zoho Workdrive and was wondering if the is a way of automatically syncing photos on my Android phone to my workdrive as want to move away from Google? Thanks

• Send email template "permission denied to access the api"

  Hello, Per the title, I'm trying to send a Zoho CRM Email template based on the advice given here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/specify-an-email-template-when-sending-emails-in-custom-functions (I'd prefer to send right from Deluge

• Zia’s AI Assist now helps you write clearer notes — in seconds

  After helping recruiters craft job descriptions, emails, and assessments, Zia’s AI Assist is now stepping in to make note-taking effortless too. Whether you’re recording feedback after an interview or sharing quick updates with your team, you can now

• Zia Profile Summary now supports six languages and responds faster

  After numerous customer requests, we’ve expanded Zia Profile Summary to do more than just summarize resumes quickly. It can now summarize them in six different languages and deliver results even faster. What’s New 1. Extended language support Zia can

• Add Prebuilt "Partner Finder" Template with Native Zoho CRM Integration in Zoho Sites To: Zoho Sites Product Team

  Hi Zoho Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request a prebuilt "Partner Finder" template for Zoho Sites, modeled after your excellent implementation here: 🔗 https://www.zoho.com/partners/find-partner-results.html ✅ Use Case: Our organization

• Shortcut to fill a range of cells

  Good evening: I'm writing because I haven't been able to find a feature that allows you to select a range of cells, type in one of them, and then use a key combination to type in all of them. In Excel, the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Enter. I haven't found

• Introducing Dark Mode / Light Mode : A New Look For Your CRM

  Hello Users, We are excited to announce a highly anticipated feature - the launch of Day, Night and Auto Mode implementation in Zoho CRM's NextGen user interface! This feature is designed to provide a visually appealing and comfortable experience for

• Object required error

  Hi, I am getting an 'Object required' error on the line Call HideColumnsOutsideRange(ws, startOfWeek, endOfWeek) when I run the ShowCurrentWeek macro but not when I run the ShowCurrentMonth macro. Any ideas? Regards, GW Option Explicit Sub HideColumnsOutsideRange(ws

• Zoho CRM - Rename "Estimates" in CRM Finance Suite Integration to "Quotes"

  I'm not sure if it's been 2 or 3 years now since Zoho Books renamed Estimates to Quotes. I still see "Estimates" in the Zoho CRM integration. Could this be added to Translation settings so that some customisation could be made on an account by account

• Its 2022, can our customers log into CRM on their mobiles? Zoho Response: Maybe Later

  I am a long time Zoho CRM user. I have just started using the client portal feature. On the plus side I have found it very fast and very easy (for someone used to the CRM config) to set up a subset of module views that make a potentially extremely useful

• All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

  The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest update

• New Series Announcement - Ecommerce Marketing Tips

  Running an online business is more than just having a website. It’s about getting the right customers to discover you, trust you, and keep coming back. To support your growth journey, we’re launching a weekly Marketing Tips series right here on Zoho Commerce

• Marketing Tip #7: Add a blog to your online store

  A blog is more than content. It’s a magnet for new customers. Sharing product guides, styling tips, or industry insights through blog posts builds trust and helps you rank higher on search engines. Try this today: Write one blog post answering a common

• Kanban view on Zoho CRM mobile app!

  What is Kanban? The name doesn't sound English, right? Yes, Kanban is a Japanese word which means 'Card you can see'. As per the meaning, Kanban in CRM is a type of list view in which the records will be displayed in cards and categorized under the given

• Allow Regular Users to Directly Transfer Ownership of Files & Folders

  Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an important enhancement related to file and folder ownership management in Zoho WorkDrive. At the moment, a regular user cannot directly transfer ownership of their files or folders

• STOCK history in zohosheets

  is it possible to get historical stock value using stock function in zoho sheets? i could not see from and to period in the helper document.

• Customised Funnel

  We are running the standard plan for our ZOHO CRM. I have been asked if there is a way to combine data from the Calls module, Deals module and Contact Module into 1 funnel, similar to the view you can get when viewing Deals By Stages, you can see the

• Next Page