Introducing Private Ticket Threads

Introducing Private Ticket Threads

Engaging with customers, agents, and external consultants on the same ticket thread can occasionally prove to be tricky. Sometimes, your reply to an agent or consultant may end up in your customer's inbox instead. To avoid situations like this, we've introduced 'private thread handling' - a function that allows you to mark ticket threads 'private', and choose which replies can appear 'public' to the customer. 

Why private thread handling and not private comments? 

Private comments can be viewed by agents in the same team and are great for quick suggestions/interactions. Sometimes though, you may need expert advice from an agent who is outside the team or company. External partners and consultants aren't likely to have access to the ticket at hand, and you may not want to give them this access for a short period, either. 

Here's where private thread handling comes in handy. You can forward tickets, converse with external agents and consultants, and quickly resolve problems on the same thread without notifying the customer until you wish to. Simply mark the thread as 'private' and your customer will be kept away from internal ticket conversations.  

How it works 

Zoho Desk automatically looks for the customer's email address in the 'recipients' field. If the same is not found, the responses are marked as private and the customer will remain unnotified of them. All replies to a private response will also remain private. 


  • When you forward a ticket to a colleague or external consultant, the default behavior is to mark it as a private response. While forwarding attachments to an external partner, if you wish to notify the customer, you can simply include their email address in the 'recipients' field. The response will remain public and the customer will be notified.
  • When you reply-all to a ticket and include another recipient, the response will remain public and the customer will be notified. It's as simple as that.


 Things to keep in mind 


  • Workflows related to ‘Customer Reply’ will be triggered only by public threads.
  • Response Time will only be calculated for public threads and not private threads. 
  • Contact Notifications will only be triggered by public threads. This is to ensure that customers don’t receive unnecessary notifications whenever a private thread is created. 
  • Customer Happiness Rating notifications will be triggered only by public threads. 


 For more information or clarifications, please mail us at support@zohodesk.com. 


UPDATE: You can now disable private thread handling by going to Setup --> Channels --> Email --> Other Configurations. Here's a screenshot that demonstrates how to do this:
 
Disable Private Thread Handling


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